Source Information

Ancestry.com. Maine Court Records, 1696-1854 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2003.
Original data: York County Court of Common Pleas (1696-1760), Kennebec County Supreme Court (1799-1854), and Washington County District Court (1839-46). Index obtained from Maine Department of the Secretary of State, Maine State Archives, http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc/files/dbinfo.htm.

About Maine Court Records, 1696-1854

This database is an index to early court records from the state of Maine. The records come from the York County Court of Common Pleas (1696-1760), the Kennebec County Supreme Court (1799-1854), and the Washington County District Court (1839-46). Information provided in the index includes the court name, month and year of session, the cause of action, a reference to the location of the actual record, the name of the plaintiff or defendant, and his residence. The index was created by and obtained from the Maine State Archives. For more information about these records or to learn how to contact the Archives please visit the (Maine State Archives website.

An extensive array of courts have existed in Maine since the beginning of the settlements in the early 1600s. Jurisdictional changes are quite complicated. A detailed publication of the early records will be found in Province and Court Records of Maine, 1639-1757, 6 vols. (Portland, Maine: Maine Historical Society, 1928), as well as on microfilm through the FHL. All of the original court records for York County are at the Maine State Archives. Counties formed from York after 1760 (Cumberland and Lincoln) and 1789 (Washington) were under Massachusetts jurisdiction, although these records appear not to have been microfilmed. Most extant court records to 1929 for all counties except Lincoln can be found at the Maine State Archives. Lincoln County court records are at the courthouse in Wiscasset.

Before statehood, Maine's court of appeals was the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature (1692-1780). This also served as the original court for some other cases such as murders. Records for this court are filled as "Suffolk Files" at the Massachusetts State Archives where they are indexed. The supreme judicial court replaced the superior court of judicature after 1780. According to the Massachusetts State Archives, their holdings include circuit court records for this court for Maine counties through 1793.

Taken from Maine, Ancestry's Red Book by Alice Eichholz, edited by Alice Eichholz. (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1992).