Today we’re announcing new vital records from 13 towns in Berkshire and Hampden counties added to Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850.
This update includes over 82,900 records and 182,300 names.
Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 presents the vital records of many (but not all) towns in Massachusetts. The volumes that comprise this database come from a variety of different sources including vital records published by NEHGS, vital records published by other individuals or organizations (such as Franklin P. Rice, the Essex Institute, or the General Society of Mayflower Descendants), and manuscripts from the NEHGS collection.
The new records added in this update come from the Corbin Collection, specifically the 2003 CD that transcribes the contents of the original manuscript collection located in the R. Stanton Avery Special Collections here at NEHGS.
Walter and Lottie Corbin, the genealogists who created the Corbin Collection lived in Florence, MA. According to the introduction to the CD, Walter and Lottie “traveled throughout western Massachusetts transcribing and compiling records until they had assembled perhaps the largest and most valuable collection of materials ever created for this area. The Corbins traversed the countryside transcribing church records, vital records, cemeteries, probate records, and many private records. They visited individuals in their homes, traipsed through overgrown cemeteries, and carefully examined dusty, centuries-old volumes in clerk’s offices, libraries, and churches.” The Corbins’ collection of records, most of which pertain to the 1650-1850 time period was purchased by NEHGS in 1964.
We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help in making these towns available online.
The new volumes are listed below:
Cheshire – V1
Hancock – V1
Lanesborough – V1
Monterey – V1
New Marlborough – V1
Pittsfield – V1
Chicopee – V1
Hampden – V1
Holland – V1
Holyoke – V1
Ludlow – V1
Russell – V1
Wales – V1
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.