Suffolk County, Massachusetts Genealogy

United States &gt; Massachusetts &gt; Suffolk County

County Courthouse

 * County government was abolished in 1999 (Wikipedia)

Parent County

 * Created 10 May 1643 from the Massachusetts Bay Colony lands.

Boundary Changes

 * Set off Worcester County 5 April 1731.
 * Set off Norfolk County 26 March 1793.

Cities:
Boston | Chelsea | Revere | Winthrop

Neighboring Counties
Essex | Middlesex | Norfolk

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 – Pilot Site. 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.

Directories

 * Fold3.com ($) has 116 years of Boston City Directories spanning 1789-1926 available online.

Newspapers

 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has Boston newspapers that covered local news on Suffolk County communities. Some libraries including the Boston Public Library provide free access to this database.

Probate
For Suffolk County the library has 439 microfilms of probate records, dockets from 1636 to 1901, and an index to 1910. Indexes of the probate records of Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Worcester Counties have also been published. Each county has its own probate court.

A series of pre-1670 Suffolk County will abstracts, which originally appeared in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, have been reprinted in:


 * Suffolk County Wills. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, Inc., 1984. (Family History Library .)

Yearbooks

 * Boston College - 1913-1972
 * Northeastern University: 1917-1995

Web Sites

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