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Adine:
The two sources I would check are the Boston City Archives and the Boston Public Library at:
http://www.cityofboston.gov/archivesandrecords/default.asp
http://www.bpl.org/research/socsci/genealogy.htm
Both entities have old city records. HOWEVER, you may be interested in a couple of things I learned from some cursory searches. The first thing comes from an article which was published in "The Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology", authored by George McCaffrey and published in 1912. The title is "Boston Police Department" and the article states that the Boston Police Department was not really organized as a uniformed city department until 1854. Prior to that time, it was a semi-voluntary and inefficient creature and not like what we think of today as a police force. This made me a little curious so I checked a couple of online Boston City Directories for 1845 and 1855. I did indeed find a John W. Baxter in the 1845 directory but his occupation is given as a cooper. I also searched the 1860 census and believe that I found him:
John W., age 64, male, occupation cooper
Mary, 61, female
Abby Ward, age 28, female
Mary Louisa Ward, age 5, female
All born Massachuesetts (M153, Roll 506, pg. 14, Middlesex Co., Medford twp)
John W. does not appear in the 1870 census although Mary does, living with another Baxter family. So it's likely that John might have died between 1860-1870.
I'm guessing that the information as to John's career as a police officer may to some extent be based upon family lore. IF SO, (and I may be all wet) then you might want to take it with a little skepticism. Think about it, this fellow would have been approaching 60 years old by the time the present-day Boston Police Department was organized. So how much of a career could he have had with it? He might have held the title of Captain in the pre-1854 organization and there is an outside chance that he became a member of the new force but that begs the question: why didn't he give his occupation as "Police Captain" or "Police Officer" on the 1860 census? I don't know what documentation, if any, that has been passed down so I stand to be corrected. I just wonder what, if any, sort of records that the pre-1854 force might have kept? And if they did keep records, have they survived? IF you decide to contact either the archives or library, you definately need to specify the time frame. Just some observations. Rick
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