--- title: "Maine deeds online: a rich resource" description: A happy discovery in my genealogical research was the online availability of deeds for the state of Maine. image: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Alyssa-True-1-180x300-1.jpg --- # [Vita Brevis A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Maine deeds online: a rich resource [December 30, 2015](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/12/maine-deeds-online-rich-resource) [News](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/news), [Critical Analysis](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/critical-analysis), [American History](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/american-history), [Collections](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/collections), [Research Methods](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-methods), [Brick Walls](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/brick-walls), [Family papers](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/family-papers), [Research tips](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-tips) [Alyssa True](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/atrue) [![Alyssa True 1](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Alyssa-True-1-180x300-1.jpg?width=180&height=300&name=Alyssa-True-1-180x300-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Alyssa-True-1-1.jpg) The deed naming Moses True as the son of Winthrop True (and grandson of Israel True). Image courtesy of Cumberland County Registry of Deeds A happy discovery in my genealogical research was the online availability of deeds for the state of Maine. The Maine Registers of Deeds Association provides [links](http://www.maineregistryofdeeds.com/) to each Maine county website. Users can download up to 500 pages *per calendar year* **for free**. As Lindsay Fulton wrote in her April post [8 More Vital Record Alternatives](http://vita-brevis.org/2015/04/8-more-vital-record-alternatives/), deeds are often an acceptable source for proving specific relationships between family members. And if you haven’t gone hog wild and used up your quota already, you can stay in during this snowy end of the year downloading just about every mention of your Maine ancestors in these deeds. The [site](https://me.uslandrecords.com/ME/Cumberland/%28X%281%29S%28uxc0n3tvbh2gfy4ztuzacbva%29%29/D/Default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1) for Cumberland County is a particularly rich example of this resource’s offerings. While other counties may only have a few decades of digitized deeds, Cumberland County has put up online records from 1753 to December 2015! Furthermore, it is especially valuable for Cumberland County researchers, as probate records for this area before the 1908 fire in Portland are (ahem) toast. Deeds for this county are currently not online at FamilySearch nor are they available on microfilm at NEHGS. My Maine roots stem from my maternal grandfather’s family, who settled up and down the eastern side of the state, particularly in Cumberland County. My branch of Trues spread out from Salisbury, Massachusetts, when Israel True settled in North Yarmouth. These Trues were very good about being documented in town, vital, and census records, consistently spelling their name for anyone who might try to call them “Drew,” “Tru,” or revert to “Trew” – something I still have to do today! Any event in their lives is pretty easy for later generations to find – except for the birth of Israel’s grandson, Moses. [![Alyssa True 2](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Alyssa-True-2-300x169-1.jpg?width=300&height=169&name=Alyssa-True-2-300x169-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Alyssa-True-2-1.jpg) Our families' names are tied to the land we lived on, as with this marker. Moses was born sometime in 1790, most likely in North Yarmouth. Though his lineage was richly detailed in Cumberland County biographies of two of his eight sons, I had trouble finding solid sources connecting Moses to his father Winthrop, who died when Moses was 12. Traditional avenues didn’t pan out. But, then, I searched for Moses True in Cumberland County deeds and found a deed filed in 1823, which listed Moses and his siblings not only as children of Winthrop but as grandchildren of Israel. Three generations in one deed! Five hundred pages is a lot to download before 2016, but if it’s not enough, your count (for that account anyway) resets in the new year. After that, it’s 50 cents per image. It could be a very productive way to spend the end of the year. ### Share this: - [mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/12/maine-deeds-online-rich-resource](mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/12/maine-deeds-online-rich-resource) - - - More - - ![Alyssa True](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported%20images/2f73692045407d146f20271b61677273%3Fs=96%26d=identicon%26r=g.jpeg) ## About Alyssa True Alyssa True, library assistant, joined the NEHGS staff in 2011. She received a B.S. and a B.A. from Boston University and is currently completing her M.S. in library science, with a concentration in archives management, from Simmons College. Alyssa’s interests include Maine and lineage societies.[View all posts by Alyssa True →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/atrue) [← 2015: the year in review](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/12/2015-year-in-review-1) [Chaos in the streets →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/12/chaos-in-the-streets) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ### Recent Posts [Charles Bulfinch – A Father of Federal Style Architecture](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/charles-bulfinch) [Sailor Bill and His Forgotten Wife](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/sailor-bill-and-his-forgotten-wife) [Professor X](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/professor-x) [Part I: Malaga Island, Maine](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/part-i-malaga-island-maine) [The Norwegian folge](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/the-norwegian-folge) ### Archives - [October 2014 (27)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/10) - 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