Researching Your Ancestors in Concord, New Hampshire

The New Hampshire State Library

This blog post is part of the lecture I presented at the Founders Day event held in East Derry, New Hampshire on April 12 - 14.  I'll be covering the resources available for genealogical research in Derry, Londonderry, Manchester, Concord and Windham, New Hampshire.  All the links will be posted above under "Nutfield FAQ's"

In Concord there are four places to visit for genealogical information. The first two are The New Hampshire State Library and the New Hampshire Historical Society, and they are located side by side on Park Street across the street from the New Hampshire State Capitol Building.  The first, the State Library is free to the public, and the NHHS is a private organization, with memberships, but open to the public for a $7 admission fee (the research library, too).

New Hampshire State Library Genealogy Research Room

The New Hampshire State Library is the oldest state library in the United States, founded in 1717.  It is open free to the public, with a lovely genealogy research room.  There is an online catalog for items acquired form 1980 to today.  The genealogy room has over 2400 published family histories, town and county histories, town reports, town records, military indexes, legislative biographies, New Hampshire federal census records, and New Hampshire newspapers on microfilm.  They take research requests for up to ten photocopies (see the website below).

The New Hampshire Historical Society

The New Hampshire Historical Society research room is open to the public for a fee.  Members are free of charge.  All personal items must be placed in lockers, and all researchers must register at the librarian's desk. Appointments may be required to view some material. I would highly suggest contacting the librarian ahead of time for an appointment so the staff can pull the materials you would like to view.  There is a research service for a fee available for those who cannot visit in person.  See the website for more information on filling out the research request form, and the payment information.  Cameras are allowed, with permission, and the NHHS also charges a fee for high resolution image files of items in the collection.

The NHHS also has a great website with many images online, an online card catalog, and much information about the collections and the research room.  See the link below. There is also a link to the New Hampshire History Network, which includes collections from across the state.

The New Hampshire Vital Records and the New Hampshire State Archives

Across town, less than ten minutes away, at 9 Ratification Drive, is the building that houses both the New Hampshire Vital Records and the Archives.  They not only share the building, but they share the research room.   On the left is the New Hampshire State Archives and Records Management, and on the right is the New Hampshire Vital Records Administration.

These cabinets hold the birth, marriage, divorce, and death records

These boxes hold the cards with the records

Deborah Moore, of the Vital Records staff, holds a birth record

 There are volunteers on staff at the vital records research room to help you find your ancestors in the records.  The general public has access to birth records before 1911, and to deaths, marriages and divorces before 1961 for genealogy research. If you are an immediate family member with "direct and tangible interest" you are eligible to request and receive certified copies of vital records that are restricted due to their age.  These records are copies sent to Concord from the town and city clerks across New Hampshire.

The New Hampshire State Archives side of the reading room

The New Hampshire State Archives holds the documents and artifacts from the history of New Hampshire state government, and makes them available to the public.  Some of the items of genealogical importance include probate records, land title deeds (1630s - 1959 for some counties), petitions to the governor and legislature, all 40 volumes of the New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers (and cumulative index), military indices, censuses, name changes, naturalizations, voter checklists, warnings out, town records, town inventories, maps, paupers indices, and court records.


Places to Visit:

The New Hampshire State Library at 20 Park Street, Concord, New Hampshire
(603) 271-2616  https://www.nh.gov/nhsl/   Open Monday to Friday 8am to 4:30pm

The New Hampshire Historical Society Library at 30 Park Street, Concord, New Hampshire
(603) 228-6688  https://www.nhhistory.org/   Open Tuesday to Saturday 9:30am to 5pm
Members are admitted free, and admission is $7.  All researchers must register at the library desk, all cameras must be registered and the librarian on duty must give approval.

The New Hampshire Vital Records Administration, at 9 Ratification Way (formerly 71 South Fruit Street), Concord, New Hampshire.  (603) 271-4650  http://sos.nh.gov/vital_records.aspx 
The Research Room is open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 3:30pm.

The New Hampshire State Archives and Records Management at 9 Ratification Way, Concord, New Hampshire.  (603) 271-2236  http://sos.nh.gov/Arch_Rec_Mgmt.aspx    The Research Room is open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 3:30pm.  The genealogy page is http://sos.nh.gov/Genealogy.aspx

If you have ancestors from Concord you might also want to visit the local library and historical society:

The Concord Public Library, Concord Room Collection
45 Green Street, Concord, New Hampshire
(603) 225-8670  http://www.onconcord.com/library 
Open Monday - Wednesday 8:30 to 8:30, Thursday 11am - 5:30pm, Friday - Saturday 8:30 - 5:30, and Sundays (Sept to April) 1pm to 5:30pm

The Concord Historical Society, PO Box 1027, Concord, New Hampshire
http://concordhistoricalsociety.org/   
and on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/Concord-NH-Historical-Society-123766490978765/


For the truly curious:

Index to Genealogies in New Hampshire Town Histories, by William Copely, New Hampshire Historical Society

Manchester Historic Association Collections (published 1899 – 1914 in 12 volumes)

New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers (40 volumes)

New Hampshire Genealogy and History at SearchRoots  http://www.nh.searchroots.com/

Blogs:

Nutfield Genealogy  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/ 

Cow Hampshire by Janice Webster Brown  http://www.cowhampshireblog.com/ 

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To Cite/Link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Researching Your Ancestors in Concord, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 7, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/05/researching-your-ancestors-in-concord.html: accessed [access date]).