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| Massachusetts Vital Records |
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Massachusetts State Vital Records Office
150 Mount Vernon St., 1st Fl., Dorchester, MA 02125-3105; Main Telephone: (617) 740-2600. Check or money order should be made payable to Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Personal checks are accepted. To verify current fees, the telephone number is (617) 740-2600. This will be a recorded message. Delivery Time is 4-6 weeks by mail or you can reciebve the certificates in as little as 2-5 days by ordering on line through Vital Chek Services
- State office has Birth, Marriage & Death records since 1906. The Cost is In person: $6.00, Mail request: $11.00,
State Archives: $3.00. For earlier
records, write to The Massachusetts Archives at Columbia Point,
220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125 (617) 727-2816.
Starting with the arrival of the Pilgrims, vital events have been diligently, although not completely, recorded, preserved, and published. By legislative order, 206 (out of 364) towns had all their vital records to 1850 published. The volume (or volumes) in this Systematic Series for each town is divided into births, marriages, and deaths, then alphabetized by surname and then given name.
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Some town vital records published before and after legislative order were printed verbatim, and then indexed, making them somewhat more valuable for research purposes since original family groupings remain as recorded. Other towns' vital records have been published or microfilmed since publication of the Systematic Series. Original manuscript volumes of the Systematic Series are at the Massachusetts [State] Archives at Columbia Point. Transcriptions of vital records for several western Massachusetts towns are in the Corbin Collection and those for the Braintree area are in the Sprague Collection, both at the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
There are some early vital records which were filed by county instead of town for Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, Plymouth (marriages only), and Hampshire (from private papers).
Beginning in 1841 the state mandated that a copy of each event recorded in a town or city be sent to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, which means that two sources exist for each event after that date - the town(or city) and the state. Some towns were not in compliance however, until the late 1840s. The indexes for 1841-95 are in bound, ledger-style books, arranged in five-year periods, except for the first which is 1841-50. They are available at Massachusetts State Archives. Boston records after mandatory recording do not begin in the ledger books until 1848, but all the city's vital records (from 1630) are extant at Boston City Hall Archives. Published Boston vital records include births, deaths, marriages 1630-1699; births 1700-1800; and marriages 1700-1751; 1752-1809.
The 1841-95 vital records ledger books and indexes for the state are also available on microfilm at New England Historic Genealogical Society and through the FHL.
As of 1 January 1896 the Massachusetts Division of Health Statistics and Research, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, 150 Tremont Street, Room B-3, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, is the repository for copies of town or city recorded vital records. As with the bound ledger-style volumes for the 1841-95 period, indexes continue in five-year periods, separated into births, marriages, and deaths. Records and indexes are transferred to the Massachusetts State Archives every five years. The 1896-1900 grouping will begin the transfer process after December, 1991. Until individual death certificates were used in the 1900s, the name of the cemetery does not appear in the state copy, but it may be found in the town or city copy.
A statewide index to divorces after 1952 is available at the Registry of Vital Records, but no records are kept there.
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Most early birth records contain very little biographical information. Typical early New England town and church records, for example, give little information beyond the name of the child, date and place of birth, and parents’ names. Some localities listed only the name of the father.
While early birth records can be discouragingly lacking in information, by the mid-nineteenth century birth records in the United States began to include more information. Even though births were not widely recorded during the early years of America’s existence, the records that do exist may be the only source of a birth date for an individual and should always be consulted.
Delayed births are also important vital registrations that you should consider for obtaining biographical information. When Social Security benefits were instituted in 1937, individuals claiming benefits had to document their birth even if the state of their birth did not require registration when they were born.
Individuals who were not registered with state or county agencies at the time of their birth often applied for a delayed birth registration. Obtaining passports, insurance, and other benefits also required proof of age. Applications were accompanied with full name, address, and date and place of birth; father’s name, race, and place of birth; and evidence to support the facts presented. The evidence could be in the form of a baptismal certificate, Bible record, school record, affidavit from the attending physician or midwife, application for an insurance policy, birth certificate of a child, or an affidavit from a person having definite knowledge of the facts. Delayed birth records are usually filed and indexed separately from regular birth registrations, and it may be necessary to request a separate search for them.
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Because of the importance of the legal distribution and control of property, most states and counties began to record marriages before births and deaths. The recording of a marriage is a two-step process. Traditionally, couples apply for a license to marry, and the applications are usually filed loose among other applications or in bound volumes. Marriage returns are filed once the marriage has taken place. The latter document is the proof of a marriage (not the license application).
Marriage applications are often filled out by both the bride and groom and typically contain a significant amount of genealogical information. They may list full names of the bride and groom, their residences, races, ages, dates and places of birth, previous marriages, occupations, and their parents’ names, places of birth, and occupations.
Marriage certificates are issued by counties after the marriage ceremony is completed, and these are usually found among family items. While the certificates tend to have less biographical data than the application, the name of the individual officiating at the wedding may lead you to religious records by revealing the denomination. The religious records, in turn, may reveal the names of witnesses and other useful information.
Early American records sometimes include marriage bonds, which served as a protection for the future children of the marriage. A bond obligated a prospective groom to pay the bond if he were discovered to be a bigamist or imposter or otherwise ineligible to contract a valid marriage. As long as the marriage was legal, the bond was void. Bonds generally include the groom’s name, name of the surety, the sum, and the date of the agreement.
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Early death records in the United States provide little more than the name of the deceased, the date of death, and the place of death. Obituaries and cemetery, court, and other records often provide more information about the deceased than do most official death records created before the last quarter of the 1800s.
By 1900 death records included more details. They often include the name of the deceased; date, place, and cause of death; age at the time of death; place of birth; parents’ names; occupation; name of spouse; name of the person giving the information; the informant’s relationship to the deceased; the name and address of the funeral director; and the place of burial. Race is listed in some records, and modern death certificates generally include a Social Security number.
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