Nantucket County, Massachusetts Genealogy

United States

New England

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Genealogy Guide

Nantucket County

Guide to Nantucket County, Massachusetts ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Massachusetts Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Nantucket Organized: 22 June 1695 Parent County(s): Original New County Neighboring Counties Barnstable • Dukes See County Maps Courthouse Location Map

County Information

Description

The settlers on Nantucket are generally an insular group. Many surnames are uniquely identified to this island. As an island, its inhabitants moved about the coastline freely. The island is home to a large Quaker community. Its earliest history is tied to Martha's Vineyard, so research there would be important if you run into problems

The county was named for the island, perhaps meaning "faraway land or island" or "sandy, sterile soil tempting no one. It is located in the southeast area of the state.

County Courthouse

Nantucket County Courthouse
16 Broad Street
Nantucket, MA 02544
Phone: 508-228-2559
Nantucket County Website

Nantucket County, Massachusetts Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Government County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1600s	1600s	1600s	1721	1695	1706	1779
* Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1841. General compliance year unknown. See also Town Records

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

Parent County(s): Created as a Original New County 22 June 1695 County Seat: Nantucket Massachusetts Individual County Chronologies - Newberry Library list of all boundary changes by county Massachusetts Historical Borders - Map at Newberry Library Atlas of Historical County Boundaries; Also at: mapofus.org - animated maps illustrating Massachusetts county boundary changes

Populated Places

County and town borders are identical in Nantucket County, Mass.

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Towns
Nantucket
Villages
Coskata Polpis	Shawkemo	Wauwinet
Census-designated places
Madaket	Nantucket	Siasconset
Islands
Muskeget	Tuckernuck

History Timeline

The basic data are from the historical county boundary series with additions from various sources.

Dates	Events
in 1674	The region was included in a grant to the Duke of York.
1 Nov. 1683	Made part of Dukes County when established by the Colony of New York that included the islands of Elizabeth, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. [N.Y. Col. Laws, Ch. 4, Sect. 1, p. 122]
7 Oct. 1691	Became part of the rechartered Massachusetts Bay Colony without being established as a county.
22 June 1695	Nantucket County created from Nantucket Island. [Mass. Col. Acts, Vol. 1, Ch. 7 [1695/6], p. 216]

Resources

Business, Commerce, and Occupations

• 1837-1965 Maine & Massachusetts Case Files of Deceased and Deserted Seamen 1837-1965 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Images only

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Nantucket County, Massachusetts online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find a Grave USGenWeb MA Tombstone Transcription Project Interment.net BillionGraves
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	FamilySearch Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Find a Grave FamilySearch Places
See Massachusetts Cemeteries for more information.

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1790	4,555	—
1800	5,617	23.3%
1810	6,807	21.2%
1820	7,266	6.7%
1830	7,202	−0.9%
1840	9,012	25.1%
1850	8,452	−6.2%
1860	6,094	−27.9%
1870	4,123	−32.3%
1880	3,727	−9.6%
1890	3,268	−12.3%
1900	3,006	−8.0%
1910	2,962	−1.5%
1920	2,797	−5.6%
1930	3,678	31.5%
1940	3,401	−7.5%
1950	3,484	2.4%
1960	3,559	2.2%
1970	3,774	6.0%
1980	5,087	34.8%
1990	6,012	18.2%
2000	9,520	58.3%
2010	10,172	6.8%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

• 1850 Annotated 1850 Census of Nantucket, Massachusetts (Genealogial Forum of Oregon)
• 1865 Massachusetts State Census, 1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images

Church Records

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

Court Records

The court system can appear to be complex. The system was reorganized in 1686/1692, 1859, and 1978. Described below are the most commonly used records for history and genealogy, but realize that this list is incomplete. For more detailed information regarding court structure, see Understanding the Massachusetts Court System.

Older records are held by:
Supreme Judicial Court Archives
(administration - records stored in several off-site facilities and the Mass. Archives)
16th Floor, Highrise Court House
3 Pemberton Square
Boston MA 02109
Phone 617-557-1082
Email Elizabeth.Bouvier@sjc.state.ma.us

County Court
This court was active from 1636 (called a quarterly court and then the county court when Suffolk was created in 1643) to 1692. The court heard all civil causes up to 10 shillings (raised to 40 shillings in 1647) and all criminal causes not concerning life, limb, or banishment. These were all jury trials. Some records can be found in the Suffolk Files.

Quarterly Court of General Sessions of the Peace
This court was active from 1692 to 1827. The court heard criminal cases and had authority over county affairs that included levying taxes, reviewing town bylaws, highways, licensed liquor, regulated jails, supervised the administration of the poor laws, and appointed some county officials.

Online Court Indexes and Records

• 1721-1816 Court Records, 1721-1816(*) Nantucket County Court of General Sessions of the Peace at FamilySearch Catalog - images
  
  

Inferior Court of Common Pleas
This court was active from 1692 to 1859. The court heard all civil cases over 40s unless a case involved freehold or was appealed from a justice of the peace.

