Barnstable County Genealogy Records

Barnstable County genealogy records cover all 15 Cape Cod towns, with land deeds dating to 1704 at the Registry of Deeds in Barnstable and probate files going back to 1686 at the Probate and Family Court. Researchers need to know one key fact before starting: vital records for births, marriages, and deaths are not held at the county level but by each individual town clerk. That means your first call for a vital record should go to the town, not the county registry.

Barnstable County Registry of Deeds

The Barnstable County Registry of Deeds is at 3195 Main Street in Barnstable. The phone number is 508-362-7733 and the fax is 508-362-5065. You can also reach the office by email at deeds@barnstabledeeds.org. The Registry's website is at barnstabledeeds.org. Free online search is also available through the statewide portal at masslandrecords.com. Both are good starting points, and most researchers find that the free online tools cover their needs without a trip to the office.

The Registry holds deeds and indexes from 1704 to the present, including Deeds Volumes 1 through 88 covering 1815 to 1868, and indexes from 1703 to 1868. Registered Land and Land Court Plans are available from 1899 to the present. Land Court records also start from 1899. There is a critical historical gap that every researcher should know about: the Registry burned in 1827, and almost all records before that date were lost. The indexes go back to 1703, and landowners were asked to re-record their deeds back to 1783. Volume 61, covering 1804 to 1808, survived the fire and is one of the few pre-1827 deed volumes still intact. Many unrecorded deeds from the pre-fire period are held at Sturgis Library in Barnstable rather than at the Registry.

For genealogy research, deeds name buyers and sellers, often include family members as parties, and can establish where an ancestor lived across multiple decades. Grantor and grantee indexes let you trace all property transactions tied to a name. Even for families that did not own much land, a deed search is worth doing, since many ancestors appear as witnesses or neighbors in documents about other people's property.

Barnstable County Probate and Family Court Records

The Barnstable County Probate and Family Court is at 3195 Main Street in Barnstable, sharing a building with the Registry of Deeds. The phone number is 508-375-6710. Probate records run from 1686 to the present. Wills from 1637 to 1685 were copied in 1893 from original Plymouth Colony records, extending the collection further back than most county-level probate records in the state. This is notable because it means Barnstable County probate research can reach families who were on Cape Cod well before the county itself was established in 1685.

Probate files include wills, estate inventories, administration papers, and guardianship records. These documents are rich with genealogical detail. A will can name every child and grandchild of a deceased person, along with their spouses and sometimes their towns of residence. An estate inventory lists property, debts, and personal items. These details can help you understand when a family member died, what they owned, and who inherited from them. For Cape Cod families going back to the 1600s, the combination of early wills and colonial-era deeds can build a very complete picture.

Note: FamilySearch at familysearch.org has an overview of available Barnstable County record collections and explains which years have been digitized. Checking the FamilySearch wiki before ordering physical copies is a good way to learn what is already accessible online.

Vital Records for Barnstable County Genealogy

Barnstable County does not generate or hold vital records. This is one of the most important things to know before you start researching here. Births, marriages, and deaths for all 15 Cape Cod towns are registered and held by each individual town clerk, not by the county. If you need a birth certificate for someone born in Falmouth or a death record for someone who died in Yarmouth, you contact that town's clerk directly. The county Registry and Probate Court will not have these records.

For births, marriages, and deaths from 1841 to 1925, the Massachusetts State Archives at 220 Morrissey Boulevard in Boston holds statewide copies. In-person copies cost $3 each. For records from 1926 forward, contact the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics at 150 Mount Vernon Street in Dorchester. Online orders cost $54 for the first copy, mail requests cost $32, and in-person requests cost $20. You can order at mass.gov.

For events before 1841, each Cape Cod town's early vital records are your primary source. Many of these have been transcribed and published. The Centerville Public Library holds Town Records of Barnstable County from 1640 to 1920 and vital records from town annual reports. FamilySearch offers free access to Massachusetts Town Clerk records from 1626 to 2001, which includes early Barnstable County towns and is a good free starting point. Under M.G.L. Chapter 46, town clerks across Cape Cod are required to maintain these vital records and the law sets the rules for who may access them.

Cape Cod Genealogy Resources

The Cape Cod Genealogical Society at capecodgenealogy.org is the regional organization for Barnstable County family history research. They publish indexes, maintain local records collections, and can point researchers toward sources that are not in major online databases. Joining or contacting a local genealogy society is often the fastest way to find out about resources that have not yet been digitized and are only accessible in person.

Cape Cod Gravestones at capecodgravestones.com has documented over 34,000 names across 135 cemeteries in all 15 Barnstable County towns. The database includes 4,000 gravestone photographs covering inscriptions up to 1880. Cemetery research fills gaps that vital records leave behind, especially for people who died before state registration began in 1841. A gravestone can give a birth year, death date, and family relationships that appear in no other surviving record. This free resource is one of the most detailed cemetery databases available for any Massachusetts county.

Sturgis Library in Barnstable is another key local resource. As noted above, it holds unrecorded deeds that were never filed at the Registry, particularly from the period before the 1827 fire. These documents can be the only surviving evidence of a property transaction for families who held land in the early 1800s or before. The library also has historical and genealogy reference materials focused on Cape Cod families.

Cape Cod Gravestones at capecodgravestones.com has documented over 34,000 names across 135 cemeteries in 15 Barnstable County towns, with gravestone photographs dating up to 1880.

This free resource covers all 15 Cape Cod towns and includes 4,000 photographs, making it one of the most detailed cemetery databases available for Barnstable County genealogy research.

Note: Public records guidelines for Barnstable County are available at capecod.gov, which covers what records the county government holds and how to request them.

Online Genealogy Databases for Barnstable County

FamilySearch at familysearch.org is the best free starting point for Barnstable County genealogy. The FamilySearch wiki for Barnstable County explains all available record collections, the years they cover, and what has been digitized. Land records, probate indexes, and many town clerk collections are accessible there without charge. Using the wiki as a research guide before you call or visit any office will save you time and help you understand which records are already online versus which ones require a direct request.

American Ancestors at americanancestors.org has New England genealogy databases that extend into Cape Cod research. Their collections include church records, compiled genealogies, and family histories for Massachusetts families. A membership is needed for most databases. For researchers working on families with deep Cape Cod roots, the NEHGS collection often has compiled lineages and church records that fill in years not covered by official records. Combining American Ancestors with FamilySearch, the Registry search portal, and the Cape Cod Genealogical Society covers most of what is available for Barnstable County genealogy research today.

Towns in Barnstable County

Barnstable County has 15 towns, all on Cape Cod. None of the towns currently qualifies for a separate genealogy records page by population threshold. Vital records for all 15 towns are held by the individual town clerks, not by the county registry.

The 15 Cape Cod towns in Barnstable County are: Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Truro, Wellfleet, and Yarmouth. For vital records in any of these towns, contact the town clerk directly. For land and probate records, use the county Registry and Probate Court described above.

Nearby Counties

Plymouth County to the north is the only county that borders Barnstable County by land. If your ancestor lived near the county line, check both registries, since some Cape Cod families had ties to southeastern Plymouth County towns as well.