Alphabetic Surname Index

Births	Marriages	Deaths
Abbot - Ayers Bailey - Byham Campbell - Curtiss Dadmun - Dutton Edmands - Estherbrooks Falkner - Furbush Galusha - Guod Hadley - Hutchinson Ingraham Jeffraey - Josselyn Keemp - Kyes Lancey - Lyon McCarthy - Myrick Nichols - Nutting Obear - Osgood Packard - Putney Quesey Rand - Rowe Sampson - Swettman Taft - Tyng Underwood - Upham Vance - Vose Waddell - Wyman Surname missing Negroes	Abbot - Ayers Baaul - Byham Cady - Cutler Dadmun - Dutton Eabert - Evers Falkner - Furbush Galusha - Gurny Hadan - Hyde Ilesly - Ivory Jameson - Josselyn Kedder - Kyess Laken - Lyon McAllister - Muzzy Nason - Nutting Obear - Ozgood Packard - Putnum Quesey Ramsdill - Russell Salendin - Syffermann Taft - Tyng Underwad - Usher Van Doorn - Vryling Waddell - Wyman York - Young Zanes Surname missing Negroes	Abbot - Anthony Baily - Byham Caldwell - Cutler Dadmun - Dutton Eames - Everett Falkner - Fuller Galusha - Green Hale - Hyde Ilsley - Ives Jacobs - Josselyn Keies - Kyes Lamb - Lyon McClarran - Myrick Naylor - Nutting Ober - Osgood Packard - Putnam Ranger - Russell Sanborn - Symmes Talbut - Tyng Underwood - Undorwood Varnum - Vose Waite - Wyman Young Surname missing Negroes

Chronologic Surname Index

Births	Marriages	Deaths
Abbot - Ayers Bailey - Byham Campbell - Curtiss Dadmun - Dutton Edmands - Estherbrooks Falkner - Furbush Galusha - Guod Hadley - Hutchinson Ingraham Jeffraey - Josselyn Keemp - Kyes Lancey - Lyon McCarthy - Myrick Nichols - Nutting Obear - Osgood Packard - Putney Quesey Rand - Rowe Sampson - Swettman Taft - Tyng Underwood - Upham Vance - Vose Waddell - Wyman Surname missing Negroes	Abbot - Ayers Baaul - Byham Cady - Cutler Dadmun - Dutton Eabert - Evers Falkner - Furbush Galusha - Gurny Hadan - Hyde Ilesly - Ivory Jameson - Josselyn Kedder - Kyess Laken - Lyon McAllister - Muzzy Nason - Nutting Obear - Ozgood Packard - Putnum Quesey Ramsdill - Russell Salendin - Syffermann Taft - Tyng Underwad - Usher Van Doorn - Vryling Waddell - Wyman York - Young Zanes Surname missing Negroes	Abbot - Anthony Baily - Byham Caldwell - Cutler Dadmun - Dutton Eames - Everett Falkner - Fuller Galusha - Green Hale - Hyde Ilsley - Ives Jacobs - Josselyn Keies - Kyes Lamb - Lyon McClarran - Myrick Naylor - Nutting Ober - Osgood Packard - Putnam Ranger - Russell Sanborn - Symmes Talbut - Tyng Underwood - Undorwood Varnum - Vose Waite - Wyman Young Surname missing Negroes

On May 18, 1653, the General Court granted the petition of several of the inhabitants of "Concord & Woobourne for the erecting of a new plantacon on Merremacke River, neere to Pawtuckett," and May 29, 1655, the Court granted the name thereof to be called Chelmsford.

May 14, 1656, land granted to Chelmsford.

May 31, 1660, bounds between Chelmsford and the Indian plantation at Patucket established.

June 17, 1701, bounds between Chelmsford and Billerica established.

Nov. 23, 1725, part of Chelmsford annexed to Littleton.

June 13, 1726, "Wameset" annexed.

Sept. 23, 1729, part of Chelmsford established as Westford.

Apr. 24, 1755, part of Chelmsford annexed to Dunstable.

Apr. 28, 1780, part of Chelmsford included in the second district of Carlisle.

Mar. 1, 1783, part of the second district of Carlisle annexed.

Mar. 1, 1826, part of Chelmsford established as Lowell.

The population of Chelmsford at different periods was as follows:

1765,

1,012

1810,

1,396

1840,

1,697

The following records 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 returns made to the Middlesex Co. Quarterly Court; in the cemetery inscriptions; and in private records found in family Bibles, etc. These records are printed in a condensed form in which every essential 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.

When places other than Chelmsford 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. Double-dating is used in the months of January, February and March, prior to 1752, whenever it appears in the original, and also, whenever from the sequence of entry in the original, the date may be easily determined. In all records the original spelling of names is followed, and in the alphabetical arrangement the various forms should be examined, as items about the same family may be found under different spellings.

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 followed 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.