Where to turn for help

Published on August 15, 2008

When tracking one's genealogy, it is always important to start from the present and work backward. Talk to living relatives and record their remembrances and family stories. Find out where and when people were born and then go look for the documents to support this.

Census information can be obtained from regional offices of the National Archives and Records Administration and from major universities, such as the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where federal records are kept.

Locally, there are two regional archives in Massachusetts, in Pittsfield and in Waltham, both of which contain microfilm copies of all of the extant federal censuses from 1790 on. They also have ship manifests for major ports of immigration and microformat records for immigrants who entered through Ellis Island.

Some state history organizations, such as the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Massachusetts and the Minnesota Historic Society, have begun to store copies of newspapers and other historic documents in microformat, or even as electronic files available online.

In Massachusetts, birth records are often kept in town halls. In other states, county or state governments keep vital records, including marriages births and deaths. However, be warned that in some states, the existence of early records is spotty at best and one should always look for supporting documentation.

- George Claxton

Following are some resources:

New England Historic Genealogical Society, 101 Newbury St., Boston, (617) 536-5740 www.newenglandancestors.org

Wistariahurst Museum, 238 Cabot St., Holyoke, 322-5660 www.wistariahurst.org

Forbes Library, 20 West St., Northampton, 587-1011, www.forbeslibrary.org.

The Hampshire Room for Local History and Special Collections offers extensive resources in local history and genealogy and a large collection of historic Northampton photographs. Town papers, maps and manuscripts are all available there.

Greenfield Public Library, 402 Main St., Greenfield, 772-1544, www.greenfieldpubliclibrary.org

The Greenfield Room also has extensive resources in local history ad genealogy including lists of soldiers and sailors from the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

National Archives and Records Administration, 10 Conte Drive, Pittsfield, 236-3600, and 380 Trapelo Road, Waltham, (781) 663-0130, www.archives.gov

Both locations contain each state's federal census records from 1790-1930, a collection of naturalization papers and some ship and military records.

Massachusetts State Archives, 220 Morrissey Blvd., Boston (on the UMass-Boston campus), (617) 727-2816, www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/

The state archive houses all state vital records from 1841 to 1910, port of Boston passenger lists from the late 1800s and some naturalization lists.

Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, 150 Mount Vernon St., Dorchester, (617) 740-2600, www.mass.gov/dph/rvrs

The registry has birth, death and marriage certificates after 1910.

Western Massachusetts Jewish Genealogical Society, www.wmjgs.org

Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts, P.O. Box 381, Northampton 01061

The local group is affiliated with Polish Genealogical Society of America, which has a Web site, www.pgsa.org.

Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society, www.westmasgen@comcast.net

Also:

Local town and city clerk offices, for birth, death and marriage records

Area town and city libraries (reference departments)

Web sites

www.ancestry.com

www.usgenweb.com

www.ellisisland.org

www.familysearch.org

www.jewishgen.org

www.genealogy.com