Search Essex County Death Records
Essex County death records are held by city and town clerks throughout the county, not at a central county office. This page covers how to locate and request death certificates for any community in Essex County, along with contact details for key offices and state-level sources going back to 1841.
Essex County Overview
How to Get Essex County Death Records
Essex County does not maintain death records at the county level. Under Massachusetts law, each city and town keeps its own vital records. A death in Essex County is registered with the clerk of the city or town where the death occurred. That clerk is the primary source for a certified copy. To request one, you need to know the specific municipality where the death took place.
Essex County has 34 cities and towns. Major communities include Lawrence, Lynn, Haverhill, Peabody, Salem, Beverly, Gloucester, Newburyport, Andover, and Methuen, along with many smaller towns in the northern part of the state. Each clerk's office operates independently. Fees, hours, and request methods vary. Some offices accept walk-in requests; others ask for mailed requests with payment included. A few cities have their own online ordering systems.
One important note: there is a Town of Essex within Essex County. The Town of Essex clerk (phone: 978-768-7111) holds records only for the Town of Essex, not for the county as a whole. These are two entirely separate things. Do not contact the Town of Essex when you need records from another part of the county.
If you are unsure which town a death occurred in, the state Registry of Vital Records and Statistics is a better starting point. The RVRS holds death records for all of Massachusetts from 1931 forward, so you can search there without knowing the exact municipality. For deaths before 1931, use the Massachusetts State Archives for records from 1841 onward.
Note: The Town of Essex (a small coastal town) is one of the 34 municipalities within Essex County. They are separate entities. Contact individual city and town clerks for local records, not a county-level office.
Essex County Death Records Through State Sources
The Registry of Vital Records and Statistics is the main state resource for Essex County death records from 1931 to the present. The RVRS is located at 150 Mount Vernon Street, 1st Floor, Dorchester, MA 02125. Phone: (617) 740-2600. Email: vital.recordsrequest@state.ma.us. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:45 AM to 4:45 PM.
In-person requests at the RVRS cost $20 per certificate. Mail requests cost $32 and take about 30 days; expedited service (7-10 days) is available for an added fee. Full ordering details are at mass.gov. Information specific to death certificates, including what ID to bring and how to fill out a request, is at mass.gov/death-certificates.
Online ordering through VitalChek is also available at vitalchek.com. VitalChek charges $54 for the first copy and $42 for each additional copy. Orders typically arrive in 7-10 days and can be paid by credit or debit card.
For records from 1841 through 1930, the Massachusetts State Archives at 220 Morrissey Boulevard in Boston is the source. Phone: 617-727-2816. Email: archives@sec.state.ma.us. Certified copies from the Archives cost $3 each, with a maximum of five per request, and processing takes four to six weeks. Digital images of death records from 1841 through 1925 are freely available through FamilySearch for many Essex County communities. The Archives does not accept credit cards.
The screenshot below shows the RVRS order page, which covers Essex County and all other Massachusetts counties for records from 1931 to the present.
That page is updated regularly and includes current requirements, fees, and both in-person and mail request instructions for Essex County death records.
What Essex County Death Certificates Contain
Massachusetts death certificates follow a statewide standard established under MGL Chapter 46, Section 9. Every Essex County death certificate must include the full name of the deceased, date and place of death, cause of death certified by a physician or medical examiner, age, sex, birthplace, occupation, and the name of the informant. Most certificates also include a home address, parents' names, and marital status.
Modern certificates are generally more complete than older ones. Records from the 1800s may use outdated cause-of-death terminology and may lack some fields. Early Essex County certificates from right after the 1841 state requirement was introduced can be thin on detail, reflecting the early years of the registration system. Records from the 20th century onward tend to be consistent and detailed.
Certified copies carry a seal and official signature. They are accepted by courts, banks, insurance carriers, and federal agencies. Informational copies cannot typically be used for legal purposes.
Essex County Death Records: Access and Public Records Law
Death records in Massachusetts are public records. You do not need to be related to the deceased, and you do not need to state a reason for your request. Under MGL Chapter 46, Section 2A, access to vital records is open to anyone. The full statutory framework is in MGL Chapter 46, which covers everything from how records are created to how they are amended and accessed.
For Essex County, this means you can walk into the Lynn City Clerk's office, the Lawrence City Clerk's office, or the clerk's office of any Essex County town and request a death certificate without explaining why you want it. The clerk may ask for the name and approximate year of death to pull the right record, but there is no legal barrier to access. If a record needs to be corrected, amendments are handled under MGL Chapter 46, Section 13, which requires supporting documentation submitted to the local registrar.
Note: While Essex County death records are legally public, some clerk offices may require a short wait while staff locate older records. Call ahead if you are looking for records more than a few decades old.
Historical Death Records in Essex County
Essex County is one of the oldest counties in the United States, formed in 1643. Many of its towns have vital records going back to the colonial period, well before Massachusetts began requiring statewide registration in 1841. Some Essex County towns maintained their own death records from the 1600s and 1700s, and many of those have survived.
Salem, as the county seat and one of the oldest cities in the country, has an especially long records history. Salem's historical death records have been partially transcribed and published. Researchers working on Salem families can find records in town clerk archives, church registers, and published vital records volumes that predate the state system.
For deaths from 1841 onward, the Massachusetts State Archives holds the primary collection. Free digital images of the 1841-1925 records are accessible through FamilySearch. Their Massachusetts Vital Records wiki explains how to navigate those collections and what Essex County coverage looks like. The Massachusetts Historical Society also holds documents that can help fill gaps in Essex County death records from before 1841.
Church records are particularly valuable for Essex County before 1841. Many Congregationalist, Quaker, and later Catholic parishes kept death and burial registers that survive today. Libraries in Salem, Lynn, and Haverhill hold historical collections that include these records. For researchers working on Essex County genealogy, combining state records with church and town sources usually produces the most complete picture.
The following screenshot shows the VitalChek portal for Massachusetts, which can process Essex County death certificate orders from the state's collection going back to 1931.
VitalChek is a convenient option for people who cannot visit an office in person and need Essex County death certificates delivered by mail.
Essex County Register of Deeds and Probate Court
The Essex County Register of Deeds is located at 36 Federal Street in Salem, MA 01970. Deed records can complement death record research, especially when an estate involved property transfers after a death. The Essex County Probate and Family Court is also in Salem. Probate records frequently include copies of death certificates and detail the assets and heirs involved in an estate.
Both offices serve the full county, unlike vital records which are decentralized to towns. Court case searches are available through masscourts.org. Probate records are a useful secondary source when a death certificate is difficult to locate or when additional family information is needed.
Cities in Essex County
The following cities in Essex County have dedicated death records pages on this site.
Other Essex County communities including Salem, Beverly, Gloucester, Newburyport, and Andover do not currently have individual city pages but can access death records through their local clerks and the state sources described on this page.
Nearby Counties
Death records for neighboring counties follow the same city and town clerk model and state-level sources.