Genealogy Research Guide

The Governors of New York granted land in what is now Vermont beginning in 1688 with the Hoosick grant which covered part of the present townships of Bennington and Pownal. On 3 January 1750 New Hampshire's Governor Benning Wentworth granted the township of Bennington. Then began a dispute between New York and New Hampshire, both of which granted lands in what is now Vermont. The dispute was finally settled on 7 October 1790. Governor Wentworth made over 131 grants in present-day Vermont. New York's governors granted more than 103 from 1761 to 1776. Because of the controversy over the land, lists of grantees and petitions are available, and information may be found on the early settlers. Vermont was admitted as a state 4 March 1791.

The 1890 census was destroyed except for a listing of Civil War soldiers or their widows. The index to this special schedule is available in the Vt. Coll. F48 J336. Name indexes to the schedules listed above are shelved in the Vermont Collection as follows:

We also have the following mortality schedules for Vermont:

No state censuses are known to exist for Vermont, but an early listing of heads of families living in parts of New York, now in Vermont, was made in 1771 and published as the Vermont 1771 Census (Vt. Coll. F48 H7 1982). Published lists of land grantees and petitioners are substitutes for censuses in the pre-statehood period.

The Vermont Collection includes some indexes to cemetery inscriptions for Vermont cemeteries. These may be found by doing a subject search on Midcat, our online catalog.  For example:
          cemeteries--Vermont
          cemeteries--Vermont--Barre
          cemeteries--Vermont--Bennington
          cemeteries--Vermont--Castleton
          etc.

Birth records may be found on our online catalog by typing a subject as follows:

Church records are often a reliable source for vital records. The Congregational, Baptist, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches predominated in Vermont. The library has published histories of some individual congregations as well as some denominations. Some volumes such as the History of the Baptists in Vermont (Vt. Coll. BX6248 V4 C7) provide a list of the founding date of all of their congregations in Vermont and list many prominent members. The Inventory of the Town, Village and City Archives of Vermont (Vt. Coll. CD3550 H47) include a directory of churches in Vermont, and an inventory of Protestant Episcopal churches in the diocese of Montpelier. Other surveys were made but not published. These were placed at the Vermont Historical Society in Montpelier. They include surveys of churches in the various counties.

Very early court matters may have been taken either to Boston, MA, Portsmouth, NH or to Albany, NY. After 1768, when Cumberland County was created, legal matters could be settled at Chester, VT, where there were courts of common pleas and of quarter sessions. Matters involving higher court jurisdiction were taken to Portsmouth or Albany depending on the allegiance of the parties to New Hampshire or New York. Gloucester County was created 16 March 1770. The Gloucester court records for 1770-1774 were published in The Upper Connecticut (Vt. Coll. F46 V53 v. 2) by the Vermont Historical Society. Cumberland and Gloucester counties were discontinued, and the present-day Vermont counties were established from them:

We have acquired very few family histories for Vermont families. The few volumes we have are shelved in the Vermont Collection with an LC call number which begins with CS71. Family histories for non-Vermonters are shelved in the stacks with an LC call number which begins with CS71. If we have a family history for a particular family it may be found by doing a subject search on Midcat, our online catalog, by typing family names in the following format:

Foote family

De Forest family

etc.

Township and other land records before 1791: For grants by Massachusetts, 1671-1744, see Massachusetts Land Grants in Vermont. (Vt. Coll. HD184 V4 D56 1920) Grants made by New York, 1688-1736 are listed in State Papers of Vermont, v. 7 (Vt. Coll. HD184 V4 A5 1939) The New Hampshire grants are in New Hampshire Grants (Vt. Coll. F31 N42 v. 26)

• Vermont also granted land, 1777-1811. These are listed in the State Papers of Vermont, v. 5 (Vt. Coll. HD184 V4 A5 1947)

  Deeds since statehood have generally been filed with the town clerk, though there are also some county records. The town clerks have records of deeds recorded in the 1780's but drawn up in the 1760-1780 period while Vermont was part of Cumberland and Gloucester counties of New York. Inventories of some town records are included in the Inventory of the Town, Village and City Archives of Vermont (Vt. Coll. CD3550 H47).

French and Indian War - 1755-1763 
     
     During this period Vermont was under the jurisdiction of New Hampshire and New York. Records of these states may have information. No single listing of Vermonters involved in this conflict is known. 

Revolutionary War - 1776-1783

Goodrich, John E., ed. Rolls of Soldiers in the Revolution, 1775-1783. Rutland: Tuttle, 1904. (Vt. Coll. E263 V5 V5)

Fisher, Carleton E. and Sue G. Soldiers, Sailors, and Patriots of the Revolutionary War: Vermont. Camden, ME: Picton Press, 1992. (Vt. Coll. E263 V5 F58 1992)

Clark, Byron N., ed. A List of Pensioners of the War of 1812. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969. (Vt. Coll. E359.4 C62 1969)

Johnson, Herbert T. Roster of Soldiers in the War of 1812-1814. St. Albans: The Adjutant-General, 1933. (Vt. Coll. C359.5 V3 1969)

Peck, Theodore S. Revised Roster of Vermont Volunteers and Lists of Vermonters who Served in the Army and Navy of the United States during the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1866. Montpelier: Watchman Publishing Co., 1892. (Vt. Coll. E533.3 V53 1892a)

Militia records for some years are on file at town clerk's offices.

