New Hampshire, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States New Hampshire 

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of vital and town records acquired from local town clerk offices. The collection includes records of births, marriages, and deaths for the years 1636 to 1947. The collection also includes vital registers, indexes, minutes of meetings and records of other civic activity.

Coverage Map
To see a coverage map of FamilySearch's holdings of New Hampshire marriages, click here.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The birth records may include any of the following:
 * Name of child
 * Date and place of birth
 * Gender
 * Race
 * Parents' names, residence, age, race, occupation and birthplace

The marriage records may include any of the following:
 * Name of the bride and groom
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Parents' names, residence, age, race, occupation and birthplace
 * Residence
 * Age
 * Occupation
 * Birthplace
 * Number of marriage

The death records may include any of the following:
 * Name of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Gender
 * Race
 * Age
 * Marital status
 * Occupation
 * Place of birth
 * Cause of death
 * Parents' names, birthplace, and occupation
 * Burial date and place

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know the following:
 * The place where the event occurred.
 * The approximate date the event occurred.
 * The name of the primary individual or individuals such as the names of the bride and groom, the infant, or the deceased.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the "County" ⇒Select the "Town" ⇒Select the "Record Type, Date Range and Volume" which takes you to the images.

Some towns have indexed their records and the indexes are listed as a selection within the "Record Type, Date Range and Volume." If the town you are researching has an index you may want to search the index first.

If there is not an index, you will need to look at the images one by one. Compare the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the names and relationships as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the names and residence or place to find the family in census records and to locate church and land records.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have lived in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records.
 * Compiling the entries for every person who has the same surname as the primary individuals is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another record.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning or end of each volume. In addition, local historical and genealogical societies may have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: