Maine Town Records

Town records may contain records of births, marriages, burials, cemeteries, appointments, earmarks, estrays (stray animals), freemen's oaths (men eligible to vote), land, mortgages, name changes, care of the poor, schools, surveys, tax lists, town meeting minutes, voter registrations, and "warnings out" (of town).

In New England the town clerk is the principal local record keeper. Town records generally begin with the founding of a town and are kept to the present.

Town records are also found at the Maine State Archives. A guide to this collection can be found in:


 * Leclerc, Michael, editor. Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research. Boston, Massachusetts : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012. Earlier editions of this book are also valid as the microfilmed town records collection hasn't changed much.

The Family History Library has microfilm copies of most of the town records that contain vital records from the 1600's up to the 1890's. To access town records, use the FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search under MAINE, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - TOWN RECORDS.


 *  FamilySearch Catalog - Selected Examples
 * prepared by the Maine Historical Records Survey Project, Division of Professional and Service Projects, Work Projects Administration Town government in Maine. Portland, Maine : Historical Records Survey (Maine), 1940
 * Maine State Archives. Maine, pauper accounts by town, 1863-1907
 * Maine State Archives. Maine, voters lists, 1864

The New England Historic Genealogical Society also has holdings relating to the town records of Maine.