Town Hall Archives
From the Vault of the Groton Town Clerk’s Office, these Town Hall Archives, which date back to the late 17th century, include Births, Deaths, and Marriage records, Land and Property records, Town Meeting Warrants, Select Board Minutes, Taxes, and other records.
Of special interest, the Historical Collections section includes Caleb Butler’s copy of the Indian Roll (the earliest Groton historical narrative), The Revolution (including papers related to Shays’ Rebellion), Militia Enrollment, and the Civil War.
The link will take you to a set of file folders, organized into groups of scanned images. A ReadMe file provides details on the structure of the Archives and on what the Archives DO and DO NOT include.
Historical Research
Town records reach back into the late 1600’s. However, the further back one goes, record availability is not as robust. Many records, especially prior to 1850, were kept by churches or courthouses, and not in the town’s records. Adding to the complexity of early records is the history of Groton. Groton once encompassed all or portions of several surrounding towns. When these municipalities incorporated, the appropriate records were transferred. Groton does not have a record of the records that were transferred.
The more information you have about a record, the more straightforward the Groton search can be. The Town Clerk’s office will reasonably search Groton records for up to 30 minutes for free. Beyond 30 minutes of search time, there is a fee of $25 per hour. Certified copies of historical documents may not be actual copies, as we must take care to preserve the original volumes. Please also be aware that historical documents do not include the same quantity of information that modern records do.
