Hampshire County, Massachusetts Genealogy

United States Massachusetts  Hampshire County

County Courthouse
City Clerks have birth, marriage, and death records, Probate Court has probate and divorce records, District Court has court records, Register of Deeds has land records from 1600's

The legislature approved special charters to allow Hampshire and Hampshire counties to become regional councils of government.

Parent County
7 May 1662: Created from Massachusetts Bay Colony lands from Middlesex County. As is common in large New England counties, the county had two county courthouses, Northampton in the north and Springfield in the south.

Boundary Changes

 * Counties were set off:
 * Worcester County 5 Apr 1731
 * Berkshire County 28 May 1760
 * Franklin County 24 June 1811
 * Hampden County 25 Feb 1812. Created from the southern part of Hampshire with Springfield as the county seat.

Cities:
Easthampton | Northampton

Towns
Amherst | Belchertown | Chesterfield | Cummington | Goshen | Granby | Hadley | Hatfield | Huntington | Middlefield | Pelham | Plainfield | South Hadley | Southampton | Ware | Westhampton | Williamsburg | Worthington

Neighboring Counties
Berkshire | Franklin | Hampden | Worcester

State Census
1855 Massachusetts State Census—A free Internet index and images to the 1855 Massachusetts State Census can be viewed on the FamilySearch Record Search. This index includes every name listed on the census and is linked to an image including information about each person’s residence and age in 1855, birthplace, occupation, other family members, and neighbors.

1865 Massachusetts State Census—A free Internet index and images to the 1865 Massachusetts State Census can be viewed on the FamilySearch Record Search This index includes every name listed on the census and is linked to an image including information about each person’s residence and age in 1865, birthplace, occupation, other family members, and neighbors.

Court
Until population warranted it, criminal and civil court cases were included in the same court records. The first 24 volumes in Hampshire County include civil cases from the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and criminal court cases from the Court of General Sessions of the Peace:

These volumes are completely indexed. After these 24 volumes, subsequent volumes were numbered restarting with 1. When part of Hampshire County became Hampden County in 1812, clerks copied applicable cases into the new county's records. For such cases, if you are unable to read one of the records, you may be able to read the copy in the other county.

Newspapers
Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has Fitchburg, MA newspapers (1868-1977), Pittsfield, MA newspapers (1858-1977), and North Adams, MA newspapers (1895-1977) covering local news that included Hampshire County residents.

Web Sites

 * The Hampshire County MA GenWeb Project, an member of The MAGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Hampshire County
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Hampshire County (backup site)
 * Family History Library catalog for Hampshire County