Maine Probate Records

Probate records of Maine are kept by the register of probate or the clerk of the probate court in each county. The records generally date from the year a county was formed. You can obtain copies of the original probate records by contacting the appropriate clerk's office. The addresses are listed in:

Lindberg, Marcia Wiswall. Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research. 3rd ed. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1993. (FHL book 974 D27g 1993.) This is an excellent guide to Maine towns and counties, location of public records, and genealogical societies.

The probate records include wills, depositions, administrations, guardianships, inventories, and accounts.

An excellent source of transcripts of early wills is:

Sargent, William M. Maine Wills, 1640-1760. 1887, Reprint. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1972. (FHL book 974.1 P2s 1972; 1887 edited on film 599180; fiche 6046701.)

An index to wills and other probate records from 1687 to 1800 is:

Frost, John E. Maine Probate Abstracts.Two volumes. Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1991. (FHL book 974.1 P2f; the 1986-88 edition is on ten fiche beginning with 6332995; not available at Family History Centers.) This comprises abstracts of many records of the probate courts of Maine, whether of wills, administrations, estate divisions, estate accounts, guardianships, or other court actions. Microfiche copies are also available at the Maine Historical Library and the New England Historic Genealogical Society. An index of every name is at the end of volume 2.