Maine Genealogical Society

01/03/2026

MGS SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS UPDATE: Maine Genealogical Society wishes all of you a happy and healthy 2026, filled with genealogical discoveries and vanquished brick walls! Looking back on the past year, we’re proud to announce our 4 bestselling publications for 2025:
1) VITAL RECORDS OF LIVERMORE AND EAST LIVERMORE, MAINE
2) THE LITTLEFIELD GENEALOGY, DESCENDANTS OF EDMUND LITTLEFIELD, UPDATED AND REVISED EDITION
3) VITAL RECORDS OF LEEDS, MAINE
4) LINCOLN COUNTY, MAINE, MASTER INDEX TO DEEDS IN VOLUMES 101–189
If your New Year’s resolution is to make leaps and bounds in your research, we encourage you to check out our online catalogue of publications at http://www.maineroots.org/shop. And why not join MGS at the same time? You’ll get a year’s subscription to The Maine Genealogist, discounted prices on all our publications, and other great perks!

12/27/2025

Discover Your Family Story With Exclusive Free Webinars from the
Maine Genealogical Society!
Ready to take your genealogy research to the next level? From January through June, the Maine Genealogical Society (MGS) is thrilled to host a powerhouse lineup of nationally recognized speakers, as well as highly respected local experts—and you can attend every webinar for FREE as an active, paid MGS member!
These engaging Zoom webinars are designed to deepen your skills, expand your research toolkit, and inspire new discoveries. Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or just beginning your family history journey, MGS is bringing top-tier expertise from across the country and right here at home directly to your screen.
Why Join MGS Now?
⭐ Free access to all January–June webinars
⭐ National and local speakers without the travel cost
⭐ Live and interactive sessions on Zoom
⭐ Opportunities to connect with fellow genealogists across Maine and beyond
⭐ Full member benefits all year long
⭐ Membership is only $25 per calendar year—less than you’d pay to attend just one professional speaker elsewhere. With MGS, you’ll enjoy six expert presentations for the cost of one!
Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to grow your knowledge and uncover new chapters of your story. Join at:

The Maine Genealogical Society (MGS) is a non-profit charitable and educational organization. It was founded in 1976 to collect, exchange, preserve

12/03/2025

MGS Special Publications update: our indexed vital record transcriptions from Maine towns, award-winning family genealogies, and volumes of MAINE FAMILIES IN 1790 are waiting for you! Our featured publication this month is THE LITTLEFIELD GENEALOGY, UPDATED AND REVISED EDITION, a massive 2-volume genealogy, first published in 2020, recipient of the prestigious ASG Donald Lines Jacobus Award. This expanded edition includes 100 pages of additional information and corrections. Littlefield descendants settled all over Maine, New England, and elsewhere, and this work is invaluable in connecting Littlefields near and far to the original Maine family. We have over 35 other titles in stock, many almost sold out, with discounted prices for MGS members (another great reason to join MGS). Have a look at our online catalog at https://www.maineroots.org/shop, and get your copy—or a Christmas gift for your favorite family historian—before it’s too late!

11/24/2025

👉🏻The November issue of THE MAINE GENEALOGIST is now available to members of the Maine Genealogical Society. This issue focuses on names and the way they can change over time. Two of the articles focus on how names in the Old County became anglicized in America, often in ways that defy logic and confound genealogists. How did the name "Dov," for instance, morph into "Barnett"? When understood, the change actually makes sense. Another article confronts the interchangeability of differently spelled surnames, while the last article busts through a long-standing research brick wall after untangling an aged woman’s three previous marriages. Access to these articles and more make up just one of the benefits of MGS membership. Visit www.maineroots.org for more information.

11/18/2025

MGS Special Publications update: our indexed vital record transcriptions from Maine towns, award-winning family genealogies, and volumes of MAINE FAMILIES IN 1790 continue to sell well. Our MAINE FAMILIES IN 1790 series covers, so far, 3,095 families and approximately 10,000 early residents of Maine! The latest installment, volume 12, is our most ambitious yet, with 201 carefully-researched family sketches and a 20,120-entry every name index. We have over 35 other titles in stock, many almost sold out, with discounted prices for MGS members (another great reason to join MGS). Find all our publications in the online catalog at www.maineroots.org/shop, and place your order before it’s too late!

