Alphabetic Surname Index

Births	Marriages	Deaths
Adams - Ayres Babbitt - Burnham Caldwell - Crozier Danelson - Dwight Eayres - Edson Farley - Fulton Gleason - Griswold Haley - Hunter Johnson - Jones Kately - Kenny Lake - Lyons McClallen - Morrison Nelson - Nims Oak - Orr Pattison - Purinton Ransom - Russell Scott - Swan Taggart - Townsley Vincent Wallis - Workman	Adams - Ayers Babbit - Butler Caldwell - Cutbeth Dalrymple - Dwight Eams - Ewers Fairbanks - Fulton Gains - Gunn Hager - Hunter Ives Jackson - Jordan Kately - Kirkley Lake - Lyons McClallen - Muzzy Nash - Nye Oaks - Owen Packer - Putnam Queen Raimond - Ross Sabin - Sweet Taggart - Turner Upton Van Valkenburgh - Virgin Walker - Wrisley Yaw Surname missing - Negroes	Adams - Ayres Babbitt - Burton Cady - Cuthbert Dalrymple - Dwight Eddy - Elliott Fairbanks - Fulton Gault - Guellow Handy - Hulbert Jackson - Jones Kendrick - Kenny Lake - Lyons McAlister - Murry Nelson - Nims Oaks - Otis Parker - Purrinton Randall - Russell Sabine - Swain Taggart - Tyler Underwood - Upton Vincent - Vineng Walkup - Workman Surname missing - Negroes

Chronologic Surname Index

Births	Marriages	Deaths
Adams - Ayres Babbitt - Burnham Caldwell - Crozier Danelson - Dwight Eayres - Edson Farley - Fulton Gleason - Griswold Haley - Hunter Johnson - Jones Kately - Kenny Lake - Lyons McClallen - Morrison Nelson - Nims Oak - Orr Pattison - Purinton Ransom - Russell Scott - Swan Taggart - Townsley Vincent Wallis - Workman	Adams - Ayers Babbit - Butler Caldwell - Cutbeth Dalrymple - Dwight Eams - Ewers Fairbanks - Fulton Gains - Gunn Hager - Hunter Ives Jackson - Jordan Kately - Kirkley Lake - Lyons McClallen - Muzzy Nash - Nye Oaks - Owen Packer - Putnam Queen Raimond - Ross Sabin - Sweet Taggart - Turner Upton Van Valkenburgh - Virgin Walker - Wrisley Yaw Surname missing - Negroes	Adams - Ayres Babbitt - Burton Cady - Cuthbert Dalrymple - Dwight Eddy - Elliott Fairbanks - Fulton Gault - Guellow Handy - Hulbert Jackson - Jones Kendrick - Kenny Lake - Lyons McAlister - Murry Nelson - Nims Oaks - Otis Parker - Purrinton Randall - Russell Sabine - Swain Taggart - Tyler Underwood - Upton Vincent - Vineng Walkup - Workman Surname missing - Negroes

June 30, 1761, the new plantation called Colrain.
April 22, 1772, grant to Colrain.
Dec. 2, 1779, part of Bernardston annexed.
April 24, 1911, bounds between Colrain and Leyden established.

The population of Colrain at different periods was as follows:

1765	297		1840	1,971		1900	1,749
1790	1,417		1850	1,785		1910	1,741
1800	2,014		1860	1,798		1920	1,607
1810	2,016		1870	1,742		1930	1,391
1820	1,961		1880	1,777
1830	1,877		1890	1,671

The following notes of births, marriages and deaths include all entries to be found in the books of record kept by the town clerks; in the church records; in the cemetery inscriptions, and in private records. These records are printed in a condensed form in which every particular has been preserved. All duplication of the town clerk's record has been eliminated, but differences in entry and other explanatory matter appear in brackets. Parentheses are used when they occur in the original record; also to indicate the maiden name of a married woman, and to show variations in the spelling of a name in the same entry.

When places other than Colrain and Massachusetts are named in the original records, they are given in the printed copy. Marriages and intentions of marriage are printed under the names of both parties. When both the marriage and intention of marriage are recorded, only the marriage record is printed; and when a marriage appears without the intention being recorded, it is designated by an asterisk. In all records the original spelling of names is followed, and the various forms of family names have been placed in one alphabetical arrangement.

The records of Colrain being few, it has been thought well to include the information contained in the Direct Tax records and those of the United States Census.

A general guide to how to use these pages.

If you are new to this site, or haven't used the site a lot, please be sure to read the rest of this page. Even if you have used this site a lot, a refresher may be helpful due to the changes that have been introduced.

You can research the records alphabetically or chronologically within surname. Images of the pages from which the transcriptions were done, and the title pages, are available for most towns. A list of abbreviations used is available.

Alphabetic - This is the most common way that the published vital records were presented. All of the same given names were arranged chronologically with names that had middle initials or middle names following the others. Nicknames would appear alphabeticall according to the spelling, i.e. Nabby, the nickname for Abigail, would be with the names beginning with the letter "N."

In this version, the names are sorted based on the most common spelling. Abbie, Abby, Abigail, Knabby, Nabby, etc., will all appear together and will be chronological. Middle initials and middle names have no influence on the order.

Note: There are going to be errors in the indexing of the names. A woman named Abiel may have been recorded as Abby. The indexing will have her with the Abigails. Please notify me with the Contact page about errors and they will be fixed within a couple days.

Chronologic - The chronologic sort will be most helpful with surnames having lots of entries, especially births. Records that had a missing date, or part, have had the missing portions replaced with zeros and will appear ahead of the others.

Page images - The icon at the left of each record is a link to the image of the page from which the transcription was done. The transcriptions are a tool. The image is the source. It is your responsibility to copy the image for your documentation. Also, the title page should be copied. There is a link to the title page in the navigation bar on transcription pages and image display pages.

Abbreviations - Each town had its own abbreviations used in the published records. Most of these are the same. The abbreviations for the headstones (GR), private records (PR), churches (CR), etc. are all different. There is a link to a list of all abbreviations used for the town in the navigation bar of the transcription pages.

Errors - There are two types of errors.

• Errors in the published records - It is known that errors are in the published records. Not many, to be sure, but they are there. Where I have found them, or have been informed and provided sufficient documentation, the records have been annotated. This appears in red at the end of the line.]
• Transcription errors - Even with the best of proofing, errors occur. If you find one, use the Contact link at the top of the page and tell me about the error. I need to have the town name, type of record, page number, what the error is and what it should be. It facilitates matters if you copy and paste the record in error into the e-mail.

Miscellaneous - As the opportunity has provided, I have tried to research names that had only initials or an initial and a surname to find the full names. Where I've been successful I've added the name in red, i.e. J.R. appears as J[ohn] R. or J[ohn] R[ussel].

The alphabetic and chronologic sort orders and many planned improvements require that towns be transcribed. If you can spare two, or more, hours per week to help with the transcribing, write me.

With the exception of the few people helping with transcribing and indexing, I am the only person working on this project. I do all of the technical work. I correct errors. I put transcriptions into final format. I design the pages. This takes a tremendous amount of time and money. If you find this site useful, please donate what you think it is worth to you by going to the donations page.