This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: VitalRecordsProject Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.massachusetts.counties.berkshire/5721.3.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: NEHGS is the New England Historical and Genealogical Society. They are a subscription service. They have many databases available. Most notably are the 1600-1850, 1841-1910 and 1911-1915 vital records. They also have The Great Migration Begins and many more as they cover all of New England. If you have extensive research in New England the membership can be well worth it. The published vital records of early Massachusetts for most towns from the earliest times to about 1850 are compilations of the births, marriages and deaths as kept by the Town/City Clerks (they have been required to keep these records since early on in the 1600s), town records, church records, gravestone records and private records. Salem, and some others, also contain information from newspapers. These are the basis the Vital Records Project and are the 1600-1850 NEHGS database. Since about 1841 the town/city clerks have been required to file copies of all vital records with the State Archives. The Archives put these on microfiche and sell them. The 1841-1910 and 1911-1915 NEHGS databases are indices to the images of these copies. The images are available on NEHGS to view. Just a note, the four western counties, Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire are the least well published. There are some records that were done privately on index cards and have been put on CD-ROMs by NEHGS. However, the formatting and ease of use leave much to be desired. It is best to post your queries to the boards and to the appropriate lists and hope that someone who has these will do a lookup for you. To the best of my knowledge, even though NEHGS published the CDs, these records are not in any of their databases. I may be wrong as they are always adding more stuff. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.