Histories

Area Histories

History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men by D. Hamilton Hurd (1888) Volume 1, Volume 2

Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts by Benjamin F. Arrington (1922) Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4

Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America by Cyrus M. Tracy (1878)

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts: Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County by Samuel Drake (1879) Volume 1, Volume 2

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men by Duane Hamilton Hurd (1890) Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3

Court Records

List of freemen, Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1630 to 1691: with freeman’s oath, the first paper printed in New England by H. Franklin Andrews (1906)

Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts, Vol. I 1635-1664, Vol. II 1665-1674, Vol. III 1675-1681

Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, Vol. I 1636-1656, Vol. II 1656-1662, Vol. III 1662-1667, Vol. IV 1667-1671, Vol. V 1672-1674, Vol. VI 1675-1678, Vol. VII 1678-1680, Vol. VIII 1680-1683, Vol. IX 1683-1686

Libraries

American Antiquarian Society, a national research library of American history and culture through 1876, including the digitized collection of Farber gravestone photos, 17th- and 18th-century structures in photos taken 1887-1945, and more

New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845

Peabody Essex Museum’s Phillips Library collections, PHILCAT online catalog includes family histories, diaries, mariner records, and much more

See Roadtrips pages for digital collections and books for individual locations. For larger areas, under Research, check Digital Collections, Genealogy Links, and Land & Buildings pages. Also, see Boston page for state-wide organizations with headquarters there.