Under the first charter of the Massachusetts Colony, only freemen of the Colony had the right to vote or hold public office. Such were admitted freemen who could fulfill the requirements of the Freeman's Oath in matters of church membership and state allegiance. Between 1630 and 1691, some 4,500 men were admitted freemen, the ancestors of nearly three-fourths of the inhabitants of 18th and 19th century New England.
This is a complete list of those freemen, arranged chronologically by the date of the meetings of the General or Quarterly Court at which they were admitted, with a citation to the volume and page number of the Colonial Records in which the data appears. Originally published as "List of Freemen," it appeared in Vol. III of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1849) in four successive numbers. Here they are combined in one volume, with an added index, and a new title.
