Christine Sharbrough wrote Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850: Are they really? on The ProGenealogists Blog on Sunday. She described the collection of Massachusetts town books, many of them called the "Tan Books," which were created from whatever records were available from different towns in Massachusetts - town records, church records, personal records, probate records, cemetery records, etc.
ProGenealogists have created the Massachusetts Genealogy Databases web page with links to some of the town record books that are available online at free or commercial web sites. I counted records for 11 towns, which is about half of the total available in the "Tan Book" series. There are also some books online that are not in the "Tan Book" series, and there are some town vital record books that are not online due to recent publication and/or copyright restrictions.
While this list is very helpful, it is not complete. I hope that ProGenealogists will update it as they acquire more information about online Massachusetts town vital record books. For instance, there are online books available for:
* Vital records of Leominster, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849
* Vital records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849
* Vital records of Ashburnham, Massachusetts: to the end of the year 1849
* Vital records of West Boylston, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849
* Vital records of Warren [formerly Western], Massachusetts, to the year 1850
* Vital records of Framingham, Massachusetts, to the year 1850
* Vital records of Roxbury, Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849
* Vital records of Southborough, Massachusetts: to the end of the year 1849
* Vital records of Northborough, Massachusetts to the end of the year 1850
* Vital records of Marlborough, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849
Those are some of the ones I've found during my research endeavors - and I have ancestors in all of them but Warren, I believe. There are plenty more town vital record books available online that are not on the ProGenealogists list.
While looking for the town record books noted above, I ran across perhaps the most complete listing of the records available for each Massachusetts town on the Massachusetts Genealogy website at http://www.massachusetts-genealogy.com/. There are lists by county, by town, by record type, and much more. It looks like a fantastic resource for researchers with colonial Massachusetts ancestors.
So - a two-fer - I like the ProGenealogists list, and I like the Massachusetts Genealogy website too. Already favorites!
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2024.
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A large percentage of the "Tan Books" can be found by searching Google Books. Just search for Vital Records and the town name. http://books.google.com
Some of those missing in Google books can be found on the Open Library site. http://openlibrary.org
The books are wonderful resources for researchers who have ancestors in Massachusetts.
Good article Randy. Thanks!
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