Genealogy

Search for your ancestors online:

Ancestry Library Edition Library subscription. In-library use only.
American Ancestors.org Library subscription. In-library use only.
Heritage Quest Accessible anywhere, but requires a Portland Public Library card.
Familysearch.org Free.

About these resources:

Ancestry Library Edition contains billions of vital, census, legal, and other records from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and increasingly from other countries around the world. Your search results can be emailed, printed, or saved to a thumb-drive. Here are some tips for getting started using Ancestry Library Edition at the library.

Video Tutorials from the Maine State Library,
Length of each: 2-4 mins

The following links may also be useful to you:

American Ancestors.org is the website of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Here you can search for information on your New England and New York ancestors, and find articles that may help you with your research. For help using this website, visit their “Answers to FAQs” page. See a list of their databases here.

Heritage Quest contains U.S. Census records, thousands of digitized genealogy and local history books, and more. Learn about Heritage Quest’s resources here.

FamilySearch.org is a free service provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Their website allows you to search online indexes for birth, marriage, death, census, church and other records from around the world. It also has links to numerous Research helps in the form of articles, guides and online classes to help you with your research.

Local resources:

Genealogical Research at the Maine State Archives. Online indexes to Maine marriages from 1892-1966 and 1976-1996, and an online index of Maine deaths from 1960-1996. Also, information on where to find Maine vital records, census schedules, military records, and court/judicial records.

Genealogical Resources in the Bowdoin College Library’s Department of Special Collections & Archives. Materials in the archives include biographical information about Bowdoin alumni, church, military and land records, papers of several Maine families, and more. Some finding aids are available online.

Harpswell Historical Society. The Harpswell Historical Society has information on the history of Harpswell and its residents. They also have copies of births, deaths and marriages from the town reports from 1888-2000, burial lists for several of Harpswell’s cemeteries, 18th century baptismal records, and some Casco Bay Directories.

Maine Franco-American Genealogy Society Located at Great Fall School in Auburn, the MFGS maintains a library with over 2,500 volumes, and lots of workspace to read them in. Volunteers will do research for those who can’t make it to the library, for a fee. Many other resources may be found on the library’s Franco-American page.

Pejepscot Genealogy Society. The mission of the Society is to “collect, exchange and preserve written and oral genealogical records and related historical information and to encourage and assist the study of study of genealogy and family history.” Membership is open to anyone who is interested in genealogy and family history.

Pejepscot Historical Society. The Society has over 15,000 historical photos from the Brunswick region, including many individual and family portraits. Many of these can be viewed online as part of The Maine Memory Network. The Society also has an extensive archival collection containing thousands of documents and manuscripts.

For a comprehensive list of genealogy-related websites, visit Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet.

Click on any of the tags below for more genealogy-related links on that topic: