Scarborough, Cumberland County, Maine Genealogy

Brief History
Additional data on Scarborough, Maine can be found in  WikiPedia: the Free Encyclopedia .

Church Records
Historically, the largest religious groups in Maine were the Congregational, Baptist, Roman Catholic, and Methodist churches. For general information about Maine denominations, view the Maine Church Records wiki page. To see the churches in Scarborough, visit FamilySearch Places. Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. The following are church records available online for the town of Scarborough:

First Congregational Church
Marriage records of the First Congregational Church, Scarborough, Maine - 1729-1852 were printed in the Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder - Volume III (1886) Issues no. 2, no. 3, and no. 4

Second Congregational Church
Marriage records of the Second Congregational Church, Scarboro, Maine, 1729-1800 - Digital Version on Family Search.

Land Records
The following are online land records for the town of Scarborough: Documents related to the ownership of real estate are recorded at the Registry of Deeds. Scarborough land records are included with Cumberland County and are available online for searching, viewing, and download at LandRecords.Com.

Libraries and Historical Societies
Scarborough Historical Society and Museum

Scarborough Public Library

Maps
The following are online maps of the town of Scarborough:

Newspapers
The Scarborough Public Library has a limited online collection of Scarborough newspapers, including:


 * Scarborough Leader (1995-2018)
 * Southern Forecaster (2003-2018)
 * Current (2001-2016)
 * Sun Times (1989-1993)
 * Forecaster (Southern Edition) (2002-2003)
 * Scarborough News Review (1978-79)
 * Cumberland County (2009)

Probate Records
In Maine, most probate records are kept at the town level. The following are online probate records for the town of Scarborough:

Tax Records
Tax Valuation ledgers provide information regarding property owners (property tax) and voters (poll tax).

1841 Tax Valuation Ledger - Digital Maine.

1875 Tax Valuation Ledger - Digital Maine

Town Records
In Maine, most records are kept at the town level and generally began being kept at the founding of the town. These records may include the following:  Births Marriages Deaths Burials Cemetery records Appointments Earmarks Estrays (stray animals)</li> Freemens' oaths (men eligible to vote)</li> Land records</li> Mortgages</li> Name changes</li> Care of the poor</li> School records</li> Surveys</li> Tax lists</li> Town meeting minutes</li> Voter registrations</li> Warning outs (of town)</li>

The following are Scarborough town records available online:

Town Clerk
The town clerk is responsible for these records, and so most originals can be found at the town clerk's office. Town of Scarborough Town Clerk Scarborough Municipal Building 259 U.S. Route One Scarborough, ME 04074 Phone (207)730-4021

Town of Scarborough Annual Reports
Town Reports can be a marvelous resource to learn about various individuals within the town. Sections of the Town Annual Reports typically include bills paid for building roads and bridges, expenses for the poor, and the superintendent of schools report, which includes names of teachers, where they taught, and occasionally the names of students. Reports have been scanned, OCRed, and are available at. Digital Maine - Scarborough Books. Annual Reports available at Digital Maine include various years from 1854 to 1893.

Transportation
The First Cumberland Turnpike Corporaton was created in 1802 to build a short road in Scarboro. It crossed the Scarborough Marsh in a straight line from Dunstan to Oak Hill along what is now US Route 1.

Vital Records
The town of Scarboro(ugh)kept annual town reports. These reports often contained birth, marriage, and death information. Below is a list of years when Scarboro(ugh) kept town reports. (NOTE: Occasionally, these town reports missed vital statistics information from the end of the year. If you don't find your ancestor's vital information, check the following year's town report to see if your ancestor's information was recorded later.)

Births
"Scarboro, Cumberland, Maine computer printout : births or christenings, 1755-1875" is available to browse online at Family Search.. The Scarboro records are alphabetical and begin at image 375 and continue to page. It contains 2,289 names.

"Scarborough - Town and vital records, 1681-1893 (1908)" are available online at Family Search. Four of the image sets are searchable and one is browseable.
 * 1670-1921 at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index and images
 * 1739-1900 at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index

Marriages
"Scarborough - Town and vital records, 1681-1893 (1908)" are available online at Family Search. Four of the image sets are searchable and one is browseable.
 * 1670-1921 at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index and images

Deaths
"Scarborough - Town and vital records, 1681-1893 (1908)" are available online at Family Search. Four of the image sets are searchable and one is browseable.
 * 1670-1921 at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index and images

Obituaries - Scarborough Historical Society - See Index and Images of Obituaries for instructions.