Massachusetts Land Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains land and property records from the Massachusetts Land Office and county courthouses. Records include land grants, patents, deeds, and mortgages. This collection includes all counties in Massachusetts.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Land
 * Names of interested parties
 * Date of transaction
 * Legal description of the property
 * Monies exchanged
 * Details of the transaction
 * Names of witnesses

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The names of interested parties
 * The approximate date of the land transaction
 * The location of the property

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and census records
 * Search for the land transactions of a couple and their children. The parents may have sold or given property to a son or daughter. Such transactions confirm relationships that might not be found in other records
 * Search for records of people in the county who shared a surname. These may have been the couple’s parents, uncles, or other relatives. Your ancestor may have been an heir who sold inherited land that had belonged to parents or grandparents
 * To find later generations, search the land records a few years before and after a person’s death. Your ancestor may have sold or given land to his or her heirs before death, or the heirs may have sold the land after the individual died. For daughters, the names of their husbands are often provided. For sons, the given names of their wives may be included. Heirs may have sold their interest in the land to another heir even though the record may not indicate this. Continue this process for identifying each succeeding generation
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct
 * Some counties were subdivided or the boundaries may have changed. Consider searching neighboring counties as well since that courthouse may have been more convenient for the person
 * One deed does not usually give sufficient information about a couple and their children. A careful study of all deeds for the person or the family will yield a richer return of information
 * For each parcel of land owned, you should obtain two documents:
 * 1) The deed that documents when ownership transferred to the individual or the family and
 * 2) The deed that documents when ownership was transferred to someone else.

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the surnames
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Massachusetts.
 * Beginning United States Land and Property Research
 * Massachusetts Guided Research
 * Massachusetts Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Research

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Barnstable County, deeds, 1815-1868; index to deeds, 1703-1868
 * Barnstable County, original deeds left after fire, vol. 61, 1804-1808
 * Berkshire County, deeds, middle district, 1761-1925
 * Berkshire County, land records, northern district, 1761-1925; index to land records, 1761-1985
 * Berkshire County, deeds, southern district, 1790-1865
 * Bristol County, deed records, v. 1-556, 1686-1900 and index, 1686-1956
 * Bristol County, records of deeds, 1686-1910
 * Bristol County, records of deeds, 1686-1904
 * Dukes County, deeds, 1641-1872, index, 1641-1895
 * Essex County, deeds, 1639-1866; index to deeds, 1640-1879
 * Essex County, unregistered deeds, ca. 1700-1820
 * Franklin County, deeds, 1787-1947, index 1787-1889
 * Franklin County, land records abstract indexes and records, 1663-1786
 * Hampden County, grantee and grantor indexes,1870-1909, land records,1866-1902,1699- 1856, and land record abstracts,1634-1830
 * Hampden County, deeds, 1628-1867; grantee and grantor indexes, 1636-1869
 * Hampshire County, deeds, 1787-1900; index to deeds, 1787-1863
 * Hampshire County, grantor and grantee card indexes, 1787-1986
 * Middlesex County, record books of the registry of deeds, 1649-1900; indexes: grantee (1639-1905) and grantor (1639-1950)
 * Nantucket County, deeds, 1659-1866; indexes to deeds, 1657-1875
 * Norfolk County, deed books, 1889-1901, and grantor/grantee indexes, 1880-1910
 * Norfolk County, deed, 1793-1890
 * Plymouth Colony records, deeds, 1620-1699
 * Plymouth County, deed records, 1664-1900
 * Suffolk County, deed registers 1885-1900
 * Suffolk County, records of deeds, 1639-1885; indexes to deeds, 1639-1920
 * Suffolk County, partitions and executions, 1782-1910
 * Worcester County, deed records 1722-1866 and index to deeds, 1731-1889

 Town Records 
 * Athol, Proprietor, town and vital records, 1734-1863
 * Barnstable County, deeds, recopied, 1783-1870
 * Barre, Proprietors' records, 1686-1770
 * Barre, Town records, 1763-1846
 * Billerica, Town records, 1653-1848
 * Brimfield, Original land grants from early records of Brimfield from 1731 to 1824
 * Ipswich (Turner Hill), Proprietors records, 1726-1823
 * Leominster, Proprietor's records, 1701-1847
 * Natick, Land grants, 1719; chattel mortgages, 1838-1853
 * Nantucket, Proprietors' records (1716-1843)
 * Rutland, Proprietor's records of allotments, 1722-1792
 * Sterling, Town records, 1794-1849
 * Westminster, Town records, 1763-1874

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * Sidney Perley. The Indian land titles of Essex County, Massachusetts. Salem, Massachusetts : Essex Book and Print Club, 1912
 * Carroll D. Wright, commissioner, Report on the custody and condition of the public records of parishes, towns, and counties Boston, Massachusetts : Wright & Potter, 1889

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.