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Research a Person
Practice patience! Looking for details on a person's life can be confusing. We've compiled some resources to help you get started.
Digitized Amesbury Publications (Advantage Archives)
| Amesbury High School Yearbooks (also available in print by appointment) | The Powow, from 1926 – 2010 (2013-present available in person). Library does not own 1924 or 1925. |
| City Directories (also available in print by appointment) | City directories were published by private publishers. The contents change slightly over the years and include business directories for Amesbury, Newburyport, and Merrimac (depending on the year), advertisements, street listings of residents including occupations, maps, and miscellaneous information. |
| Street Listings (also available in print by appointment) | Street listings are municipal records compiled annually per MGL 51 Section 4 by the Amesbury Board of Registrars. |
Cemetery Records
| Municipal owned cemeteries: Mt. Prospect and Union Cemeteries | Contact Amesbury Department of Public Works, 39 South Hunt Road, 978-388-8116 for current information. WPA era maps available in library by appointment. |
| Select guides to gravestones and markers produced by Amesbury Cemetery Commission, including Civil War veteran burials. | Available by appointment. |
| Select plot maps from Salisbury Point Burial Ground | Available by appointment. |
Local Newspapers
| Amesbury Daily News | (1894-1962) 90,633 pages |
| Amesbury and Salisbury Villager | |
| Merrimac Echo | |
Published Resources Available Online
| History of Amesbury, Merrill, Joseph, 1880 974.4515 MER | Compiled from town records, this resource includes warrants and meeting minutes. Available in the Amesbury Room on the main floor of the library or online. |
| Vital Records of Amesbury Massachusetts to the end of the Year 1849 G929.3 AME | Compiled from various secondary sources, publication date 1913. Available in the Amesbury Room on the main floor of the library or online. |
| Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Hoyt, David, 1897 G929.1 H854 V. 1 and V. 2 | Genealogical information on many of the earliest European families of the region. Available in the Amesbury Room on the first floor of the library or online. |
Indigenous History
The combination of prejudice toward indigenous communities and the subsequent theft of land from those groups, coupled with our lack of preservation of indigenous culture (largely oral) results in few highly localized resources in this area. We have insufficient material to understand or research native peoples and native land use in modern day Amesbury. To our knowledge, none of the material in our collection is written or created by native people of our region. We are aware of some publications of secondary sources provided here. These are written by colonial white European settlers, not native or indigenous peoples. Moorehead Warren K. and Benjamin L. Smith. 1931. The Merrimack Archaeological Survey a Preliminary Paper. Salem Mass: Peabody Museum. |
A small but significant collection of early regional hand tools is held by the Bartlett Museum. Contact the museum for more information. (Image above from Bartlett Museum Collection, image by Meghan Fahey, APL staff). |
Genealogical Databases
Research your family tree with access to more than 6 billion genealogical and historical records. (In-library use only) | |
Access military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served. You can combine records found on the site with what you have in your own albums and shoe boxes to create an online memorial for someone who served. | |
Explore your family history with the premier collection of U.S. obituaries and death notices for in-depth genealogical research from 1704 – today. Includes deep coverage from all 50 states, hard-to-find content from the mid 1900’s, and original obituary images. |
Visit our Local History Browsing collection on the Main Floor of the library.