How new is this collection I am trying to find death info on an ancestor who died about 1916. Christy Christy

If anyone reads my messages of 30 Mar they should get a good idea of what I think is on Ancestry. The current cut off date for released MA VRs is 1915. The Holbrook fiche were filmed some years ago and the cut of date usually reflected what the cut off was at the time of filming. If you go to the Archives Publishing at http://www.archivepublishing.com/books/books_MA.htm you will see what the cut off dates for the fiche are and what Ancestry purchased. The latest record date I saw was 1915/6 for a few towns even though some were filmed in 1988. The latest date for the eastern part of the Commonwealth was 1915 which was filmed i 2004. I am not going to speculate as why some towns have later cut off dates. bob gillis ps Any replies about this subject sent to me will be trashed. bob gillis

The so called site is only partly up and running. What we are talking about is the so called Holbrook collection - Massachusetts boasts some of the oldest and most extensive sources of vital records in the United States, and some of the documents in this database go back to the colony's earliest days. They were made more readily accessible through the efforts of Jay and DeLene Holbrook. About 30 years ago, the Holbrooks began filming vital and town records in Massachusetts. To date, the Holbrooks have visited 315 of the state's 351 towns and cities and filmed their holdings of vital and town records. This database contains a wide variety of those records, including birth and baptismal registers, intention of marriage and marriage records, courthouse records, and death registers. While a number of towns are on the site, there is also a list of towns to come. Places like Reading, Haverhill, Cambridge, Acton have not been put on the site yet. I don't think there is a set cutoff, as the Holbrooks did this over a number of years. But I have found records in Lunenburg from 1943. Definitely will be a good resource.