Main Room

File Cabinet #17 – Deeds

The Deeds file consists of primarily Scarborough Deeds, however, there are several abstracts of deeds, abstracts of wills, letters of administration, and distribution of assets. All the documents relate to property.

The items in the drawer are archived in several “Deed Books” and “Deed Boxes.” They have been inventoried and entered into a database of all items.  

The database includes:

• Accession Number – Relates the object to its original acquisition by the museum.
• Item – A brief description of what the document is.
• Surname – The surname of an individual listed in the document. “Jr.” is added to the Surname when appropriate.
• First Name – The first name of an individual listed in the document.
• Date – When available, the date of the document.
• Location – Which folder in the drawer that document may be found.
• Notes – Ocassional Notes.

More About Scarborough Deeds

Of particular interest, the Cumberland County Registry of Deeds includes most deeds for the county since it was created in 1760. They are available online at US Land Records.com. The first 500 documents may be downloaded for free. 

Before 1760, Scarborough was part of York County, Maine District, Massachusetts. Transcriptions of these deeds may be found among York Deeds, published by the Maine Historical Society during the 1800s in 18 volumes. There is a set of these at the Scarborough Historical Society Museum BC6 & BC7 (See Books in Bookcase 1). They are also available online at Archive.Org.