Vital Records
Records of births, deaths, and marriages in Marblehead and surrounding towns were complied in the early 20th century from town records, family bibles, and other archival materials. Note that “Negroes” and “Indians” are listed separately from the alphabetical listing of White individuals. These records should not be considered complete. There might be gaps. These compilations of vital records to 1850 are both published and available online. Records after 1850 are published for Marblehead and available at the Museum and Abbot Public Library.
Notes: check other communities’ vital records as Marblehead residents often married, were born, or died elsewhere. A key to citation abbreviations online can be found here. Also, sometimes a Person of Color’s record appears with White records, so check those records as well.
Tax Lists
The originals of these tax records have been disbursed into town, state, and other archives. These records are spotty as often tax records before the Revolutionary War required some form of self-reporting.
The originals of this tax list are at the Massachusetts State Archives. This online database makes the information searchable and sortable. See “Servants for Life” entries to determine those in Marblehead who owned enslaved people.
Census Records
Every 10 years, beginning in 1790, Federal Census takers have enumerated residents, including Black, Indigenous and People of Color. There are also some mid 19th-century Massachusetts state censuses. HeritageQuest and Ancestry.com both provide access to the Federal Census and Ancestry has the state census records. Both can usually be accessed using your public library card (sometimes in-library only – both are available at Abbot Public Library) or by subscription. Marblehead Museum has pdf copies of the census records from 1790-1830 that can be shared. Fill out a Research Request Form to receive these documents.