Good evening, everyone. :-) A short while back a lady transcribed all of Chilmark, Edgartown & Tisbury in Dukes County. Those transcriptions are online at http://www.rootsweb.com/~maessex/VitalRecords. They also have the images from the books linked. We currently have a couple people who are working on Nantucket. That one is huge and the records are full of detail. What does this have to do with links between counties? I was working on putting a batch of the Nantucket records online and came across the name Provided Southwick. Nathaniel (Allin), s. Edward, Feb. 24, 1700. [Nathaniel Allen, h. Provided (d. Samuel Gaskill and Provided (Southwick)), h. Mercy (wid. Prince Coffin), s. Edward 1st and Ann (Coleman), 24: 2m: PR38] The name struck me because it was so unusual and I had seen it elsewhere. I searched all the stuff I have and found an article in "The Essex Antiquarian," Sept. 1897. Provided was a young Quaker woman who, because of her faith, was almost sold into slavery in Salem in 1658. Marriages - Nathaniel (Allin), s. Edward and Ann of N., and Provided Gaskil, d. Sammuel and Bethiah of Salim, 2: 1m: "called March," 1725, in N. CR4 [Allen, s. Edward 1st and Ann (Coleman), and Provided Gaskill, d. Samuel and Provided (Southwick). PR38] Deaths - Nathaniel (Allin), h. Provided (Gaskill), 7: 4m: 1776. CR4 [Allen, h. Provided (d. Samuel Gaskill and Provided (Southwick)) h. Mercy (wid. Prince Coffin, d. Nathan Skiff), s. Edward 1st and Ann (Colman). PR38; Allen. PR63] Provided, w. Nathaniel (s. Edward 1st and Ann), d. Samuel Gaskill and Provided (Southwick), 30: 1m: 1730. PR38 Provided Southwick married Samuel Gaskill and they moved to Nantucket. To see the article about Provided and her family, go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~maessex/EssexAntiquarian and look for the article on Persecution of Quakers. We need help transcribing the vital records of Nantucket, Barnstable and the other counties. We have a project to put all of the early records all in one place in a common format and indexed. A surname index was put up just a few weeks ago. I have corresponded with Janet Griffin of Cape Cod who has been working on doing the Barnstable records. She may need some help. We hope to use her work and add Barnstable to the every growing files that we currently have online. Where? At http://www.rootsweb.com/~maessex/VitalRecords. Why should those of you in Dukes, Barnstable & Nantucket help with Middlesex, Worcester, Suffolk and the others? Because of Provided Southwick. These records, as we put more and more online, link all of us together. We are all family. And, last but not least, these records are totally FREE to everyone. Thank you. John Slaughter & Jodi Salerno Essex County Co-County Coordinators and Co-coordinators of the Early Massachusetts Vital Records project. _________________________________________________________________ Dont miss your chance to WIN 10 hours of private jet travel from Microsoft® Office Live http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/mcrssaub0540002499mrt/direct/01/