5 Tips for a Successful Town Hall Trip

If a town hall is on your next onsite Connecticut research trip “to visit” list, these five tips can make the process a little easier:

1. Explore FamilySearch, Ancestry, the Connecticut State Library and the town’s website first: Many Connecticut vital records; probate records; land records; newspapers and gravestone transcriptions have already been digitized. A review of the digitized collections will help you determine what hasn’t been digitized yet and learn when you need to focus your time. (Hint: that’s typically undigitized land records, grand lists, and cemetery records, unless you need recent vitals.)
2. Don’t forget to double check hours: Larger towns and cities operate on a fairly typically schedule; smaller towns often have late hours one day and close early another. If you’re not paying attention, you may find yourself arriving at a closed town hall.
3. Know what office holds what: In Connecticut, land records are held in the town clerk’s office. In many towns, vital records are there as well. Some towns have separate offices or house them in the Health Department. Probate records technically should not be in the town hall, but sometimes they make it there in office transfers. Contemporary tax records are held by the tax assessor, but the early 19th century grand lists should be with the clerk. Clerk staff may not actually know what’s where, so becoming familiar with the system can save you time.
4. Get your documents, money, and a pencil ready in advance: You “may” be able to pay a fee to use a camera/scanner in the vault, but that won’t allow you to take pictures of vital records. If you need to write things down, have a pencil and paper ready. Pens aren’t allowed. Land records are $1/page; vital records are $20/copy. Most towns don’t take credit cards. If you want to review vital records, you’ll need to be a member of an authorized genealogical society.
5. Know who to ask for help: Most offices do not have staff who can assist with research and in some cases, may be legally barred from assisting. (Helping with land records can be viewed as title searching, which they can’t do.) If you think you’ll need help onsite, reach out to the town historian (if one exists) or the town historical society. They may be willing to offer help for a donation to a town cause.