Lincoln County, Maine Genealogy

United States Maine  Lincoln County

Guide to Lincoln County Maine genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Clerk Courts has marrige, probate and land records from 1860 and court records from 1861. Clerk Superior Court has probate records from 1760 1764.

History

 * Named for English city, Lincoln in Lincolnshire, England

Parent County
Created 19 June 1760 from York County.

Boundary Changes

 * 7 counties were created over the years:
 * Hancock County 25 June 1789.
 * Washington County 25 June 1789.
 * Kennebec County 20 February 1799.
 * Waldo County 7 February 1827.
 * Androscoggin County 18 March 1854.
 * Sagadahoc County 4 April 1854.
 * Knox County 9 March 1860.

Places / Localities
Towns

Plantation: Monhegan. For further details see Maine plantations.

Renamed Town: Pownalborough was incorporated in 1760, when Lincoln County was created in the Maine District of Massachusetts. Pownalborough included the present towns of Dresden (West Precinct), Wiscasset (East Precinct), and Alna. Dresden and Alna were set off on their own and incorporated in 1794. Pownalborough  was renamed Wiscassett  in 1802. Please note that these towns were always part of Lincoln County and never part of Cumberland County, which was also created in 1760. There is a town named Pownal located in Cumberland County that was formed in 1808. Records have been transcribed by persons who had no knowledge of Maine history and assumed that Pownalborough, Maine and Pownal, Maine were the same town (with the name shortened).

Extinct Plantations:   (aka Louds Island)

Unorganized territories:  |. For further details see Maine townships.

Communities:  Boothbay Harbor | Damariscotta-Newcastle | Waldoboro | Wiscasset

Villages:  Bayville | New Harbor

Neighboring Counties: Kennebec  | Knox | Sagadahoc | Waldo

Newspapers
Maine Newspaper Archive Indexes Free; Digital Page Images $ (GenealogyBank $) Twenty-two early Maine 18th and 19th century newspapers, 1785-1898 online. Indexes (free); digital images ($). These newspapers are from Augusta, Bangor, Belfast, Brunswick, Castine, Eastport, Falmouth, Hallowell, Kennebunk, Portland, Saco and Wiscasset.

Early Maine newspapers routinely reported on news, obituaries, births, marriages etc. from around the state. Be sure to search the indexes for all Maine newspapers to find your target ancestor.

Wiscasset, Lincoln County, newspapers online:


 * Lincoln Intelligencer. Indexes Free, digital pages $. 1821-1822. at GenealogyBank.
 * Lincoln Telegraph. Indexes Free, digital pages $. 1821-1822. at GenealogyBank.
 * Wiscasset Argus. Indexes Free, digital pages $. 1797-1798. at GenealogyBank.
 * Wiscasset Telegraph. Indexes Free, digital pages $. 1796-1799. at GenealogyBank

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

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