The three volumes in this series have collected all probate records for the towns that constitute Essex County in Massachusetts. Wills and inventories are provided in full transcription, while all other documents, including letters of administration, estate settlements and the like, appear in full or in abstract.
For the period covered by these volumes, there was no separate probate court, and most of the documents included here were entered in volumes devoted to a variety of other legal matters, such as colony and county court minutes, town and county deed volumes, and even town meeting minutes.
From 1643 to 1679, the towns of Salisbury, Haverhill and Amesbury were in old Norfolk County, and were incorporated into Essex County in the latter year, upon the creation of the colony of New Hampshire. Probate records for these towns, found mostly in the records of old Norfolk County, have been included here as well.
The records collected here are essential for the study of the first three generations of Essex County families.
High quality scanned images of the whole of the original book. This CD has been
bookmarked for easy navigation, and pages can be searched, browsed, enlarged
and printed out if required.
