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Franklin Genealogy & Local History Research online
(For more detailed and direct access to the records below,
click on the tab above, "Index to Digital Collections​")

The Franklin Sentinel 
Digitized directly from our microfilm collection.  The collection is searchable, but some of the images are very faded.  If the search feature does not find your query, and if you know the approximate date of the event, it may be worth while to look through the pages. This link will also allow you to search the Franklin Vital Records (1778-2014) and the Franklin Register (1873-1877)

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Franklin Town Reports, 2004-Current

The reports include births, marriages and deaths in Franklin for each year.

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Franklin High School Oskey Yearbooks
For the years: 1928-1930, 1933-2017

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Franklin Public Library Digital Collection at the Internet Archive
Historic manuscripts of Franklin, Mass. including Sanborn maps, resident directories, judicial records, social club records, school records, diaries and much more. Hosted at Archives.org.

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Franklin Historical Museum Digital Collection at the Internet Archive

Great collection! Annual Franklin town reports, School Committee reports, resident & business directories, Franklin Sentinel for the year 1900. Hosted at Archives.org.

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Franklin Historical Maps
Franklin Historical Museum collection at Digital Commonwealth: Maps of Franklin for 1832, 1858, 1878, 1888. A map of the Whitney Worsted Company for 1923

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Franklin Federated Church Digital Collection at the Internet Archive

​Very early documents of the town and the Congregational Church, many are pre-Franklin, when what is now the Town of Franklin was Wrentham's "Second Precinct".

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Franklin, Mass. First Congregational Church. Marriages & Baptisms 1737-1827

The First Congregational Church, now the Franklin Federated Church, was both the governing body and the only ecclesiastical institution in Franklin until the early 19th century.  These vital records were digitized by Boston's Congregational Library & Archives.

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Franklin Real Property Assessment Data & Valuations 

This site can provide some basic information on homes in Franklin, including year built, previous owner, etc. A good starting point for researching the history of an ancestral home.

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Record of births, marriages and deaths in the Town of Franklin, from 1778 to 1872 
(these records are also included in the online vital records collection - see Franklin Sentinel)

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Sanborn map collection from the Library of Congress

For all of the U.S. - includes Franklin maps for the years 1884, 1889, 1894, and 1899.

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Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School Yearbooks
For the years 1978-2018

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History of the Town of Franklin, Mass. (2nd March 1878) by Mortimer Blake

A history of the town written for the Centennial Celebration of 1878.  Includes "genealogical notices" for the founding families of Franklin.

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Woonsocket Call 1899-1960
Digitized by the Woonsocket Harris Public Library. Database includes the Woonsocket Call and Evening Reporter, 1908-1960; the Evening Call, 1899-1908; the Evening Reporter, 1906; Providence County Times, 1928. Excellent source for Franklin news & obituaries.

 

Digital records of the Massachusetts State Archive​

Massachusetts census records, vital records, military records, passenger lists, as well as court and legislative records, mostly from the 18th & 19th centuries.

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MACRIS: Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System
Inventory of Historic Assets of the Commonwealth, National
Register of Historic Places nominations, State Register of Historic Places listings, and local historic district study reports.  Hundreds of Franklin homes, churches and public buildings have been researched and added to MACRIS.

 

Norfolk County Registry of Deeds database
Research the history of a property through deeds and land court records. Registry land records going back to the founding of Norfolk County in 1793 are available for online viewing. The Registry's online index is available from 1793 forward

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Born June 30, 1891 in Franklin, Massachusetts, Stanley Grant Chilson became the official Fire Department photographer for Franklin, as well as Nofolk, Millis, Medway, Foxboro and Medfield.  Stanley's love for photography naturally inspired him to pick up a movie camera, and he began to film scenes of everyday life in Franklin and other neighboring towns. This collection also includes 2 movies not filmed by Chilson, Franklin's celebration the U.S. Bicentennial of 1976, and the Town of Franklin's own bicentennial celebration in 1978

Other Research Materials

(ask Librarian for assistance)

Newspapers on Microfilm (in storage)

Country Gazette: 1992, 1999 - 4/29/2022
Franklin Times: 3/24/2006 - 7/28/2006

Milford Daily News: 1993 - 1998

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Town Reports 

Bound 1869 - current

 

List of Residents (some available online at the Internet Archive)

1954 – 1961 (Bound)

1964 - 1971 (Bound)

1972 – 1978 (Bound)

1984 – 1988 (Bound)

1989 – 1992 (Bound)

1993 – 1996 (Bound)

1997 – 2000 (Bound)

2000 – 2003 (Bound)

2005 – 2008 (Bound - no 2004)

2009 – 2012 (Bound)

1884, 1890, 1893, 1899, 1905, 1909, 1913, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 2013-2021(Individual Books)

 

Real Estate Valuations (Bound)

1859, 1868, 1879, 1889, 1896, 1900, 1906, 1911, 1914, 1919, 1924, 1929, 1945, 1948, 1950, 1963

 

Franklin Zoning Maps
1963, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 

Abington

Acton

Alford

Amesbury

Andover

Arlington

Ashburnham

Ashford

Athol

Attleboro

Auburn

Barre

Becket

Bedford

Bellingham

Beverly

Billerica

Bolton

Boylston

Boxboro

Bradford

Braintree

Brewster

Bridgewater

Brimfield

Brockton

Brookfield

Brookline

Burlington

Cambridge

Canton

Carlisle

Carver

Charlemont

Charlton

Chelmsford

Chelsea

Chester

Chilmark

Cohasset

Concord

Conway

Cummington

Dalton

Dana

Danvers

Dartmouth

Deerfield

Dorchester

Douglas

Dover

Dracut

Dudley

Dunstable

Duxbury

East Bridgewater

Edgartown

Essex

Foxborough

Framingham

Gardner

Georgetown

Gill

Gloucester

Grafton

Granville

Great Barrington

Greenfield

Groton

Hamilton

Hanover

Hanson

Hardwick

Harvard

Haverhill

Heath

Hinsdale

Holden

Holliston

Hopkinton

Hubberd

Hull

Ipswich

Kingston

Lawrence

Lee

Leicester

Leominster

Lexington

Lincoln

Lowell

Lynn

Lynnfield

Malden

Manchester

Marblehead

Marlborough

Medfield

Medford

Mendon

Methuen

Middlefield

Milbury

Milford

Nantucket

Natick

New Ashford

New Bedford

New Braintree

Newbury

Newburyport

Newton

Northbridge

Norton

Oakham

Oxford

Otis

 

Palmer

Pelham

Pembroke

Plympton

Princeton

Reading

Rehoboth

Richmond

Rochester

Rowley

Roxbury

Rutland

Salem

Salisbury

Saugus

Scituate

Shrewsbury

Sharon

Shelburne

Sherborn

Shirley

Shrewsbury

Southborough

Stoneham

Stoughton

Stow

Sturbridge

Sudbury

Sutton

Taunton

Templeton

Tewksbury

Tisbury

Topsfield

Tyngsborough

Tyringham

Upton

Uxbridge

Wakefield

Walpole

Waltham

Warren

Washington

Wayland

Wenham

West Boylston

West Bridgewater

West Newbury

West Springfield

West Stockbridge

Westford

Westminster

Weston

Westport

Weymouth

Williamstown

Wilmington

Winchendon

Windsor

Woburn

Wrentham

Worcester

Worthington

 

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