11/11/2025

⭐️MGS proudly announces our 100th Special Publication!⭐️
Greg Childs traveled to LIVERMORE and LIVERMORE FALLS, MAINE, and photographed an astounding collection of vital, military, and pauper records (and much more), most never microfilmed, all carefully transcribed and indexed in this 864-page book. The vital records of East Livermore, now Livermore Falls, appear here in print for the very first time. A must-have for researchers of not only Livermore and East Livermore, but the entire area comprising Oxford, Androscoggin, Franklin, and Kennebec counties!
Now available: VITAL RECORDS OF LIVERMORE AND EAST LIVERMORE, MAINE, two towns in one book, by Gregory S. Childs, $75 retail, or $50 for MGS members. Order your copy at https://maineroots.org/shop/vital-records-transcriptions/product/132-vital-records-of-livermore-and-east-livermore-maine-100

11/01/2025

As Thanksgiving approaches, MGS is thankful for the volunteers and expert genealogists who, over the decades, have helped build our impressive catalog of indexed vital record transcriptions from Maine towns, award-winning family genealogies, and volumes of MAINE FAMILIES IN 1790. Our featured publication this month is VITAL RECORDS OF NEWCASTLE, MAINE. Created as a district in 1753 and incorporated in 1775, Newcastle is nestled amid the early settlements that would later become Wiscasset and Bristol, and the town's records are essential in researching the families of early Lincoln County. We have over 35 other titles in stock, many almost sold out, with discounted prices for MGS members (another great reason to join MGS). Have a look at our online catalog at https://maineroots.org/shop, and place your order before it’s too late!

10/25/2025

Anyone researching Lincoln County's early land records knows the drill: no master index, and finding an ancestor's land transactions means hours of page-by-page searches through each original volume's separate, semi-alphabetical index. MGS first published a master index of volumes 1–100 in 2021, and we have now extended the index to volume 189 in our latest publication. Finding genealogical treasures buried within Lincoln County deeds has now gone from tedious to trouble-free!

Now available: LINCOLN COUNTY, MAINE, MASTER INDEX TO DEEDS IN VOLUMES 101–189 (1818–1848), 866 pages, by Marlene A. Groves, edited by Joseph C. Anderson II, FASG, and Gregory S. Childs, $65 retail, or $40 for MGS members. Order your copy at maineroots.org!

10/23/2025

Did you know that MGS has a dynamic publications program? We offer transcribed vital records from towns all over Maine, expertly researched family genealogies, the MAINE FAMILIES IN 1790 series, and more! Visit www.maineroots.org for a full catalog of available publications and ordering information. We offer discounted prices for members—another great reason to join Maine Genealogical Society. Don't miss out on these essential additions to any family historian's bookshelf!

The Maine Genealogical Society (MGS) is a non-profit charitable and educational organization. It was founded in 1976 to collect, exchange, preserve

02/20/2022

New Resource of note for contemporary news:

BELFAST — The Belfast Free Library announces the digitization and microfilming of the complete run of The Waldo Independent newspaper. This digitized content is now freely available to the public online for reading and searching. The Waldo...

10/21/2020

www.maineroots.org was having issues accepting orders yesterday. It was reported to webmaster@maineroots.org and we took a look. It appears one of the plugins used on the site had an old payment method assigned to it so the renewal did not process as expected. We have updated the payment method and the website so book orders can process again.

Sorry for the inconvenience & Thank You to the folks who reported the issue.

Edmund Littlefield was a Great Migration immigrant from Titchfield, Hampshire, England. He came to America, probably in 1635, and by 1641 he was living in Wells, Maine, as one of the first settlers of that location. From his eight surviving children and at least fifty-seven grandchildren, he founded...