New Hampshire Colonial Records

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The FamilySearch moderator for New Hampshire is Jabhammons

United States

U.S. Colonial Records

New Hampshire

Colonial Records

Online Records

Many records from the colonial era in New England were kept at the town or county level. Search the catalog at the town or county level to locate those records.
Court Records

• 1623-1772 Index cards of New Hampshire Province deeds and probate records from 1623-1772- images only.
• 1638-1772 approx. Colonial court records- images only.+++
• 1659-1696- Court papers- images only.
• 1692-1771- Court records- images only.
• 1695-1771- Court minutes- images only.
• 1696-1771- Court minutes- images only.
• 1699-1771- Court minutes- images only.
• 1699-1773- Court minutes- images only. Includes probate minutes, 1707-1726.
• 1714-1774- Court records- images only.
• 1729-1770- Court records- images only.
• 1730-1770- Records- images only. Includes Inferior Court of Common Pleas records from 1730 and 1741.

Land and Tax Records

• 1748-1846- Proprietors' records- images only.
• 1727-1788- Tax records- images only.
• Maps of the Masonian propriety : volumes 1-5 with index- images only.

Vital Records

• Index to births, early to 1900- index and images.
• 1640-1900- Index to brides- images only.
• Card file index to publishments of marriage intention prior to 1900- images only.
• Index to divorces and annulments prior to 1938- images only.

Other

• 1641-1800- Miscellaneous province and state papers- images only.
• 1867 & 1775- Census of New Hampshire, for the years 1767 and 1775- images only.
• Public loan of 1743-images only.
• Card index to genealogies, published and manuscript- images only
• Indian and French wars and revolutionary papers : collection of 1880- images only.

History

The first European settlement in New Hampshire was built in 1623 along the Piscataqua River by merchants who came from the Plymouth Colony. Initially included in the province of Maine, Captain John Mason was granted land between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers which he named New Hampshire. In 1641, the jurisdiction of New Hampshire came under the Massachusetts Bay Colony and it became part of the county of Norfolk in 1643. Although New Hampshire continued to share a governor with Massachusetts until 1741, it became a royal province in 1679.

Earliest Church Records	Earliest Land Records	Earliest Court Records	Earliest Newspapers
1634	1623	1629	1756

Resources

Church Records

• Guide to Church Vital Statistics Records in New Hampshire by Historical Records Survey. (Manchester, NH: The Survey, 1942).
• The New Hampshire Churches: Comprising Histories of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches in the State, with Notices of Other Denominations; Also Containing Many Interesting Incidents Connected with the First Settlement of Towns by Robert F. Lawrence. (Claremont, NH: Claremont Manufacturing Co., 1856).

Early New Hampshire Families and Histories

• Colonial New Hampshire: A History by Jere R. Daniell. (Millwood, NY: KTO Press, 1981).
• Directory of Repositories of Family History in New Hampshire by Scott E. Green. (Baltimore: Clearfield Co., 1993).
• The Eastern Frontier: The Settlement of Northern New England, 1610-1763 by Charles E. Clark. (1970. Reprint. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1983).
• Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire by Sybil Noyes, Charles T. Libby, and Walter G. Davis. (1928-39. Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996).
• Guide to Early Documents (1680-1900) at the New Hampshire Records Management and Archives Center by Frank C. Mevers. (Concord: The Archives, 1981).
• History of New Hampshire, from its First Discovery to the Year 1830: With Dissertations upon the Rise of Opinions and Institutions, the Growth of Agriculture and Manufactures, and the Influence of leading Families and Distinguished Men, to the year 1874 by Edwin D. Sanborn. (Manchester, NH: John B. Clarke, 1875).
• Index to Genealogies in New Hampshire Town Histories by William N. Copeley. (Concord: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1988).
• New Hampshire Genealogical Research Guide by Laird C. Towle. (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1983).
• New Hampshire: Its History, Settlement, and Provincial Periods by Ella Shannon Bowles. (1938. Reprint. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1989).
• New Hampshire Residents, 1633-1699 by Jay Mack Hobrook. (1979. Reprint. Baltimore: Clearfield Co., 1996).
• Passages to Family History: A Guide to Genealogical Research in the Dartmouth College Library by Robert D. Jaccaud. (Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College Library, 1994).
• Town Government in New Hampshire by Historical Records Survey. (Manchester, NH: The Survey, n.d.).
• Transcripts of Original Documents in the English Archives Relating to the Early History of New Hampshire by John S. Jennes. (New York, 1876).

Other

• Military History of the State of New Hampshire, 1623-1861 by Chandler E. Potter. (1866. reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1972).
• Notices from the New Hampshire Gazette, 1765-1800 by Otis G. Hammond. (Lambertville, NJ: Hunterdon House, 1970).

• Provincial and State Papers Published by Authority of the Legislature of New Hampshire. 40 Vols. (Concord: State Printer, 1867-1943).
• Roll of New Hampshire Men at Louisbourg, Cape Breton, 1745 by George C. Gilmore. (Concord: Edward N. Pearson, 1896).
• State of the Evidence and Argument in Support of the Territorial Rights and Jurisdiction of New York Against the Government of New Hampshire and the Claimants under it and Against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by James Duane. (New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1871).
• Trelawney Papers by J. P. Baxter. (Portland, ME: n.p., 1884).

To view online images that are "locked" (as indicated by a key over the camera), you must visit a Family History Center or an Affiliate library. Go to the Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator map for locations.