Massachusetts Vital RecordsMassachusetts for the most part is gifted with a wonderful collection of public vital records. Almost all births and deaths from 1635 until 1915 can be found online. A set of vital record books was published in the early 1900's that contain the births, marriages and deaths for most towns up until 1850. There is also an online database of Massachusetts births and deaths from 1841-1915 that complements those books. Massachusetts Town Vital Record BooksThe Massachusetts Town Vital Records were published by the New England Historical and Genealogical Society in the early 1900's and represent a collection of town vital records through 1849. Each volume contains three sections: births, marriages, and divorces. Each book is an alphabetical index to the manuscript records of the town, supplemented by information from church registers, cemetery inscriptions and other sources. The organization of the records typically follow a set pattern. Starting with Births, Marriages and then Deaths, the names are grouped alphabetically by last name, and then alphabetically by first name within the last name. Often, the same last name is spelled in multiple ways. At the end of each section (BMD) will contain a short list of "unidentified" where the person who's record is listed cannot be identified. Often the same person is listed under separate spellings for the same event, sometimes with opposing dates. It is proper in your genealogical database (family tree) to provide ALL records for future verification.
We will be adding these over the coming months. Not all volumes of all towns are available online at this time. Listed alphabetically by name of town:
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/vitalrecordssearch/VitalRecordsSearch.aspx
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