Massachusetts genealogy records

Births, marriages, and deaths, 1841 to 1935

Statewide collection of Massachusetts vital records began in 1841. The Massachusetts Archives holds births, marriages, and deaths for every city and town from 1841 to 1935. The years 1930 to 1935 were recently transferred from the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, and the Archives says it will take a few years to digitize them.

Digital copies for 1841 to 1930 are free on FamilySearch, which scanned them in partnership with the Archives. If you cannot find a record online, you can email the Archives reference staff to ask for digital images of up to five records from 1841 to 1935, with no charge.

For a copy for legal purposes, the Archives sells certified copies of records from 1841 to 1935 for 3 dollars each, ordered in person, by mail, or by email, with one order form per certificate. Payment is by cash or check made out to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Before 1841 and after 1935

For births, marriages, and deaths before 1841, the Archives directs researchers to the clerk of the city or town where the event happened. Many of these town records have already been transcribed and printed: the New York State Library notes that most public vital records of Massachusetts before 1850 have been published, in the series Vital Records of the Towns of Massachusetts.

From 1936 on, records are held by the Department of Public Health's Registry of Vital Records and Statistics in Dorchester, and by city and town clerks.

State and federal censuses

Massachusetts took its own census up to 1947, but only the 1855 and 1865 schedules survive. Both are at the Massachusetts Archives and are arranged much like the federal census of the time. A name index exists for many small towns in Essex, Middlesex, and Norfolk counties and for the city of Charlestown.

Massachusetts was the only state to use uniform printed forms for the 1790 federal census. Maine was part of Massachusetts in 1790, but its schedules are listed separately as Maine, with their own published 1908 volume. The Archives holds the state's copies of the federal population schedules for 1790 through 1880 and 1900 through 1925, plus printed indexes for 1790 to 1850. The 1890 population schedules were destroyed after a 1921 fire in Washington, but the special 1890 census of Union veterans and their widows is at the Archives on microfilm.

Courts, probate, and divorce

The Judicial Archives, a separate repository inside the Massachusetts Archives, holds permanent court records from 1620 to 1860, the first series of probate records, and naturalizations before 1906. Later court records are in Trial Court storage or still at the courthouses. The Suffolk Files hold the earliest papers of the Supreme Judicial Court and its predecessors, from 1620 to 1800, with cases from across Massachusetts and parts of Maine and New Hampshire.

Divorce cases were heard in Massachusetts courts as early as 1639. Over time different bodies handled them, including the Governor and Council in the provincial period, and from 1786 the Supreme Judicial Court took jurisdiction.

Immigration and naturalization

Massachusetts officials recorded immigrants arriving by ship at the Port of Boston from 1848 until 1891, when federal record keeping took over. More than a million people came through Boston in those years. The lists give each person's name, age, sex, occupation, country of birth, and previous residence, with the ship and arrival date, and the Archives is building a searchable passenger database from them.

Naturalizations in state Superior Courts and local District Courts are at the Judicial Archives. They usually include the declaration of intention and the petition. Before 1922, a married woman was included on her husband's petition. There is no statewide index, so for 1790 to 1906 start with the Soundex index to New England naturalizations at the National Archives in Waltham, also on FamilySearch.

Military and colonial records

The Archives holds military records from the 1600s to the present, including Civil War muster, descriptive, and bounty records. The most complete list of Massachusetts Civil War servicemen is the multi-volume Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War.

For early families, the Massachusetts Archives Collection, also called the Felt Collection, covers government and settlement from 1630 to 1800 in 328 volumes, with land grants, petitions, tax valuation lists, and military records from 1643 to 1775. It also documents early Maine and New Hampshire families. Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820, but Maine vital records are not at the Massachusetts Archives. Plymouth Colony records, including wills and deeds, are kept by the Plymouth County Commissioners, and the Archives has transcriptions with name indexes.