Massachusetts Online Vital Records Research Guide

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This page collects links to online transcriptions of pre-1850 vital records for all Massachusetts cities and towns. See MA-VitalRecords.org for links not yet provided here. That sight also has a means of seeking someone by SURNAME.

For most Massachusetts towns, the New England Historical & Genealogical Society or the Salem Institute published the records up to 1850. In addition, a good portion of the records Early Massachusetts marriages prior to 1800 by Frederick W. Bailey have been transcribed on Ray Brown's site. These are the most common sources of the records listed below.

To avoid repetition, only one link to a set of records is provided, although other transcriptions may exist elsewhere. Preference is given to free content, and to images (i.e. Google Books) over transcriptions. Links to extracted records in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) have been added where no other free transcriptions have been found. Some of the sites listed cover a substantial number of towns, and some have one cental search. See Statewide Databases and Resources.

Contents:
By Town: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y
Statewide Databases | Resources 

Note: Something has changed on the FamilySearch site such that the IGI links do not always bring up the correct search form. If that happens, look at the URL and copy the number that follows "batch_number=" into the Batch Number field, and change the region to North America.

A

B

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D

E

F

G

H

I

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

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T

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Statewide Databases

- Bailey: Early Marriages prior to 1800 Bailey's statewide work is searchable on Ancestry.

- NEHGS has combined records from a number of towns into one database. Links appear in the table above if the records are not elsewhere, but the database has other towns as well.

- Ancestry has combined statewide births, marriages, and deaths into separate databases covering a group of towns that is similar to the NEHGS database. Those links appear as "Ancestry Index B M D" above.

- IGI: The IGI includes extracted records from most towns, but only of births and marriages. A list of included towns can be found here. The IGI also includes user-submitted records of questionable veracity. When searching the database as a whole, extracted records often stand out because the names are in all caps and the place is written out in full, with no abbreviations or extra commas.

- FamilySearch is planned to replace the IGI with statewide collections that can be searched by town and include all sorts of vital records up to 1915. The continue to have only births and marriages.

- Google: All of Google Books (which contains many of the published vital records) can be searched at once; add "massachusetts vital records" to your search for decipherable results.

- Archive.org has many of the books. They are not universally searchable, but each book can be downloaded and searched.

- HathiTrust: Many of the books are available and searchable at HathiTrust Digital Library

- HeritageQuest Online has indexed a number of the vital records books and has the scanned images online as part of its subscription service (which is accessed through the library websites of many local libraries). The main search page searches all books in the collection, which are otherwise difficult to access individually. The books include vital records for the following towns: Abington; Acton; Andover; Arlington; Ashfield; Attleborough; Auburn; Barre; Becket; Beford; Bellingham; Berlin (to 1899); Beverly; Bolton; Boxborough; Boxford; Boylston; Bradford; Brewster; Bridgewater; Brimfield; Brockton; Brookfield; Burlington; Cambridge; Carlisle; Carver; Charlemont; Chester; Chilmark; Colrain; Dalton; Dana; Danvers; Dartmouth; Deerfield; Dover; Dracut; Dudley; Dunstable; Edgartown; Essex; "Old recs" of Fitchburgh; Framingham; Gardner; Georgetown; Gill; Grafton; Granville; Great Barrington; Greefield; Groton; Halifax; Hamilton; Hanson; Hardwick; Harvard; Haverill; Heath; Hinsdale; Holden; Holliston; Hubbardson; Hull; Ipswich; Kingston; Lawrence; Lee 1777-1801; Leominster; Lincoln; Littleton TR 1715+; Lowell; Lynn; Lynnfield; Manchester; Mansfield; Marblehead; Marlborough; Medford; Medway; Mendon; Methuen; Middlefield; Middleton; Milford; Milbury; Montgomery; Nantucket; New Ashford; New Bedford; New braintree; New Salem; Newbury; Newburyport; Newton; Northborough; Norton; Oakham; Otis; Pelham; Pembroke; Peru; Petersham; Phillipston; Plympton; Plymouth TR; Reading; Rehoboth 1642-1896; Richmond; Rochester; Rockport; Rowley; Roxbury; Salem; Sandisfield; Saugus; Scituate; Sharon; Shelborne; Sturbridge; Sutton; Swansea (BookA); Taunton; Truro; Topsfield; Tyngsborough; Tyringham; Uxbridge; Wakefield; Warren; Washington; Wayland; West Boylston; West newbury; West Springfield; West Stockbridge; Westford; Weston town recs; Westport; Weymouth; Williamstown; Winchendon; Windsor; Worthington; Worcester.

Resources

The following volunteer-run websites deserve the bulk of the credit for providing the transcriptions above:
- Early Vital Records of Massachusetts [2] - most transcriptions have associated images, and there is a surname index
- Dunham, Wilcox, Trott, Kirk by Jane Devlin [3] - also contains extensive records from Connecticut, and some NH, NY, RI.
- Ray Brown's Place [4] - also has many Connecticut towns, and some New York
- Berkshire County, MA Rootsweb [5]