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Family historians with roots in the Bay State will be thrilled to know that Massachusetts ranks high when it comes to keeping vital records, with some dating back to early Colonial days. Records were kept on the town level, but in 1841 towns began sending copies of birth, marriage, and death records to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Although not all towns complied immediately, most did, and birth records from that state-level collection are the source for this database.

What You Can Find in These Records

Most of the records in this database are from birth registers, although you may find certificates for later years. Details can include the following:

• child’s name


• birthplace


• gender


• date of the registration


• birth date


• parents’ names (and in many later records, mother’s maiden name)


• father’s occupation


• parents’ residence

Additionally, some records include the parents’ birthplaces.

Because availability may vary somewhat from town to town, use the browse menus to determine what years are available for the towns where your ancestors lived. Combine your research with the Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988, collection (the Holbrook Collection), which provides more coverage of earlier years, to get an even more comprehensive look at Massachusetts vital records.

The index for the years 1911-1915 was received from NEHGS. Earlier years were transcribed by Ancestry.com.

We recognize that some of the images are of poor quality and can be difficult to read. Unfortunately, this is not something we are able to correct.

This collection includes marriage records from Virginia.

You can learn more about this collection at the FamilySearch website.

This database is an index extracted from more than 750,000 death and burial records from Virginia.

What’s in the Index

Volunteers extracted the details in this index from microfilmed copies of church, civil, family, and other records of Virginia deaths and burials. Note that the number of available records can vary widely by county, and this database does not necessarily represent a comprehensive set of death records for the state during this time.

Details in the index entries vary depending on the original record, but they may include

• name


• birth date


• birthplace


• age


• occupation


• race


• gender


• residence


• street address


• spouse


• marital status


• date of death


• place of death


• date of burial


• place of burial


• cemetery


• father’s name and birthplace


• mother’s name and birthplace


• FHL film number

The FHL film number refers to a microfilm copy of the source held by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Because this database includes details extracted from family records, researchers will want to confirm facts with original and primary sources.