Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Genealogy

United States &gt; New Hampshire &gt; Hillsborough County

History



 * named for Wills Hill, the Viscount Hillsborough who was British Secretary of State for the Colonies at the time.

Parent County

 * Created 19 March 1771 from the Colonial lands.

Boundary Changes

 * Northern part of county set off to create Merrimack County in 1823.

Populated Places
Cities:

Towns:

Villages:

Neighboring Counties
Cheshire | Merrimack | Rockingham | Sullivan | Massachusetts counties: Essex | Middlesex | Worcester

Cemeteries

 * St. Joseph Cemetery in Bedford and Manchester, New Hampshire has its cemetery records available online.
 * Old Dunstable Cemetery, Nashua BillionGraves

City Directories

 * The 1866 Manchester Directory is available on Google Books.
 * Clarke's 1879 Manchester Almanac, City Directory, and Business Index is available on Google Books.
 * Ancestry.com ($) has most Manchester City directories from 1844-1964 available online. Ancestry is free at some libraries.

Court
The Court of Common Pleas and the Superior Court are the principal court records. Court records begin in 1773 when the county was established, Many Hillsborough County court records are being transferred to the New Hampshire State Archives in Concord, New Hampshire. The State Archives, for example, has docket books, 1794- ca. 1836; judgement books, 1783- ca. 1900; inventories 1793-1821, and some case records from 1772.

Land
The land records for Hillsborough County are primarily kept at the courthouse at 19 Temple St., Nashua, New Hampshire 03060, tel. 603-882-6933. The office is open from 8 to 4, Mondays through Fridays. The records begin in 1773 when the county was formed. You can find information on New Hampshire deeds at the internet site www.nhdeeds.com.

Local Histories
An excellent way to gain information about family history and local history is to contact the local town historical society. For a list of the societies, see the web site of the Association of Historical Societies of New Hampshire. At that site click on the Directory tab, and scroll down to see the alphabetical list of towns and addresses.


 * Clarke's 1875 Manchester: A brief record of its past and a picture of its present... is available on Google Books.

Civil War

 * Amherst in the great civil conflict of 1861-65, compiled by Edward D. Boylston - Available on microfiche at the Family History Library.
 * History and Genealogy of Goffstown, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire - Military Record 1861-65
 * History of Bedford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire - Participants of the Civil War, see page 281.
 * History of Brookline, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire - Lists participants in the Civil War.
 * Manchester men soldiers and sailors in the Civil War, 1861-'66, by George C. Gilmore - Online Book - Also available on microfiche at the Family History Library.


 * Milford in the Great War: Memorial Book by Milford Memorial Book Committee (Milford, NH: Town of Milford, 1922) (digitized book). NOTE: although the cover reads Milford in the World War 1917-1918, the title page reads Milford in the Great War: Memorial Book.


 * Civil War service men from Hillsborough County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are many companies or regiments that were formed from men of Hillsborough County.


 * - 2nd Regiment, New Hampshire Infantry, Companies C, G, and I.

Naturalizations
The New Hampshire State Archives in Concord, New Hampshire now has many of the pre-1900 naturalization records of Hillsborough County. They have the naturalization records for 1859-1871, and 1890-1900. The files are in alphabetical order. They also have in a filing cabinet an index to the naturalizations for 1848-1990s. They may receive additional naturalization records.

Newspapers

 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has Portsmouth newspapers (1898-2007), The Lowell Sun (Massachusetts), and Fitchburg newspapers (Massachusetts) covering local news that included residents from Hillsborough County communities.

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 so that earlier vital records could be transcribed onto the cards and submitted to the state. However, not all earlier records were sent to the state. If a record is not found in the states compiled records it may exist in the records of the city or town clerk.

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
 * Nashua New Hampshire Family History Center

Web Sites

 * The Hillsborough County NHGenWeb Project, an member of The NHGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Hillsborough County
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Hillsborough County (backup site)
 * Family History Library catalog for Hillsborough County
 * Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)