Was a county of the former Province of New York, established on September 5, 1665 from 25,100 Square Miles of land that had been granted to the Duke of York in modern Maine. As established, the grant ran all the way from the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean,and produced what today is most of Aroostook, Piscataquis, Washington, Hancock, Penobscot, Waldo, Knox, Lincoln, Kennebec, Somerset, and Sagadahoc Counties. On October 7, 1673, 200 Square Miles of this grant along the border with then existing Massachusetts was partitioned to form Devonshire, Massachusetts. The remainder of this grant was lost to the Abnaki Indians in a war in the Autumn of 1675.
Cornwall County was recreated on November 1, 1683, conforming to the original grant, still part of New York. Cornwall continued unchanged until the Spring of 1687, when Cornwall was transferred to the expanded Dominion of New England. Cornwall County was transferred to Massachusetts in 1692 and called Yorkshire. Much of this region became part of Maine when that state was admitted in 1820.
Devonshire:
District of Maine, Massachusetts Bay Colony was a short-lived county formed during the colonial territorial disputes between the Province of Massachusetts and the Province of Maine. The county existed from 1674 to 1675.
Dukes:
Dukes County, New York was formed on November 1, 1683 by New York from the Elizabeth Islands, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Island, all beyond the eastern end of Long Island in the Province of New York. It was formed at the same time as Kings County, New York, Queens County, New York, and Dutchess County, New York. The entire county was transferred to the newly formed Province of Massachusetts Bay, where it formed Dukes County, Massachusetts and Nantucket County, Massachusetts.
Norfolk:
Was one of the original four counties created in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The county existed from 1643 to 1679. In 1680 the towns of this county were divided between Essex County, Massachusetts and the newly formed state of New Hampshire so that the county ceased to exist. The former Norfolk County is often referred to as "Old Norfolk County." A new county was established as Norfolk County, Massachusetts from most of the southern portion of Suffolk County in 1793.
York:
Was a county in what is now Maine. In 1760, it was divided into three counties: York, Cumberland and Lincoln counties. In 1778, the Continental Congress divided the District of Maine, the northernmost of three districts in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the states of New England. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and southeast, Rhode Island and Connecticut on the south, and New York on the west. North of Massachusetts lie Vermont and New Hampshire. Boston is the capital and largest city of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts entered the Union on February 6, 1788, as the sixth of the original 13 states. When still a colony, it had become an important intellectual center, known for Harvard College and the cultural institutions of Boston. Many events in Massachusetts, including the Stamp Act riots (1765), the Boston Massacre (1770), and the Boston Tea Party (1773), were precursors to the American Revolution (1775-1783). The first battles of the revolution were fought in Massachusetts, and its role in colonial history can be seen in the many well-preserved landmarks in such historic places as Plymouth, Boston, Lexington, and Concord. Once the nation’s fishing and commercial capital, Massachusetts later pioneered in the fields of education, medicine, and social welfare. By the 19th century the state developed into an important manufacturing center, producing textiles and footwear; in the mid-20th century, electronic components and other high-technology items became leading manufactures. Massachusetts is famous for its summer resorts, such as the sand beaches of Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, and from its long irregular shoreline to the rolling Berkshire Hills the state offers a variety of opportunities to those seeking recreation.
The name of the state is probably derived from that of an Algonquin village. Massachusetts is called the Bay State after Massachusetts Bay, the site of the Puritans’ colony. Those early settlers from Europe provide the state with other nicknames, including the Pilgrim State and the Puritan State. The Official State Website is http://www.mass.gov/. See also our Massachusetts History Page
The destruction of courthouses greatly affects genealogists in every way. No only are these historic structures torn from our lives, so are the records they housed: marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others. Once destroyed they are lost forever. Even if they have been placed on mircofilm, computers and film burn too. The most heartbreaking side of this is the fact that many of our courthouses are destroyed at the hands of arsonist. However, not all records were lost.
Below is a list of Massachusetts Counties and the years the Courthouses were subjected to a disaster. This does NOT mean that ALL RECORDS were lost. Often, folks took their documents again in for recording after a disaster and later deeds will contain long chains of title, etc.
Barnstable County - Fire destroyed nearly all the early deed books and probate files, but probate books survived. Although the official deed books only begin in 1827, many deeds were pre-recorded back to about 1783, though these are far from complete.
