Bennington County, Vermont Genealogy

Guide to Bennington County, Vermont ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Vermont Online Genealogy Records

Description
The County is located in the southwest area of the state.

County Courthouse
Town Clerks have birth, marriage, death and burial records; County Clerk has divorce records from 1899 and court records from 1861; Probate Judge has probate records. Towns Organized before 1800: Arlington 1761 Bennington 1749 Dorset 1761 Glastenbury 1761 Landgrove 1780 Manchester 1761 Peru 1761 Pownal 1760 Rupert 1761 Sandgate 1761 Shaftsbury 1761 Sunderland 1761 Winhall 1761

Parent County
Created 11 February 1779 from Colonial lands.

Boundary Changes

 * Windham County was set off 22 February 1781.

For animated maps illustrating Vermont County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Vermont County Boundary Maps" (1764-1895) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Places / Localities
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Extinct Town: Glastenbury (incorportation ended 1937)

Neighboring Counties
Rutland | Windsor | Windham | Berkshire, Massachusetts | Franklin, Massachusetts | Rensselaer, New York | Washington, New York

Cemeteries

 * List of Bennington County Cemeteries
 * List of Pownal Cemeteries: Includes some transcriptions
 * Random Acts VT Cemetery Records Research Guide

Federal
1790 US Census, Bennington County, Pownal Town Transcription

State
1785

Church Records
The Churches of Pownal, Pownal Historical Society, Inc. List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * FamilySearch Places

Gazetteers

 * FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

History
History of Bennington County, Lewis Cass Aldrich, Syracuse, NY, D. Mason &amp; Co., Publishers, 1889.

Land and Property
Courtesy of The Pownal Historical Society, Inc.:


 * List of Freeman of Pownal, VT 1773

Maps

 * FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places
 * Pownal Maps

Military Records
Courtesy of Pownal Historical Society, Inc.:


 * Green Mountain Boys from Pownal | About the Green Mountain Boys
 * American Revolution: Soldiers buried in Vermont
 * Civil War: Vermont Volunteers

Civil War

 * 1861 - 1867 at FamilySearch — index and images — How to Use this Collection

Regiments and Companies:


 * - 2nd Regiment, Vermont Infantry
 * - 4th Regiment, Vermont Infantry, Company A
 * - 5th Regiment, Vermont Infantry, Company E

Newspapers

 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has North Adams, MA newspapers (1895-1977) covering local news that included Windham County residents.

Probate Records
Online Probate Indexes and Records
 * 1749 - 1999 Vermont Wills and Probate Records 1749-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1800 - 1921 at FamilySearch — images — How to Use this Collection

There are two Bennington County Probate Districts


 * Bennington District: Bennington, Glastenbury, Pownal, Readsboro, Searsburg, Shaftsbury, Stamford and Woodford.
 * Manchester District: Arlington, Dorset, Landgrove, Manchester, Peru, Rupert, Sandgate, Sunderland and Winhall.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Vermont, Bennington County Manchester District, Probates - FamilySearch Historical Records

Town Records

 * 1850-2005 - at FamilySearch — index and images — How to Use this Collection

Vital Records

 * 1732 - 2005 at FamilySearch — index and images — How to Use this Collection
 * 1850 - 2005 at FamilySearch — index and images — How to Use this Collection

Courtesy of the Pownal Historial Society, Inc.


 * Marriages in Pownal, VT to 1850
 * Deaths in Pownal, VT: 1921-1980

See also How to order Vermont Vital Records, order electronically online or download an application at Vermont Department of Health

Societies, Libraries and Museums
See also a List of Vermont Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical and Genealogical Societies

Historical Societies

 * Bennington Historical Society And Museum 75 Main Street Bennington, VT 05201 802-447-1571 Email: [Mailto:info@benningtonmuseum.org info@benningtonmuseum.org] Website Museum Facebook Museum


 * Dorset Historical Society PO Box 52 Rte 30 at Kent Hill Rd. Dorset, VT 05251 802-867-0331 Email: [mailto:info@dorsetvthistory.org info@dorsetvthistory.org] Website Facebook


 * Landgrove Historical Society PO Box 734 Landgrove, VT 05148 Phone: 802-824-6624 Website


 * Manchester Historical Society PO Box 363 Manchester, VT 05254 802-549-4582 Email: [mailto:info@manchesterhistoricalsocietyvt.org info@manchesterhistoricalsocietyvt.org] Website Facebook


 * North Bennington Museum and Historical Society PO Box 536 North Bennington, VT 05257 802-442-9193


 * Pownal Historical Society PO Box 313 Pownal, VT 05261 Website


 * Readsboro Historical Society PO Box 125 152 Glen Avenue Readsboro, VT 05350 802-423-5432 Facebook


 * Rupert Historical Society PO Box 84 Rupert, VT 05768 802-394-7738 Email: [mailto:RupertHistoricalSociety@gmail.com RupertHistoricalSociety@gmail.com] Website


 * Russell Vermontiana Collection Martha Canfield Library PO Box 267 528 East Arlington Road Arlington, VT 05250 802-375-6153 Email: [mailto:martha_canfield_lib@hotmail.com martha_canfield_lib@hotmail.com] Website


 * Shaftsbury Historical Society PO Box 401 3871 VT Rte 7A Shaftsbury, VT 05262 802-375-6376 Website Facebook


 * Winhall Museum PO Box 607 Bondville, VT 05340 802-297-2459

Family History Centers

 * Albany New York Family History Center
 * Bennington Vermont Family History Center
 * Concord New Hampshire Family History Center
 * Rutland Vermont Family History Center


 * Brooks Memorial Library - an affiliate library
 * Crandall Public Library - an affiliate library

Websites

 * Bennington County, VT History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Vermont Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * The Bennington County VTGenWeb Project, an member of The VTGenWeb Project
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project (backup site)