Do you have Enfield history questions?
While the Enfield Historical Society welcomes your Enfield history questions, we have limited staff and it may take some time for us to reply. There are other online resources where you may more quickly find your answers. In many cases, we use these same resources to answer your questions. You will find links to them below.
We have a large collection of documents, photographs, ephemera, and artifacts pertaining to our town’s history, which are available to researchers and anyone with Enfield history questions. Again, since we have limited staff, we ask that you search our finding aids below to determine if we have materials that are of interest to you before contacting us. As we are still preparing finding aids, please contact us about subjects not yet covered.
Finding Aids
Anthony Secondo Enfield History Collection (added 12/14/2025)
Clubs, Organizations, and Societies
Helpful Links
The Challenge of Change, which is a history of Enfield published by the Enfield Historical Society for the United States Bicentennial. While written almost 50 years ago, it is still a useful reference covering many areas of Enfield history up to 1976. https://archive.org/details/challengeofchang00ruth/page/n1/mode/2up
Francis Olcott Allen’s History of Enfield, which is a compilation of Enfield church and government records up to about 1850. Full free readable copies of all three volumes are available on Google Books. These are the links:
Allen’s History of Enfield Volume I
Allen’s History of Enfield Volume II
Allen’s History of Enfield Volume III
A Genealogical and Historical Record of the Descendants of John Pease, Senior, Last of Enfield, Conn. https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhist00peas/page/n7/mode/2up
Digital content (photos, documents, etc.) posted by the Enfield Historical Society on Connecticut Collections: https://ctcollections.org/index.php/Detail/entities/10333
Cemetery plot maps posted by the Enfield Historical Society on Connecticut Collections: https://ctcollections.org/index.php/Detail/entities/10333
The Connecticut State Library History and Genealogy online reference: https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/hg/home
Connecticut Genealogy Index, by Reclaim the Records. It has indexes that the Connecticut State Library doesn’t: https://connecticutgenealogy.org/
Scans of town and church records: FamilySearch.org
Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War: https://archive.org/details/waroftherevolution00recorich
Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the War of the Rebellion (U.S. Civil War): https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.d0000140178&view=1up&seq=7
Smith’s Map of Hartford County (1855): https://www.loc.gov/item/2001620484/
Baker & Tilden 1869 atlas map of Enfield and Scitico: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3783hm.gla00222/?sp=16
Baker & Tilden 1869 atlas map of Thompsonville and Enfield: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3783hm.gla00222/?sp=17
Baker & Tilden 1869 atlas map of Hazardville: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3783hm.gla00222/?sp=18
The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of Thompsonville are very useful for identifying individual buildings and streets. The following years are available at the Library of Congress:
1885: https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01187_001/
1892: https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01187_002/
1905: https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01187_003/
1912: https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01187_004/
1908 Birds-eye view of Enfield: https://www.loc.gov/item/91680391/
MAGIC – UCONN Library Map and Geographic Information Center: Parts of the site are no longer updated and may not be fully functional. These links may still be useful:
MAGIC home page: https://magic.lib.uconn.edu/
Historical Maps: https://magic.lib.uconn.edu/historical_maps_connecticut_towns.html
1934 Aerial survey of Connecticut:
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/aaad6f9df80048f38e43024199a9f086/?draft=true&org=UConnCLEAR
The Thompsonville/Enfield Press online, as well as other local history resources at the Enfield Public Library: https://www.enfieldpubliclibrary.org/history
Chronicling America at the Library of Congress has lots of digitized Connecticut and Massachusetts (including Springfield) newspapers: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
2022 Historic and Architectural Resources Inventory for the Town of Enfield:
https://www.enfield-ct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/20956/Enfield-Historic-Resource-Inventory-Survey—March-2022?bidId=
While not Enfield-specific, the following links may help you research your family’s history. Let us know if you have suggestions for other links. Inclusion of these links is not an endorsement of the businesses or organizations that host them.
Greece and Greek Heritage: https://www.greekcitizenship.net/exploring-greece-and-your-greek-heritage/
Polish Heritage: https://www.polishcitizenshipbydescent.org/family-history-and-genealogy-glossary/
Using ships’ passenger lists: https://www.hmy.com/researching-your-familys-history-from-ships-passenger-lists
Looking for a Different Enfield?
There are many Enfields around the world. You may be looking for information about one these others:
The second Enfield, Massachusetts is under the Quabbin Reservior and is one of the towns featured in the Swift River Historical Society’s museum: https://swiftrivermuseum.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/swiftrivermuseum/.
Enfield, New Hampshire is home to the Enfield Shaker Museum https://shakermuseum.org/.
For general information about that Enfield’s history contact their town historian https://www.enfield.nh.us/town-historian.
Enfield, England is a suburb of London. Its history is documented in the Enfield Local Studies and Archive
https://www.enfield.gov.uk/services/libraries/enfield-local-studies-and-archive.
More information and books on Enfield, England history are available through the Enfield Society https://enfieldsociety.org.uk/.
Enfield, Australia Please contact us if you have any information about Enfield in Australia. Thank you!
Looking for or have information about yet another Enfield? Please let us know and we will add the information here.
Need Help?
If you are not able to find your answer(s) using the resources above, you can e-mail us. Please use a subject line that clearly identifies your intent. Do not use a subject like “Hi” or “Hello” and do not leave the subject line blank, or our spam filters may reject your email. Our volunteers will respond on a first-come first-served basis. It may take several days or more, depending on volunteer availability and the volume of requests received.