Record Atlas
6 eras · 1620–2026 · 241 places

Southern New England — Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island

Boston, Plymouth, Hartford, New Haven, Providence, Newport, Springfield. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1620–1636 Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay FamilySearch

Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620, with arrival at Cape Cod in November and settlement at Plymouth in December, and had no royal charter. The Massachusetts Bay Company's royal charter dates from 1629 (passing the great seals on 4 March 1628/9) and the Winthrop fleet sailed in 1630.
1636–1686 Separate colonies: Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut and Rhode Island FamilySearch

Connecticut Colony was organised in 1636 (Fundamental Orders January 1639, royal charter 1662, with New Haven joining after 1664) and Rhode Island began at Providence in 1636 (Royal Charter 1663). Connecticut seized the Dutch post Fort Good Hope at Hartford in 1653. Plymouth remained a separate colony until 1691.
1686–1689 Dominion of New England FamilySearch

Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth were placed under the Dominion in 1686, Rhode Island and Connecticut were added, with Connecticut's laws replaced on 29 December 1687, and the Boston revolt overthrew it on 18 April 1689.
1689–1776 Province of Massachusetts Bay, Colony of Connecticut and Colony of Rhode Island FamilySearch

Rhode Island resumed its charter government on 1 May 1689, and Connecticut readopted its earlier government. A new charter merged Plymouth into the Province of Massachusetts Bay, with Plymouth's legal end on 17 October 1691 and the province taking effect in 1692.
1776–1841 States of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Connecticut ratified the US Constitution on 9 January 1788, Massachusetts on 6 February 1788 and Rhode Island, the last of the thirteen, on 29 May 1790. Before statewide registration, births, marriages and deaths are in town clerks' books, published as Vital Records to 1850 for about 215 Massachusetts towns, as the Barbour Collection for Connecticut and in James N. Arnold's Vital Records of Rhode Island 1636-1850.
1841–2026 States of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Massachusetts began statewide collection of vital records in 1841, and the State Archives holds 1841-1930. Rhode Island began statewide registration in 1853 and Connecticut on 1 July 1897; for Connecticut between about 1850 and 1897 there is no statewide index, so the town of the event must be known.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1620–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

241 places on this ground

The 200 carrying the most collections are listed; 41 more stand on this ground. Every place has them all.

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

All record regions · The map