by Edward F. Holden, Genealogist
N.H. State Library

The State Library's collection of Early New Hampshire Town Records, plus its index is an important resource for researching families who lived in the Granite State more than a century and a half ago. Information from these microfilmed records is readily available by phone, fax, e-mail, and traditional mail as well by visiting the library's Genealogy and Local History Room in Concord. They can also be obtained through the Mormon Church's worldwide Family History Center.

The key to the myriad of facts contained in the thousands of pages in this collection is the microfilmed index, which is arranged alphabetically by surname. Some, but by no means all of the types of information found in these films are vital records, tax records, listings of residents by districts within a town, offices to which men were elected, and town meeting minutes. Unfortunately, except for births and marriages the index does not provide any clues about the nature of the entries to which it refers only by page number. Some death records do appear in the town records, but they are not indexed.

A caveat: many patrons who approach this collection anticipating it as the nirvana of early New Hampshire vital records are disillusioned. Some births and marriages can be found therein, but several years of staff experience with data in this collection indicate the odds of finding records of births and marriages are about four or five to one. Nevertheless, on many occasions these microfilms do yield the previously elusive date and place for a New Hampshire birth or marriage which occurred prior to about 1840.

To the experienced researcher these records can be revealing in other aspects. A person's changing economic status can be traced by following his tax assessments from year to year. A warning out of town notice often includes not only the name of the family head, but also lists other members of the family, and indicates their previous residence. When minors are involved these warning notices usually state the names and ages of those young family members.

An illustration of the manner in which these records can be genealogically useful is a case in which tax records narrowed the time frame in which the death of a patron's ancestor occurred. According to Hadley's History of Goffstown [1924] Captain Joshua Martin died about 1796. However, his name appears in the 1800 census of Goffstown, but not in the 1810 census. In the town records his name is listed on every Goffstown tax list from 1800 to 1809 inclusive. On the 1810 Goffstown tax list there is an entry for "Captain Joshua Martin's widow." While this information does not provide the exact date of Joshua Martin's death, it does provide much more accurate information than either the town history or the census provides.

The misleading title, Every Name Index is sometimes applied to the WPA project, which generated the alphabetical finding aid for these town records. The correct designation for this most useful guide is The Index to Early New Hampshire Town Records, because by no stretch of a wishful imagination does it include the name of every New Hampshire resident during the two centuries it covers. The records of eighteen towns including the seminal communities of Exeter and Dover were not included due to reasons for which no documentation has been found. These eighteen unindexed towns are identified in a loose leaf binder with the cumbersome title, Catalog of Ancient Towns, Parishes, and Other Divisions of the State as Recorded in the Office of the Secretary of State, which is located with the file cabinet which houses the microfilmed records that are indexed.

In addition to the missing town records it is obvious the minority populations were woefully under-represented. Only 54 slaves and 4 Indians are listed for the entire two centuries these records encompass, yet according to the 1790 census the slave population in New Hampshire in that year alone was 158. In the same census the count in the category, "All other free persons," some of whom were classified as colored, was 628.

In conclusion it should be emphasized that despite the shortcomings of The Early New Hampshire Town Records, the family historian who ignores this source of genealogical data does so at his or her own risk. Used intelligently this collection of microfilms may very well provide information that cannot be found in any other source.