LocAl History and Genealogy Resources

at the George Holmes Bixby Memorial Library

Francestown, New Hampshire

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The Red Room

On the second floor of the library you'll find the Red Room, which houses our collection of secondary local history resources. Much of the collection circulates, but some items can only be used in the library.

Resources include

  • Inventories
    • Barns
    • Cellar holes
    • Cemeteries
  • Building Reports
  • Town Master Plans

Resources at the Library

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Ancestry (Library Edition is available to use in the library or while connected to the library's WiFi network.

Francestown Oral Histories collected 1970s-2000s

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Interviews with long-time

Francestown residents

about their memories

of the town.


A list of the interviews is available

here.

Double-clicking on the link in the list will play the audio file.


Francestown events and people may have appeared in different regional newspapers. Try your searches at all of the listed digital archives.

The volunteer published monthly Francestown News was begun in 1996; the library has a full collection of print copies available for consultation in the building. The Francestown News has no digital presence at this time.

All these resources include obituaries.

FindAGrave.com has 2,297 entries for cemeteries in Francestown.


Online resources for research

Vital Records

The online collection of Annual Town Reports, hosted at the UNH Scholars’ Repository, provides a point of access to Francestown’s vital statistics. The 1889 Annual Report is the first of those available online to include Births, Marriages, and Deaths. Earlier Reports include financial accounting of how public monies were spent, what was paid and to whom, the list of those supported by the Pauper Farm, as well as school reports with lists of teachers, students, and honor rolls.


Digital images of microfilm of Town Records from 1772-1938 is available at FamilySearch.org. Click on the linked text and scroll down to find the camera icon to access the digitized images of the 1950 microfilm of the State Library’s typed and hand-written transcripts of the Town Records. You will have to create a free FamilySearch account to view them.


Ancestry Library Edition offers searchable collections for Births/Christenings, Marriages, and Deaths. You must be in the library or on its Wi-Fi to use these collections unless you have your own subscription.

William Cochrane’s (1895) History of Francestown contains genealogies of founding families. Reprints are available as circulating copies at the library. This book is also available in digital form at https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/86624-redirection. Similar late 19th-century histories of neighboring towns (Antrim, Bennington, Greenfield, Hancock, New Boston) are available for in-library use; you can also search for digitized versions by Googling “History of (Community Name) archive.org.”

Consider consulting New Hampshire, U.S., Civil War Service and Pension Records, 1861-1866, a collection available in Ancestry Library Edition, to find an ancestor from Francestown who fought in the US Civil War. You will have to be in the library or at least on its Wi-Fi to use Ancestry Library Edition.

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