New Hampshire County Resources

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This entry was originally written by George F. Sanborn Jr., FASG, and Alice Eichholz, Ph.D, CG for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.

This article is part of
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the New Hampshire Family History Research series.
History of New Hampshire
New Hampshire Vital Records
Census Records for New Hampshire
Background Sources for New Hampshire
New Hampshire Maps
New Hampshire Land Records
New Hampshire Probate Records
New Hampshire Court Records
New Hampshire Tax Records
New Hampshire Cemetery Records
New Hampshire Church Records
New Hampshire Military Records
New Hampshire Periodicals, Newspapers, and Manuscript Collections
New Hampshire Archives, Libraries, and Societies
New Hampshire Immigration
Native Americans of New Hampshire
New Hampshire County Resources
New Hampshire Town Resources
Map of New Hampshire
Map of New Hampshire

New Hampshire deeds and probates are recorded on the county level. An act forming counties was passed in 1769, but the Province continued to record deeds and probates until 1771. Strafford did not organize as quickly as the other original counties, beginning its functions in 1773. After 1771, deeds are located at the county registry of deeds and probate records are located at the county registry of probate. Both registries are located at the county seat, but sometimes in different buildings. All addresses are from the New Hampshire Government Resources website www.nh.gov/government/local.html and Melnyk's Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research, 4th ed. (see Background Sources for New Hampshire). Deeds and probate records on microfilm at the New Hampshire Historical Society and at the New Hampshire Division of Records and Archives go through 1771, with Rockingham County deeds at the archives through 1824. At the FHL and the New England Historic Genealogical Society they go from inception to ca. 1850. Later records are only available at the appropriate county office unless otherwise indicated in the following chart.


Map County County Address Date Formed Parent County(ies) Vital Records Court Records
G4 Belknap 64 Court St., Laconia 03246 1841 Strafford/Merrimack 1841 1841
County courthouse has copies of Strafford County deeds covering land that became part of Belknap after formation in 1840.
E5 Carroll P.O. Box 163 (deeds), P.O. Box 419 (probate), Ossipee 03864 1841 Strafford/Grafton 1841 1841
K2 Cheshire 33 West St. (deeds), 12 Court St.(probate), Keene 03431 1771 original 1771 1771
B5 Coos 55 School St., Lancaster 03584 1803 Grafton 1803* 1887
*Fire damaged thirty-three volumes of the pre-1887 deeds and all of the probate records before that date. Damaged deeds were transcribed when possible and are retained in the courthouse. Seven volumes of Grafton deeds relating to Coos County before formation are kept in a separate series with separate indexes covering 1772'1803.
E3 Grafton 3785 Dartmouth College Hwy., North Haverill 03774 1771 original 1773 1773
J3 Hillsborough 19 Temple St. (deeds), 30 Sprinig St. (probate) 1771 original 1771 1771
H3 Merrimack 163 N. Main St., Concord 03301 1823 Rockingham/Hillsborough 1823 1823
J5 Rockingham 10 Rt. 125, Brentwood 03833, Mailing address: P.O. Box 896, Kingston 03848 1771 original 1630 1639
H5 Strafford Justice and Admin. Bldg., County Farm Rd., Dover 03820 1773 original 1769 1769
H2 Sullivan 24 Main St., Newport 03773 1827 Cheshire 1827 1827
Early deeds were damaged by fire. A separate series of 'burned deeds,' consisting of copies of surviving portions of the burned volumes with a separate index, is at the registry.