Nantucket County, Massachusetts Genealogy

United States Massachusetts  Nantucket County

This is a historical and genealogical guide to the county of Nantucket. You will find help with town histories, vital records, deeds and land records, city directories, cemetery records and cemeteries, churches, town records, newspapers, maps, and libraries.

Brief History
The settlers on Nantucket are generally an insular group. Many surnames are uniquely identified to this island. As an island, its inhabitants moved about the coastline freely. The island is home to a large Quaker community. Its earliest history is tied to Martha's Vineyard, so research there would be important if you run into problems

Historical Data
The basic data are from the historical county boundary series with additions from various sources.

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Towns and Cities
The following list of present-day Nantucket County towns and cities links them to their individual pages. There you will find a list of other names used for the town or city and of villages and sections of the town or city. Nantucket (1671) Top of Page

County Histories
Works written on the county include:

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 * Allen Coffin, "The Courts of Nantucket - the law and lawyers from an early period" in Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association, 1907: 30-42. WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FHL. Digital versions at Google Books and Hathi Trust.
 * Marie M. Coffin, The History of Nantucket Island: a bibliography of source material with index and inventory (Nantucket, 1970), viii, 63 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Craig Cornish, "The Cession and Annexation of Nantucket" in Green Bay, 11 [1899]: 125-130. Not in WorldCat; Not in FHL. No digital version found.
 * Burnham N. Dell, "Quakerism on Nantucket" in Historic Nantucket, 2 [Jan. 1955]: 8-30. WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FHL.
 * Myron Samuel Dudley, Churches and Pastors of Nantucket, Mass., from the first settlement to the present time, 1659-1902 (Boston, 1902), 21 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FHL. Note: Also published as "Two Centuries of Churches and Pastors in Nantucket, Mass." in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 56 [1902]: 17-26. Digital versions at Internet Archive, Hathi Trust, and Ancestry ($).
 * Gerald S. Graham, "The Migrations of the Nantucket Whale Fishery: An episode in British Colonial Policy" in the New England Quarterly, 8 [1935]: 179-202. WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FHL. Digital version at Jstor (free online).
 * Lydia Swain Mitchell Hinchman, Early Settlers of Nantucket, their associates and descendants (1896; Philadelphia, 4th ed., 1934), 330 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries) (2nd enl. ed., 1901); (with digital link) (2nd enl. ed., 1901) [see other editions]. Digital versions at Internet Archive, Google Books, Ancestry ($), and Ancestry ($) (2nd enl. ed., 1901).
 * Clarence King, "What Became of the First Book of Nantucket Town Records, hidden in 1677" in Historic Nantucket, 11 [Oct. 1963]: 24-27. WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FHL.
 * Obed Macy, The History of Nantucket, being a compendious account of the first settlement of the island by the English, together with the rise and progress of the whale fishery ... (1835; Mansfield, Mass., 2nd ed., 1880), xiv, 313 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries); . Digital versions at Internet Archive (1880 ed.) and Hathi Trust.
 * William Francis Macy, "Migrations of Nantucketers to the South and West" in Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association, 1933: 24-27. [WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FHL.
 * Alexander Starbuck, The History of Nantucket, county, island and town, including genealogies of first settlers (Boston, 1924; rep. many times), 871 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries) (1969 ed.); (with digital link). Note: The genealogies section was reprinted separately as Nantucket Genealogies (Baltimore, 2001): WorldCat (Other Libraries); . Digital version at Ancestry ($).
 * George Rogers Taylor, "Currents of Migration on Nantucket, 1760-1780" in Historic Nantucket, 22 [July 1974]: 14-20. WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FHL.
 * The Nantucket County MA GenWeb Project, an member of The MAGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project has no section for Nantucket County.
 * Family History Library catalog for Nantucket County.

Vital Records
In Massachusetts, the original vital records (of births, marriages, and deaths) have been created and maintained by the town or city in which the event occurred. In very early colonial times, copies of these records were submitted to the county, but that practice died out long before 1800. There were marriage intentions commonly recorded in the bride's home town and additional recordings maybe found in the groom's home town and their current residence.

Massachusetts was the first state to bring a unified state-level recording of these events (but not marriage intentions) in 1841 (Boston excluded until 1850). The associated records of divorce and adoption are handled by the courts. The state has maintained a state-wide index to divorces since 1952, but adoption records will require more researching to discover.

It is easiest to start with the state vital records for events since 1841, though realize the original record is with the town or city. More details can be found on the Massachusetts Genealogy Guide page. Top of Page

Land Records
Land transfers, commonly called deeds, are recorded on the county level in Massachusetts. Not all deeds were recorded as is common practice today. The earliest transactions were charters or grants from the English Crown. Once local government was established, the colony would grant land to settlers directly or to towns to dole out. Some towns first start out as proprietorship and records were recorded there. Once towns were established, deeds were recorded on the county level.

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Original records The earliest records under New York jurisdiction are found under Record of deeds, 1652-1884, Series A0453, New York State Archives, Albany. Few deeds were recorded in practice those the Duke's Laws of 1665 provided for it. These records have been microfilmed and these films are available at the Archives and FHL (though not yet identified in the FHL catalog).

Records are available at the Registry. Their records ONLINE are:

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Probate Records
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Other Court Records
The court system can appear to be complex. The system was reorganized in 1686/1692, 1859, and 1978. Described below are the most commonly used records for history and genealogy, but realize that this list is incomplete. For more detailed information regarding court structure, see Understanding the Massachusetts Court System. Older records are held by: Supreme Judicial Court Archives (administration - records stored in several off-site facilities and the Mass. Archives) 16th Floor, Highrise Court House 3 Pemberton Square Boston MA 02109 Phone 617-557-1082 Email [mailto:Elizabeth.Bouvier@sjc.state.ma.us Elizabeth.Bouvier@sjc.state.ma.us] Top of Page | Top of Court

County Court
This court was active from 1636 (called a quarterly court and then the county court when Suffolk was created in 1643) to 1692. The court heard all civil causes up to 10 shillings (raised to 40 shillings in 1647) and all criminal causes not concerning life, limb, or banishment. These were all jury trials. Some records can be found in the [Suffolk_County,_Massachusetts#Suffolk_Files|Suffolk Files].

The records microfilmed:



At the Massachusetts Archives:

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Quarterly Court of General Sessions of the Peace
This court was active from 1692 to 1827. The court heard criminal cases and had authority over county affairs that included levying taxes, reviewing town bylaws, highways, licensed liquor, regulated jails, supervised the administration of the poor laws, and appointed some county officials.

The records microfilmed:

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Inferior Court of Common Pleas
This court was active from 1692 to 1859. The court heard all civil cases over 40s unless a case involved freehold or was appealed from a justice of the peace.

The records microfilmed:

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Superior Court
The Quarterly Court of General Sessions was merged into the Inferior Court of Common Pleas in 1827, and that court was reorganized in 1859 to created the Superior Court as the new lower (i.e. trial) court. It covers both criminal and civil matters.

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Supreme Judicial Court
The Supreme Judicial Court was established by the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 that combined the former Governor and Council with the Superior Court of Judicature creating the highest state court. This court hears appeals, writ of error, capital offenses, and crimes against the public good. That included divorces until that action was moved to the lower court in 1887.

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Naturalization Records
Naturalization records were created on a variety of governmental levels from the Federal down to the city at the same time. The county records for all levels are outlines below. For more information, see the Massachusetts state page for more on naturalization. Federal Naturalization Records for Nantucket County

Nantucket County Naturalization Records

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Maps
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Nantucket County Massachusetts Genealogy Societies
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Nantucket County Massachusetts Genealogy References
Adjacent counties: Massachusetts: Barnstable | Dukes New York: Suffolk County