Online Court Indexes and Records

• 1721-1859 Court records, 1721-1859, v. 1-9(*) Nantucket County Court of Common Pleas of the Peace at FamilySearch Catalog - images
  
  

Superior Court
The Quarterly Court of General Sessions was merged into the Inferior Court of Common Pleas in 1827, and that court was reorganized in 1859 to created the Superior Court as the new lower (i.e. trial) court. It covers both criminal and civil matters.

Supreme Judicial Court
The Supreme Judicial Court was established by the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 that combined the former Governor and Council with the Superior Court of Judicature creating the highest state court. This court hears appeals, writ of error, capital offenses, and crimes against the public good. That included divorces until that action was moved to the lower court in 1887.

Directories

• 1970-2024 United States, Residence Database, 1970-2024 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index, coverage may vary

Land and Property Records

Land transfers, commonly called deeds, are recorded on the county level in Massachusetts. Not all deeds were recorded as is common practice today. The earliest transactions were charters or grants from the English Crown. Once local government was established, the colony would grant land to settlers directly or to towns to dole out. Some towns first start out as proprietorship and records were recorded there. Once towns were established, deeds were recorded on the county level.

Nantucket County Registry of Deeds
16 Broad Street
Nantucket, MA 02554
Telephone: 508-228-7250
Email: jen.ferreira@sec.state.ma.us

Online Land Indexes and Records

• 1620-1986 Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; images only
• 1657-1875 Deeds, 1659-1866; Indexes to Deeds, 1657-1875, v. 1-1866(*) Nantucket County Register of Deeds at FamilySearch Catalog - images
  
• 1716-1843 Proprietors' Records, 1716-1843(*) Nantucket County Proprietors' Clerk at FamilySearch Catalog - images
  
• Recorded Land Name Search at Nantucket County Registry of Deeds - records include:

• Recorded Land [i.e. deeds], 1967-Current
• Recorded Plans, 1974-current
• Registered Land [i.e. Land Court], 1958-Current
• Registered Land Plans, 1899-Current

• Full-Text Search - Land Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search

Local Histories

Works written on the county include:

• Massachusetts: Historical Data Relating to Cities and Towns at American Ancestors — index & images ($)
• Allen Coffin, "The Courts of Nantucket - the law and lawyers from an early period" in Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association, 1907: 30-42.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  Digital versions at Google Books and Hathi Trust.
  
• Marie M. Coffin, The History of Nantucket Island: a bibliography of source material with index and inventory (Nantucket, 1970), viii, 63 pp.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.497 A3c.
  
• Craig Cornish, "The Cession and Annexation of Nantucket" in Green Bay, 11 [1899]: 125-130.
  Not in WorldCat; Not in FS Library.
  No digital version found.
  
• Burnham N. Dell, "Quakerism on Nantucket" in Historic Nantucket, 2 [Jan. 1955]: 8-30.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  
• Myron Samuel Dudley, Churches and Pastors of Nantucket, Mass., from the first settlement to the present time, 1659-1902 (Boston, 1902), 21 pp.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  Note: Also published as "Two Centuries of Churches and Pastors in Nantucket, Mass." in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 56 [1902]: 17-26.
  Digital versions at Internet Archive, Hathi Trust, and Ancestry ($).
  
• Gerald S. Graham, "The Migrations of the Nantucket Whale Fishery: An episode in British Colonial Policy" in the New England Quarterly, 8 [1935]: 179-202.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  Digital version at Jstor (free online).
  
• Lydia Swain Mitchell Hinchman, Early Settlers of Nantucket, their associates and descendants (1896; Philadelphia, 4th ed., 1934), 330 pp.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries) (2nd enl. ed., 1901); FS Catalog book 974.497 D2hi and film 908764 Item 1 (with digital link) (2nd enl. ed., 1901) [see other editions].
  Digital versions at Internet Archive, Google Books, Ancestry ($), and Ancestry ($) (2nd enl. ed., 1901).
  
• Clarence King, "What Became of the First Book of Nantucket Town Records, hidden in 1677" in Historic Nantucket, 11 [Oct. 1963]: 24-27.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  
• Obed Macy, The History of Nantucket, being a compendious account of the first settlement of the island by the English, together with the rise and progress of the whale fishery ... (1835; Mansfield, Mass., 2nd ed., 1880), xiv, 313 pp.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Library digital book and fiche 6104368.
  Digital versions at Internet Archive (1880 ed.) and Hathi Trust.
  
• William Francis Macy, "Migrations of Nantucketers to the South and West" in Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association, 1933: 24-27.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  
• Alexander Starbuck, The History of Nantucket, county, island and town, including genealogies of first settlers (Boston, 1924; rep. many times), 871 pp.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries) (1969 ed.); FS Catalog book 974.497 H2s and fiche 6046898 (with digital link).
  Note: The genealogies section was reprinted separately as Nantucket Genealogies (Baltimore, 2001):
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.497 D2s.
  Digital version at Ancestry ($).
  
