Connecticut Town Guides

Connecticut Town Guides was first put together in 2016!  After almost ten years, we decided to relaunch the guide as a webpage with links to digital microfilm and newly digitized collections. It will also be easier to make additions and corrections to the content. We hope researchers will enjoy this new format! You can still find the 2016 edition here. 

Connecticut Town Guides:
Compiled from Collections at the CT State Library

Introduction

Genealogists researching early Connecticut ancestors are fortunate to have an index to a large amount of pre-1850 town vital records. The index is widely known as the Barbour Collection. There is a state-wide surname index and then volumes by town.

Microfilm copies of most Connecticut towns’ vital, land, church and probate records from the colonial era to circa 1900 are also available.

Through a partnership with FamilySearch many collections held in the CT State Archives were scanned beginning in 2022. This includes the James N. Arnold volumes. Mr. Barbour hired Mr. Arnold to copy each town’s early vital records; he was paid by the name! In many cases what is available here at the CT State Library for those who hope to find the original citation indexed in the Barbour Collection, are the ‘Arnold’ volumes.

An index to headstone inscriptions for Connecticut cemeteries is also available. This index is known as the Charles R. Hale Collection or just simply the Hale collection and dates to circa 1934.  Like the Barbour Collection there is a state-wide index and inscriptions for each town.

Use this finding aid to see what film exists for each town with links to digital microfilm, find newly digitized records held in the CT State Archives, a link to the Barbour Collection volume for the town with information on the source and dates covered, and links to Church records by town. If there is a note Abstract available for a church record listing, this means the records were included in our Church Records index. The Abstract volumes were digitized by Ancestry.com and are searchable on that site. The reader will also find information regarding probate districts, and links to cemetery collections.

Not included in this guide are records located within Record Group 062, Town Records. Finding Aids to these materials can be found on the CT State Archives, ArchivesSpace portal. 

Codes/ Abbreviations used

Barbour Collection:          The time period and/or sources indexed in the Barbour Collection 
CSL # :                             The Connecticut State Library microfilm number or call number
D.A.R.:                             Daughters of the American Revolution
LDS # :                            The Latter-day Saint microfilm number
Main Vault:                       Reference to a collection in the State Archives *
RG:                                  Record Group. Reference to a collection in the State Archives *
SLI:                                  Indicates whether the records appear in our Church Records Index;                                                                             Abstract available means they are searchable on Ancestry.com

* See the Guide to Access Archives & Secured Collections for helpful and important information.