Tip 7: NEHGS MVR 1841-1910 Tip 7: Amended Record or Not? For those using www.newenglandancestors.org Massachusetts Vital Records 1841-1910 on-line database, here is a tip that may make using it a bit easier. With some exceptions, amended record images are NOT available on the database. You have to request the information from either the State Archives or the appropriate town clerk. Some entries are amended both on the older record and an amended record page, so you may find those. It tends to be the smaller towns that do this. I haven't see it for Boston records. Is a record an amended record or not? It isn't easy to tell. Below are some amended records volumes and pages. Boston uses volume 8 for many of its amended records. year town vol pg 1855 Barnstable 1 105 1845 Canton 1 443 1851 Canton 1 445 1853 Canton 1 447 1842 Chelsea 1 511 1842 Chelsea 1 513 1854 Chelsea 1 515 1844 Chilmark 1 613 1846 Chilmark 1 615 1847 Chilmark 1 617 1848 Chilmark 1 621 1850 Chilmark 1 623 1855 Chilmark 1 633 1843 Concord 1 719 1846 Concord 1 721 1848 Tisbury 5 101 1849 Tisbury 5 103 1851 Tisbury 5 113 1854 Tisbury 5 129 Below are some records that looked like they would be amended records, but were not. Carroll (Female) Walpole 1855 1 253 Birth vol 91 Cleary Emery C. Lawrence 1854 1 190 Birth vol 81 Cook Charles Sewall Abington 1855 1 266 Birth vol 91 Coolidge Chas. Emerson Medway 1855 1 216 Birth vol 91 Gay Harriet E. Dedham 1855 1 199 Birth vol 91 Ilsley (Male) Lowell 1855 1 121 Birth pg 91 Jones Herbert R. Falmouth 1854 1 6 Birth vol 81 Livemore Herbert J. Cambridge 1855 1 52 Birth vol 91 How can you tell? If you see an asterisk in the Given Name field, that is an amended record, but many amended records do not have asterisks. If you took the first record above for Carroll (Female) and queried for the town of Walpole, year 1855, page 253, and type as Birth, you would see a number of Walpole birth entries for Walpole regardless of the volume number. If there are other Walpole birth entries for 1855, click on the image with the common volume number (91) and see if your entry is there. If so, please let John Ledden, Dale Cook, or I know so we can repair the entry. One change you will see in the database concerns amended records. Per the webmaster's instructions, I'm putting "Amended Record - No image available" in the field that shows above the image when I verify the index shows it as an amended record. This makes it look like there is an image, so please check above the image area, when the image does not appear. I am currently going through all volume 1 records regardless of year, so hopefully will fix the rest of the not-really-volume-1 entries fairly soon. I have completed correcting the portion that covers 1841-43 entries. Sue Richart NEHGS Volunteer