Sullivan County, New Hampshire Genealogy



{{New Hampshire-stub}}United States &gt; New Hampshire &gt; Sullivan County

County Courthouse
14 Main St Newport, NH 03773-1548

History



 * Named for Brigadier General John Sullivan, a Revolutionary War hero and former governor.

Parent County
Created 5 July 1827 from Cheshire County.

Record Loss
One record source that would be helpful, but was destroyed, is the 1890 census. There was a fire in Washington, D. C. in 1921 which badly damaged the records. None of the New Hampshire population records remain. The 1890 census veterans' lists were kept in a different building and were saved. They are available on microfilms and at www.ancestry.com. You can search for veterans' or widows' names.

An interesting help for 1890 is the Town and City Atlas of the State of New Hampshire, published in 1892 in Boston by the D. H. Hurd Company. The atlas has maps for almost every city, town, and village in New Hampshire. The maps show the locations of homes, and the map gives the name of the person living in the home. The above web site is from the University of New Hampshire Library.

Populated Places
City:


 * Claremont

Towns: An excellent way to gain information is to contact the local town historical society. The best list of these is found at the Association of Historical Societies of New Hampshire. At that site, click on the Directory, and scroll down to the town of interest.

Birth, marriage, and death records of many New Hampshire towns and villages are available on-line at www.familysearch.org, That site has birth records early to 1900, and marriage and death records, early to about 1948. Below is a list of the towns in Sullivan County. Many of the town birth, marriage, and death records were microfilmed and are listed in the Family History Library Catalog.

Villages:

Neighboring Counties
Cheshire | Grafton | Hillsborough | Merrimack | Vermont counties: Windham | Windsor

Biography
A very good place to contact for family histories in Sullivan County is the Newport Historical Society, 20 Central St., P. O. Box 413, Newport, NH 03773, tel. 603-863-1294, e-mail, newporths1761@gmail.com. They have a good number of local histories, and a good amount of family history information.

For the time period when Cheshire County included the Sullivan County area (1771-1827), another good place to contact for biographical information is the Historical Society of Cheshire County, in Keene, New Hampshire. They have town histories, family histories, biographical manuscripts, photographs, city directories, newspapers, business records, and other biographical information. The New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, New Hampshire is a good source for similar materials.

Cemeteries
The Newport Historical Society has collected cemetery records. (See address in Biography section above.) The internet has various sites that may be helpful, such as findagrave.com.

Church
If you know the church where your ancestor attended, or know which denomination the ancestor belonged to, the Newport Historical Society may be able to help you locate the church and its records. (See the address under Biography above.)

Court
The Sullivan County courthouse is located at 24 Main St., Newport, NH 03773. They have court records from 1827 when the county was organized, to the present. The Sullivan County Superior Court office is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m., and is closed for 12;30 - 1:00 p.m. The phone number is 603-863-3450. The Circuit District Court handles cases also. Contact the Superior Court office for assistance with the Distict Court records.

Land
If you wish to search Sullivan County land records you can go to the internet site for the Newport Historical Society. They have an internet address you can click on for searching land records. The historical society's internet address is www.newportnhhistory.org.

The Newport Historical Society has maps and books that can help you study land records, and locations of homes, farms, etc. (For their address see the Biography section above.)

Local Histories
The Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has several local history books about Sullivan County and the towns in the county. Several of the books can be read on-line through familysearch.org. For example, the History of Cheshire and Sullivan Counties, New Hampshire, by D. Hamilton Hurd, published in 1886 (FHL book 974.2 H2h, film 962,933.) This has histories of each town from early settlement to about 1885.

The Newport Historical Society is another place that thas a variety of local history books for Sullivan County. See the Biography section for their address.

Maps
Your local public library or college library may have maps or atlases to help you. For very detailed maps, or old maps, visit or write the Newport Historical Society. Their address is in the Biography section above.

Revolutionary War
Fortunately the History of Cheshire and Sullivan Counties, New Hampshire is available on-line through familysearch.org. This was written by D. Hamilton Hurd, and published in 1886 (FHL book 974.2 H2h, film 962,933). There is a history of each town with names of soldiers who served from that town in the Revolutionary War. There is also background information about activities surrounding the war.

War of 1812
Hurd's History of Cheshire and Sullivan Counties, New Hampshire, mentioned above, lists soldiers in the various towns who served in the War of 1812. Find the history of the town where the soldier lived and look in the military history section.

Civil War
Again, Hurd's book mentioned under the heading Revolutionary War is very helpful. There is a history of each town. In the military section you will generally find the names of those who fought in the Civil War, with information about the various regiments.

History books about the various Sullivan County towns often give the names of soldiers and other helpful information. See the Library Catalog in familysearch.org for Sullivan County towns and the topic History. For example, if your ancestor served in the Civil War from Claremont, Sullivan County, there is a book which you can read on-line:


 * Claremont war history, April, 1861, to April 1, 1865 : with sketches of New-Hampshire regiments, and a biographical notice of each Claremont Soldier, etc., by Otis Waite. Also available at the Family History Library.

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Newspapers
The oldest newspaper for the Sullivan County region is the Keene Sentinel, published since 1799. The offices are at 60 West St., Keene, NH 03431, tel. 603-352-1234, e-mail classified@keenesentinel.com. The web site is sentinelsource.com. See the Newspaper section for Cheshire County in the wiki for information on indexes to the Keene Sentinel.

Over the years various newspapers have been published in Sullivan County, for example for the Newport region, the New Hampshire Argus, 1834-1835. The name has changed many times, and today there is the Argus Champion. For the Claremont region there is the Claremont Eagle Times, and the Claremont Courier.

To learn more about early newspapers published in Sullivan County cities and towns, see the United States portion of the wiki, under the heading Newspapers. For example see Winifred Gregory's book American Newspapers, 1821-1936, published in 1937, reprinted in 1967 (FHL Ref Q book 970 B33a 1967, film 483713).

Vital Records
Certified copies of of birth, death, and marriage records are available from the State Division of Vital Records Administration or from the local city and town clerk where the event took place. Original records are kept by the city or town clerk and copies are sent to the state.

In 1905, when the state created the Bureau of Vital Records and Health, printed cards were distributed to the local clerks and earlier vital records were transcribed onto the cards and submitted to the state.

Births

 * are available online from FamilySearch.

Marriages

 * are available online from FamilySearch.

Deaths

 * are available online from FamilySearch.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * The Sullivan County NHGenWeb Project, an member of The NHGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Sullivan County
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Sullivan County (backup site)
 * Family History Library catalog for Sullivan County


 * Sullivan County, New Hampshire Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)