Franklin County Genealogy Records

Franklin County genealogy records cover twenty-six towns in the upper Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, with land records dating to 1787 and probate records from 1812. Researchers tracing ancestors in this rural agricultural region will find primary sources at the Franklin County Registry of Deeds and the Probate and Family Court in Greenfield, along with the Massachusetts State Archives in Boston, FamilySearch, and town clerk offices throughout the county.

Franklin County Registry of Deeds

The Franklin County Registry of Deeds is at 425 Main Street, Greenfield, MA 01301. The phone is 413-774-3181. Free online access to land records is available through MassLandRecords, the statewide portal. Records are available online from 1787 to the present, making Franklin County one of the better-documented western Massachusetts counties for deed research.

For genealogy research, deeds are a core source. They name the person selling land and the person buying it, give property descriptions, list witnesses, and sometimes mention heirs or family members. When an ancestor sold land and moved away, a deed can set the approximate date of departure and name the buyer, who may have been a relative. Estate deeds, where heirs of a deceased person sell property, often list all the children and their spouses by name.

There is a key historical wrinkle in Franklin County deed research. Franklin County was formed in 1811 from Hampshire County, and land records for the future Franklin County towns had been recorded at the Deerfield registry starting in 1787. When Greenfield became the county seat in 1812, those records were transferred there. So records from 1787 to roughly 1812 exist but were recorded under the old Deerfield registry system, not at Hampshire County in Northampton. This is different from the situation with some other newly formed Massachusetts counties, and it means Franklin County deed records are more complete than you might expect for such an early period.

The Library of Congress maintains a research guide for Massachusetts local history and genealogy, which includes guidance on finding deed records and other sources for upper Pioneer Valley research.

The Library of Congress Massachusetts research guide points researchers to deed collections, vital record sources, and historical archives relevant to Franklin County genealogy.

Franklin County Probate and Family Court Records

The Franklin County Probate and Family Court is at 101 Munson Street, Greenfield, MA 01301. The phone is 413-775-8600. Probate records at this court run from 1812 to the present, covering wills, estate inventories, administration papers, guardianship files, and related documents. These records can name children, grandchildren, and other heirs, often with their addresses and occupations at the time of filing.

Before 1812, probate records for Franklin County towns were held at Hampshire County in Northampton. Franklin County was not formed until 1811, so there was no separate county probate system until the following year. If your research reaches back before 1812 for any Franklin County town, you need to search the Hampshire County Probate and Family Court in Northampton, not the Franklin County court in Greenfield.

This pre-1812 overlap is one of the most important facts for Franklin County genealogy researchers to know. Many researchers waste time searching Greenfield for early probate records that simply do not exist there. The Hampshire County court holds all the pre-1812 material, and it covers the full list of towns that were part of old Hampshire County before the 1811 division.

FamilySearch at familysearch.org has a county wiki page for Franklin County that lists digitized records available online and explains the pre-1812 jurisdictional history in detail. This is a useful starting point before deciding where to search for probate files.

Vital Records for Franklin County Genealogy

Vital records for Franklin County follow the standard Massachusetts pattern. State registration began in 1841. For records from 1841 to 1925, the Massachusetts State Archives at 220 Morrissey Boulevard in Boston holds the collection. Copies made in person cost $3 each. For records from 1926 forward, contact the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics in Dorchester.

Before 1841, each town in Franklin County kept its own vital records. With twenty-six towns in the county, there are twenty-six separate sets of early town records. Many have been published through the Massachusetts Systematic Series, and FamilySearch has digitized a large portion of them. The free Massachusetts Town Clerk records collection on FamilySearch covers 1626 to 2001 and includes most Franklin County towns.

Certified copies of birth, marriage, and death records can be ordered through the state at mass.gov. Access rules for vital records are set by M.G.L. Chapter 46. Older records are generally public. Records from the more recent decades may have restricted access depending on the relationship of the requester to the person named in the record.

Franklin County Research: What to Know

Franklin County is the most rural county in Massachusetts. Its twenty-six towns are spread across a wide area, and many of them have small populations with long family histories tied to farming along the Connecticut River and its tributaries. The county seat of Greenfield sits in the center, but some towns, like Rowe, Monroe, and Warwick, are quite remote. Town clerk offices in these small towns can sometimes be reached only by appointment.

Migration in the Franklin County region often ran north into Vermont. Families that appear in Franklin County records may have come from Vermont towns, or they may have moved north into Vermont after a few generations. Checking Vermont land and vital records alongside Franklin County sources is a common and productive strategy. The Connecticut River made travel relatively easy, and people moved up and down the valley fairly often.

The towns in Franklin County include Ashfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Hawley, Heath, Leverett, Leyden, Monroe, Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell, and Whately. Deerfield is one of the oldest towns and has particularly strong historical records going back to the 1600s.

American Ancestors holds collections covering Franklin County families, including church records and compiled genealogies. Their databases complement the official court and registry records and can help fill gaps in official record sets. The MassLandRecords portal remains the most direct path to Franklin County deed records online.

Note: Deerfield served as the old registry site before Greenfield. Franklin County land records from 1787 were recorded at Deerfield and transferred to Greenfield in 1812. Do not confuse this with Hampshire County in Northampton, which held probate (not deeds) for early Franklin County towns before 1812.

Cities and Towns in Franklin County

Franklin County has no cities that meet the population threshold for individual pages on this site. The county includes twenty-six towns, with Greenfield as the county seat and the largest community. Records for all Franklin County towns are maintained at the county registry and probate court in Greenfield, along with individual town clerk offices throughout the county.

Nearby Counties

Franklin County shares borders with three Massachusetts counties. If an ancestor lived near a county line, it is worth checking the neighboring registry. Early records especially may cross county boundaries.