Connecticut Genealogy Search

Connecticut has some of the oldest continuous records in the country. Its towns have recorded births, marriages, deaths and land transfers since the 1630s, and because Connecticut abolished county government in 1960, the town clerks and the probate districts still hold the records that sit in county courthouses elsewhere. The Connecticut State Library in Hartford holds the Barbour Collection, an index to town vital records before 1850, and the Hale Collection of cemetery inscriptions and newspaper death and marriage notices.

Statewide registration began in 1897, but for most Connecticut families the town records go back centuries before that.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

Connecticut statewide genealogy links

• Connecticut Genealogy Records at Connecticut State Library
• Connecticut State Archives and Libraries SearchConnecticut Archives and Libraries Search
• Connecticut State Library Research Guide to NewspapersFind Historic Newspapers
• Connecticut State Office of Vital RecordsBirth, Death and Marriage Historic Records
• Connecticut State Library History and GenealogyLibrary Genealogical Resources
• Search the Archival Research CatalogConnecticut Genealogy Research at the National Archives

Connecticut towns have kept vital records since the colonial period, and the town clerk of the town where an event occurred holds the original register. Statewide registration began in 1897, and the Connecticut Department of Public Health holds copies from then on. Birth certificates are restricted for 100 years, but members of genealogical societies may access older records at town halls under Connecticut law, and death and marriage records are public. The Barbour Collection indexes town vital records from the 1630s to about 1850, and the State Library holds it and the town records on microfilm. Divorce records sit with the superior court clerk.

• Connecticut Department of Public Health Vital RecordsBirth, death and marriage certificates from 1897
• Connecticut Vital Records guideHow to order certificates and what is public

The State Library's History and Genealogy unit holds the Hale Collection of headstone inscriptions from more than 2,000 cemeteries and newspaper notices from 1750 to 1865, the Charles R. Hale index, church records from hundreds of Connecticut congregations, probate estate papers from 1641 to 1880 with a name index, and military records from the colonial wars through World War I, including the Connecticut Revolutionary War and Civil War rosters. Connecticut took no state censuses, so the federal censuses from 1790 and the town records carry the load. The Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford and the Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown hold additional genealogy collections.

• Connecticut Digital ArchiveFree digitized Connecticut records and collections
• National Archives at BostonFederal court, naturalization and customs records for Connecticut

Connecticut's 169 town clerks hold land records from each town's settlement, marriage licenses and the town vital records, and most now post land record indexes online. Probate records belong to the probate court districts, currently 54, and the State Library holds the estate papers of the older districts through the 1880s. The superior court holds civil and divorce records. Because counties no longer function, a search of a Connecticut family means the town, not the county, and the State Library's town guides list which records each town holds.

• Connecticut County Public RecordsTown clerks and probate districts across Connecticut
• Connecticut Court RecordsSuperior court and probate case lookups

• National Archives, genealogyCensus, military, immigration and land records
• Library of Congress, genealogy guidesResearch guides for family history