• George Rogers Taylor, "Currents of Migration on Nantucket, 1760-1780" in Historic Nantucket, 22 [July 1974]: 14-20.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  
• The Nantucket County MA GenWeb Project, an member of The MAGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
  
• The USGenWeb Archives Project has no section for Nantucket County.
  

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Military Records

Revolutionary War

• 1775-1783 Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index Cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1805-1845 Massachusetts Revolutionary War Bounty Land Applications, 1805-1845 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images

Naturalization and Citizenship

Naturalization records were created on a variety of governmental levels from the Federal down to the city at the same time. The county records for all levels are outlines below. For more information, see the Massachusetts state page for more on naturalization.

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records - Covering Multiple Courts

• 1871-1991 Massachusetts, United States Naturalization Records, 1871-1991 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1906-1817 Massachusetts, Naturalization Records, 1906-1917 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
  
  

Federal Naturalization Records for Nantucket County

Record	Dates	Original Records	Online Indexes	Online Records
Court of Common Pleas Supreme Judicial Court	1804-1903	NARA M1299 - National Archives - Waltham	Index - FamilySearch Historical Records Index - FamilySearch Catalog(*)	Records - FamilySearch Historical Records Petitions - FamilySearch Catalog(*)

Nantucket County Naturalization Records

Record	Dates	Original Records	Online Indexes	Online Records
Superior Court	1908-1945	Judicial Archives	Card index	Records, 1908-1945, at Mass. Arch. RR Declarations and Petitions - FamilySearch Catalog(*)

Newspapers

• 1800-Current Massachusetts, U.S., Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800's Current at Ancestry — index & images ($)

Probate Records

Online Probate Indexes and Records

• 1635-1991 Massachusetts Wills and Probate Records 1635-1991 at Ancestry — index & images ($)
• 1706-1867 Probate Records, 1706-1867(*) Nantucket County Probate Court at FamilySearch Catalog - images
• Full-Text Search - Wills and Probate Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
• 1936-2007 United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index

Town Records

Nantucket County, Massachusetts Genealogy

• 1626-2001 Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• Massachusetts Genealogy Guide - Guide to Massachusetts State-wide Records

Vital Records

It is easiest to start with the state vital records indexes (listed below) for births, marriages, and deaths since 1841. Massachusetts was the first to require a consistent recording of these events statewide. Original vital records (starting as early as 1639) are found with the clerk of the town or city where the event occurred. See the Massachusetts Genealogy Guide and Massachusetts Vital Records pages for more details.

Birth

• 1753-1900 Massachusetts, Delayed and Corrected Vital Records, 1753-1900 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1800-1855 Rhode Island and Pawtucket, Massachusetts Birth Index, 1800-1855 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
• 1840-1910 Massachusetts, Birth Index, 1840-1910 at MyHeritage - index ($)
• 1841-1920 Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images

Marriage

• 1600-1961 Massachusetts, United States Marriages at at Findmypast — index($) — index $
• 1626-2001 Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1841-1915 Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1841-1915 Massachusetts, Marriages, 1841-1915 at MyHeritage - index ($)
• 1841-1920 Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images

Death

• 1626-2001 Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1840-1910 Massachusetts Death Index at MyHeritage - index only ($)
• 1841-1920 Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1916-1919 Massachusetts Deaths, 1916-1919 at MyHeritage — index & images ($)

Research Facilities

Archives

For state-wide and regional facilities, see Massachusetts Archives and Libraries.

FamilySearch Centers

FamilySearch Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local FamilySearch Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• FamilySearch Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
• FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a FamilySearch center.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts FamilySearch Center
• Dennis Public Library - Cape Cod Gen Society Library - an affiliate library
• Eldredge Public Library - an affiliate library
• Nantucket Historical Association Research Library - an affiliate library

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Nantucket County. For state-wide library facilities, see Massachusetts Archives and Libraries.

• Nantucket Historical Association
  15 Broad Street
  P.O. Box 1016
  Nantucket, MA 02554
  508-228-1894
  Website

For information on additional archives and repositories, see

• Massachusetts Archives for information on additional archives and repositories
  

Societies

Listed below are societies in Nantucket County. For state-wide genealogical and historical societies, see Massachusetts Societies.

Websites

• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.

Research Guides

• Massachusetts Genealogy Guide

This table contains the dates the local or state government began recording in the county or county equivalent. Use substitute records for earlier dates. If you believe there is an error, email us at wikisupport@familysearch.org.

County boundary maps are currently unavailable. Download information instead.

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“Current” indicates records are available as recently as privacy laws allow. This date can change from year to year. To determine the exact dates available, contact the respective organization/repository.

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