Maine County Listings - “Date Formed” indicates the year the town was organized with its present county listed underneath (see County Resources for previous county jurisdictions). Many towns have their vital records interspersed with the town meeting records while others have separate books for vital records. No distinction has been made in this chart, but both sources cited above do. The purpose here is simply to indicate what beginning year a researcher might expect to find town and vital records in either the Maine State Archives microfilm collection or the town clerk's office, which is indicated by an asterisk (*). Any vital records after 1892 will be found at the town office and Office of Vital Statistics (see Vital Records).
Unfortunately, fire has claimed many records since they were too often held in private homes. A question mark (?) suggests that information is incomplete or not certain. Dates of records earlier than formation indicate the town holds records of parent towns. Some dates are considerably later than town organization, indicating that either the records are lost or have burned. Choose from the counties below to view the county information.
If you Cannot use, activate or see the map below then use the County Selection Table to select a County
Maine State History -Maine, state in northern New England in the United States. It is bounded by the Canadian provinces of Québec on the northwest and New Brunswick on the northeast. To the southwest lies New Hampshire, and to the southeast, the Atlantic Ocean. Maine entered the Union on March 15, 1820, when it was separated from Massachusetts to form the 23rd state. The name Maine probably originated as the word used by English explorers to refer to the mainland; it may also be derived from the province and region of Maine in northwestern France. Augusta is Maine’s capital. Portland is the largest city.
Because of Maine’s proximity to some of the finest fishing grounds in the Atlantic, most early settlers turned to fishing for their livelihood. Later, Maine became an important shipbuilding and trading center. Its ruggedly beautiful coast, indented with many natural harbors, has made the state a popular summer resort area and a haven for artists. Maine’s rich supply of lumber has also influenced the course of the state’s development, perhaps even more than the sea. Nicknamed the Pine Tree State, Maine continues to be largely woodland, and its leading industries rely on wood as a raw material. The Official State Website is http://www.maine.gov/
Maine, geographically the largest New England state, for nearly half of its history was part of Massachusetts. Wealthy business interests began the first settlements although religious dissenters followed their lead in settling what is now referred to as "Downeast." In the seventeenth century British Europeans often retreated back to the lower colony settlements because of the inability to bridge the cultural differences and expectations between settlers and Native Americans, the influence of the French, the threat of war, and climate concerns. By the mid-19th century, a good portion of Maine was settled. Its homogeneous population varied only slightly with the addition of Acadians, French-Canadians, and Scotch-Irish in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
It is very important to keep in mind that between 1667-1780 Maine was part of the province of Massachusetts, and York County was the only county until 1760. From then until statehood was achieved in 1820, the newly formed counties became the District of Maine in Massachusetts. Settlement was encouraged in hopes of generating revenues to counter the tremendous cost of the Revolutionary War to the new state of Massachusetts. Many Massachusetts and New Hampshire Revolutionary War soldiers settled in Maine, assuming the land was theirs for the taking and found themselves in disputes with original proprietors. They came to make use of Maine's natural resources and found an interior wilderness and, as with the rest of northern New England, a harsh environment. Today Maine attracts new residents for its "quality of life."
Geographically Maine is vast and mountainous. The population is concentrated along the coast, with its islands and bays; along the border with New Hampshire; and in the lower third of the state along the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers. More than half of its land mass reaches above New Hampshire's northern latitude and remains chiefly wilderness. Political divisions in Maine are perhaps the most diverse in New England. There are 433 towns, 22 cities, 36 plantations, 3 Indian voting districts, 12 unorganized but populated townships, and approximately 200 land divisions unpopulated and identified only by township and range. There were border disputes with Maine's Canadian neighbors to the east and north. Genealogical research in Maine is challenging principally because of the numerous governmental changes affecting the way records have been kept. However, both the Maine State Archives and the Maine Historical Society have been aggressive in making their collections valuable research repositories. The addition of data processing and microfilming in organizing and preserving original source material at the Maine State Archives and the Maine Historical Society will continue to make research more centralized.
Maine Discontinued Counties - This section provides an list of Maine counties that no longer exist. They were established by the state, provincial, or territorial government. Most of these counties were created and disbanded in the 19th century; county boundaries have changed little since 1900 in the vast majority of states.
Devonshire County: Devonshire County, District of Maine, Massachusetts Bay Colony was a short-lived county formed during the colonial territorial disputes between the Province of Massachusetts and the Province of Maine. The county existed from 1674 to 1675.
Maine Burned Courthouses - The destruction of courthouses greatly affects genealogists in every way. No only are these historic structures torn from our lives, so are the records they housed: marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others. Once destroyed they are lost forever. Even if they have been placed on mircofilm, computers and film burn too. The most heartbreaking side of this is the fact that many of our courthouses are destroyed at the hands of arsonist. However, not all records were lost.
Below is a list of Maine Counties and the years the Courthouses were subjected to a disaster. This does NOT mean that ALL RECORDS were lost. Often, folks took their documents again in for recording after a disaster and later deeds will contain long chains of title, etc.
Maine County Selection Table - Select a county from the table below to to view more information on genealogical information & records pertaining to each county.
