House History Research in Massachusetts
House history research in Massachusetts can be done through online research with a combination of government websites and genealogy database sites. It will depend quite a bit on the county you are researching in and how much that county has put online. In some cases you will find everything online and other cases your options will be more limited. The records that are not online can be in your county and most likely at your library or town hall.
House History Research Guides for Cities and Towns in Massachusetts
Click here for in-depth, town-level house history guides.
Land and Probate Records
Land Records
Land records in Massachusetts are found at the county level at the Registry of Deeds. There are 14 counties in Massachusetts but a number of the counties are broken up into several registry districts. As a result, the system that exists has 21 registry districts.
- Barnstable
- Berkshire – North, Middle and South districts
- Bristol – North Bristol, Bristol Fall River and South Bristol
- Dukes
- Essex – North Essex and South Essex
- Franklin
- Hampden
- Hampshire
- Middlesex – North Middlesex and South Middlesex
- Nantucket
- Norfolk
- Plymouth
- Suffolk
- Worcester – North Worcester and Worcester
You can find links to all 21 Massachusetts Registry Districts here – https://www.masslandrecords.com/
You can find the Registry of Deeds for your city or town here.
Probate Records
This is the link to the Massachusetts Probate Court. On the website click the Locations tab to see a map of the county locations –
https://www.mass.gov/orgs/probate-and-family-court
Massachusetts Articles
This fall I researched the Jonatham Larcom house in Chelmsford, MA for a talk I recently gave for the Chelmsford Public Library. I’d thought I’d…
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I gave a house history talk in the wonderful village of West Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod last Thursday. I thought I’d follow up with…
Make your research easier by searching for Charlton historical maps that will show the existence of your house through the years. In some cases you’ll…
Historical maps are an important piece of house history research. They help you determine if your house existed at a particular time and they can…
Here is a list of local history books that may be a source of photos for your house or information about the history of Wrentham….
The first step to your house history research begins with a quick stop at Wayland Town Hall online. By taking this step, you will get…
The recent presentation for the Wayland Historical Commission / Wayland Free Public Library – 10 Steps to Researching the History of Your House in Wayland,…
Last night at my talk in Wayland I showed how you can start to learn about a farm from Tax Valuation Lists. In the tax…
