Maine Counties records vary extensively from county to county in either quality as well as quantity. Some have already been very carefully maintained while some have been substantially neglected and uncared for. Some Maine records have merely disappeared. For genealogists performing research in Maine there’s no effective substitute for an on-site research of county courthouse records. For Definitions of all court terms see the Genealogy Encyclopedia.

County Resources – Maine has similar systems of early record keeping for probates, vitals and deeds to Massachusetts. The county seat has probates and deeds on file and the town offices hold vital records, typically. The Maine legislature mandated that marriages had to be filed with the county clerk beginning in 1828. However, that mandate was never uniformly followed. Many records were held in private homes and were subsequently lost, often in fires. Some holds have records that predate the town, which shows that they hold records for the towns from which they were created (parent towns). If records for a town begin long after the town was established, many records for that town were probably lost. Town Resources – A lot of information about New England ancestors can be found in early town meeting records. Town meeting records for Maine may be a bit difficult to track down, though, since some of them are no longer filed in the offices of the town clerks. The Maine State Archives is continuing to find, organize, and compile town records for the various towns in Maine. These Secretary of State’s office publishes addresses for free on a yearly basis. Some towns keep records in the home of the town clerk, but annual elections mean that records are frequently moved. See also a list of links to county and county seat government run websites.

Maine has counties that no longer are in existence. They were established by the state, provincial, or territorial government. A lot of these counties were created and disbanded within the 19th century; county borders have changed little since Nineteen hundred in the great number of states. These counties really should be looked at when you are conducting genealogy research. Pay close attention where the courthouse records went to if the county was abolished or combined with a different county.

• Devonshire County: Devonshire County, District of Maine, Massachusetts Bay Colony was a short-lived county formed during the colonial territorial disputes between the Province of Massachusetts and the Province of Maine. The county existed from 1674 to 1675.
• Yorkshire County: created in 1639 from Colonial Lands,. It was renamed renamed York County in 1652

The harm to Maine courthouses considerably has a impact on family historians in every way. Not only are a lot of these historic buildings torn from our lifetimes, so are the records they housed: marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others. Once destroyed they’re destroyed permanently. Although they have already been put on mircofilm, computers and film burn up too. The most sad aspect of this is the reason why nearly all of our courthouses are destroyed from arsonist. Although, you cannot assume all records were lost. Numerous Maine counties have dealt with a loss of records due to courthouse fires, floods, and theft.

• Cumberland County Courthouse, Fire Loss

List of Maine Counties

County	Date Formed	Parent County	County Seat
Androscoggin	1854	Cumberland, Kennebec, and Lincoln Countes	Auburn
Aroostook	1839	Penobscot County, and Washington County	Houlton
Cumberland	1760	As Cumberland County, MA from York County	Portland
Franklin	1838	Kennebec, Oxford, and Somerset Countes	Farmington
Hancock	1789	As Hancock County, MA, from Lincoln County	Ellsworth
Kennebec	1799	As Kennebec County, MA from Lincoln County	Augusta
Knox	1860	Lincoln and Waldo Countes	Rockland
Lincoln	1760	As Lincoln County, MA from York County	Wiscasset
Oxford	1805	As Oxford County, MA from Cumberland and York Countes	Paris
Penobscot	1816	As Penobscot County, MA from Hancock County	Bangor
Piscataquis	1838	Penobscot and Somerset Countes	Dover-Foxcroft
Sagahadoc	1854	Lincoln County	Bath
Somerset	1809	As Somerset County, MA from Kennebec County	Skowhegan
Waldo	1827	Hancock, Kennebec and Lincoln Countes	Belfast
Washington	1789	As Washington County, MA from Lincoln County	Machias
York	1652	As Yorkshire County, MA from the southern the District of Maine	Alfred