The County Commissioner's Record Books are bound volumes of legal proceedings for Hampshire and Hampden Counties from 1664 to 1812 and for Hampden County from 1813 to 1974. Hampden County was part of Hampshire County until 1812. The Court Records Book A (1664-1812) was carried alternately between Springfield and Northampton. In 1813 the two counties were split and separate records were maintained from then on.
The volumes contain various legal proceedings, estate matters, as well as road and highway takings, railroad takings, records of dams and bridges.
The County Commissioner's Record Books, the 1923 County Roads in Hampden County map, the Green Index Book, and the County Highways Plan Books are a cross-referenced set of books, meant to be used together. Additionally, we created an index derived from the pages of the County Highways Plan Books.
The key to using these books for roads & highways is to locate your site on the 1923 County Roads in Hampden County map. There is a chart on this map that explains whether the road is a county road, a state highway, discontinued or abandoned. Along the road you will find numbers.
You then go to the Green Index Book under the city or town you are looking for and locate the number entries that match the ones for your road on the 1923 County Roads in Hampden County map. That will list the Book and Page of the County Commissioner's Record Book containing the written layout of the road. There may also be a marginal reference to a County Highways Plan Book in the Commissioner's Book. **In this volume, document #435 precedes document #433.