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Introduction to the Massachusetts Vital Records 1841–1910 Database

The Massachusetts Vital Records 1841–1910 database is one of our most challenging projects to date. While we are sure you will find this database to be an essential part of your reference library, we wish to alert you to a few characteristics unique to this database and to the Massachusetts Vital Records in general.

What will I find in the Contents of the Database?

There are two components to this database:

• The Index
• The Records

USING THE INDEX
The entire Index has been added to this database and Records will be added regularly until the project is complete.

The Index contains the following information:

• name of individual
• town or village of event
• year of event
• volume and page number of original record

The sample below is what will appear on the search results page. At the far right side of each entry on the search results page you will either see linked text that reads "View Original Image" or regular text that reads "Image Not Available." Clicking on the "View Original Image" link will bring you to the Record, which contains much additional data.

THE RECORDS
The data recorded in the Massachusetts Vital Records varies depending on the year and the type of record.

BIRTH RECORDS
Birth records typically include the name of the child, date and place of birth, gender, and parents’ names and places of birth.

MARRIAGE RECORDS
Marriage records include the names, ages, and residences of the bride and groom, their places of birth, and their parents’ names, as well as the date and place of marriage.

DEATH RECORDS
Death records include the name of the decedent, the date and place of death, place of birth, age at death, residence of decedent, and parents’ names and places of birth. In later years the place of burial was also included.

These records have been indexed by the name of the subject of the record (i.e. person born, bride and groom, deceased). The indexes are linked to images of the original records (when available), which provide much additional data (date and place of the event, parents’ names, etc.).

The indexes allow records to be searched by record type, year, town, and county. A citation to volume and page number will also be provided. When checking birth records it is critical to note that children were not necessarily named at birth. There are many entries for “(Male) Smith” and “(Female) Jones.” Searching by town, year, and surname will help you find such “hidden” data. Additional records will be released regularly, over an extended period of time, on NewEnglandAncestors.org.

Missing Images
If a name appears in the index but the image of the record is not available, the record is likely to appear in future installments of the database. However, in some cases there will be no image available at all, even when the name appears in the index. There are a few reasons why:

• Some pages of the original records were destroyed and no longer exist (this is most often the case at the beginning and at the end of the volumes).
• An asterisk (*) next to an index entry indicates that the record is in the volumes of amended records. [Original amended record books and post-1910 records are kept at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Division of Public Records. Amended records from 1841 to 1910 are available on microfilm at the Massachusetts Archives.] 
• The original index contains some errors. If we could not verify a name, we did not make the image available.
  

Remember that vital records were originally kept at the town level and a copy was sent to the state. Records that were destroyed or missing in the state's copy are likely to still exist in the town's original. Write the clerk of the town where the event occurred. The addresses of town clerks of Massachusetts are found here. Additionally, most town records from 1841 up to the late 1800s are available on Family History Library microfilm.

From 1841 to 1849 vital statistics were recorded from May 1 of a given year to April 30 of the next year. After 1850 the statistics were recorded from January to December.

The original records are kept at the Massachusetts Archives, and access to them is limited. For additional information about the Archives, please visit their website.

NOTE:
NEHGS has these records on microfilm and photocopies are available by ordering In-Depth Research from our Research Services department.

MrSID Image Viewer
This database uses the MrSID Image Viewer, a plugin we first employed for our Massachusetts/Maine 1798 Direct Tax database. This free viewer allows you to view superior-quality images of the original record and to view, zoom, and otherwise manipulate the images, save them to your computer as JPEG, BMP, or .Sid format, and easily print them out. The images used in this database were either scanned directly from the volumes themselves or from the microfilms of the records.

Those using a dialup Internet connection in conjunction with the MrSID viewer may experience download times of up to a minute or more per image. It is important to note that members can view and manipulate original images without employing MrSID, although the image quality will not be as crisp and viewing options are reduced. If you do not wish to use MrSID, simply do not download it - a default viewer is already provided. Those with dialup connections may find that download speed is improved when using the default viewer instead of MrSID.