For records since 27 September 1906 contact the nearest Federal Building. They can help you obtain forms to have a search made through the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington, DC and through state offices. For records filed before 1906 write to the county clerk at the courthouse near the place where the ancestor lived. Adjoining counties may need to be searched. As Vermont does not have any sea ports, records of Boston and other New England ports should be searched. See the chapter on Passenger Arrival Lists in the Guide to Genealogical Research (Ref. CS69 A1 V54 1983), published by the National Archives, for lists of ports.

Dates of first issue of early newspapers

• Bennington 1783
• Brattleboro 1797
• Burlington 1796
• Middlebury 1801
• Montpelier 1806
• Newbury 1796
• Peacham 1798
• Putney 1797
• Randolph 1800
• Rutland 1792
• St. Albans 1802
• Vergennes 1798
• Westminster 1730
• Windsor 1783
• Woodstock 1805

Davis Family Library has microfilm copies of more than 20 early Vermont newspapers and both the Sheldon Museum and Ilsley Library in Middlebury have runs of additional newspapers on microfilm. Details of these holdings are given on our collection guide:

• Newspapers and Related Material: A Library Guide.

Branches and Twigs, by the Genealogical Society of Vermont. (Vt. Coll. Periodicals 1980- )

New England Historical and Genealogical Register (Periodicals 1867-1910)

Vermont History, by the Vermont Historical Society. (Vt. Coll. Periodicals 1945- )

Vermonter (Vt. Coll. Periodicals 1895-1945) Has cumulative index for 1913-1939.

Branches and Twigs, by the Genealogical Society of Vermont. (Vt. Coll. Periodicals 1980- )

New England Historical and Genealogical Register (Periodicals 1867-1910)

Vermont History, by the Vermont Historical Society. (Vt. Coll. Periodicals 1945- )

Vermonter (Vt. Coll. Periodicals 1895-1945) Has cumulative index for 1913-1939.

• AncestrySearch 
• Archives
• Big List of Genealogy Links
• Caledonian Record
• Cemetery Indexes
  Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System
• Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet (More than 25,000 links)
• Family, Local, American, and World History Resource Collection
• FamilySearch (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) 
• Genealogy Page (National Archives and Records Administration)
• Genealogy Resources on the Internet
• Helm's Genealogy Toolbox
• HeritageQuest Online (ProQuest genealogy database available through Vermont Online Library to VT public library cardholders, including Midd students.)
• National Genealogical Society
• National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections
• North American Genealogy Resources
• Northeast Kingdom Genealogy, Vermont
• Old Newspaper Notices and Gleanings from...Spooner's Vermont Journal
• Roots Web Genealogical Data Cooperative
• Social Security Death Index
• Spooner's Vermont Journal
• State Summary of War Casualties: Vermont
• USGenWeb Project
• Vermont Chronicle marriage and death notices
• Vermont Genealogy Library
• VTGenWeb for Vermont History and Genealogy
• VT GenWeb--Addison County
• VT GenWeb--Bennington County
• VT GenWeb--Calendonia County
• VT GenWeb--Chittenden County
• VT GenWeb--Essex County
• VT GenWeb--Grand Isle County
• VT GenWeb--Orange County
• VT GenWeb--Orleans County
• VT GenWeb--Rutland County
• VT GenWeb--Washington County
• VT GenWeb--Windham County
• Vermont Historical Society
• Vermont State Archives
• Web page of Stephen P. Morse (Passenger Ship Lists)
• Windsor County Vermont

Bassett, T. D. S. Vermont: A Bibliography of Its History. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1981. (Ref. F49 A1 V4)

Burgess, Michael, et al. State and Province Vital Records Guide. San Berardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1993. (Ref. HA38 A2114 1993)

Carleton, Hiram. Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont: A Record of the Achievements of her People. New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1903. (Vt. Coll. F48 C28)

Dodge, Prentiss C. Encyclopedia, Vermont Biography: A Series of Authentic Biographical Sketches of the Representative Men of Vermont and Sons of Vermont in Other States. Burlington: Ullery Publishing Co., 1912. (Vt. Coll. F48 D64)

Gilman, Marcus D. Bibliography of Vermont: Or a List of Books and Pamphlets Relating in any Way to the State. Burlington: Free Press Association, 1897. (Vt. Coll. F48 G5)

Hemenway, Abby M. Vermont Historical Gazetteer. 5 vols. Burlington: The Author, 1867-1891. (Vt. Coll. F46 V51)

Kemp, Thomas Jay. Virtual Roots; A Guide to Genealogy and Local History on the World Wide Web Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997. (Ref. CS21 K46 1997)

National Archives Trust Fund Board. Genealogical & Biographical Research; A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1996. (Ref. CS47 A1 U64 1996)

New England Library Association. A Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research. New England Library Association, 1980. (Vt. Coll. CS44 N4)

Ullery, Jacob G. Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Co., 1894. (Vt. Coll. F48 F41)

Vermont. Secretary of State. Basic Sources for Vermont Historical Research. Montpelier: Secretary of State, 1981. (Vt. Coll. F49 A1 B3 1981)

Adapted from information provided by the Genealogical Society of Utah, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.