The Massachusetts Vital Records Project

If you have ancestors from Massachusetts before 1850, this site just may be the answer to your prayers.  I use it almost every week. 

First, not every town in Massachusetts has been completed. Some of the towns I really need to see are not done yet, but there is hope for the future. 

Once you get on the home page, you will have the option of clicking on surname or on town. If you know the town, that is the easier options. Once you click towns, you will then need to click on the county that the town is in. If you don't know, don't worry, if you click a county the names of the towns come up. Just keep looking until you find the one you need. 

Towns with a green star have an active link. That will take you the town and you then have the options of clicking births, marriages, and deaths. If you know the town, you will probably want to check all three. 

This site is an amazing resource and can help you to follow your family through several generations if they happen to be in the same town. In some cases, they will tell you that they have removed to another town. 

I think I also need to note that the towns in southern New Hampshire overlap with those of Massachusetts in these early records. So don't discount how useful these records can be in New Hampshire research. 

What's happening at Godfrey Library

December 2nd - Genealogy Club 9:30 a.m.- 10:30 a.m. at the library 

Using Military Pension Records Godfrey Board VP Al Fiacre will help us learn how to find these documents and how to understand them. He will focus on pensions and land bounty awards for Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War veterans in terms of the enabling laws, where to obtain the information and what information is contained in the pension file. These files contain a wealth of information as you will see from the examples Al will provide from both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 records. The talk will not include any discussion of general service records. Participants will have time after the presentation to research at the library. Genealogy Club is free to Godfrey Premium Members or $10 a session.