Research Notes - getting started

The Registry land records back to the founding of Norfolk County in 1793 are available for online viewing. The Registry’s online name index is available from 1927 forward and continues to expand to include earlier years. This constitutes approximately 90% of all index entries. In addition, scanned records of the index itself are available for earlier years. Please note that prior to Book 525 (1881) each numbered “page” is a two sided folio sheet. Because the computer index treats the image of each side as a separate page, the computer page number will generally be twice (for even numbered pages) or one less than twice (for odd numbered pages) the page number in the printed volume.

 

To use the county indexes as entered by the county engineering department requires either some knowledge of the County Commissioners’ records or some specific information that you would like to research. The records may be searched by using the designated prefixes*, but you need to know the book and page number that corresponds to the prefix. Most people do not have access to the Commissioners' records, although they are available at the Norfolk County Engineering Office. Since it appears that some of these references were newly created as the plans were entered, using the book and page category is not the ideal way to search. The best way to search is to use the name index.

 

You may search by street name, the name of the party for whom the plan was prepared, the name of the party who signed the plan, or by the name of the city, town or Norfolk County. You can segregate your search by town and date when you put in a name, and the results can be pared down by the prefixes depending on whether you want a highway, a bridge, or a railroad crossing. Most of the railroad information will be found under the name of the railroad. Unfortunately, many of these railroad companies have disappeared as viable entities, thus you really need to know what you are looking for in these searches.

 

*The following prefix codes are used when searching County Engineering records include the following:

County Bridges CBR

Count Highways CHW

County Turnpikes CTP

County Railroad Crossings CRC

County Railroad locations CRR

 

 

This is not a complete description of all the information that is available at the Registry or on County Plans. You are welcome to visit us here at the Registry for assistance in your research needs or call the Norfolk Registry of Deeds Customer Service Department at 781-461-6101 or the Norfolk County Engineering Department at 781-461-6128.

 

Detailed Research Guide - to access our Detailed Guide click here