Norfolk, Essex County, Vermont Genealogy

Norfolk  is an extinct town formerly in the northeastern-most corner of Vermont (and also included some land in what is now New Hampshire). Norfolk was established by Vermont on 27 February 1782 in what for a few months was Orange County. However, on 5 November 1782 Essex County was created, and thereafter included the town of Norfolk. In 1801 less-viable Norfolk was annexed to Canaan, Vermont. In its charter Norfolk "Town" was also identified as a gore, and is still known in Canaan as "The Gore." For years Vermont and New Hampshire contested who owned this land because it is east of Halls Stream (a tributary of the Connecticut River), which stream divides New Hampshire on the east from Québec on the west. However, it is also south of the 45th parallel, and west of the Connecticut River, giving rise to Vermont's claim. In 1934 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it belongs to Vermont. Beecher Falls is a modern village and Canadian border-crossing station within the old borders of the extinct town of Norton.

Records. For information about former residents from 1782-1801 of the part of Norfolk still in Vermont, try searching records of Canaan, Vermont. Canaan town meeting records, 1796-1903, are preserved at the Vermont Public Records Division in Montpelier, Vermont. A microfilm copy is available from the Family History Libray on. Other types of records also exist for Canaan.

For information about former residents from the part of Norfolk now in New Hampshire, see Stewartstown and Clarksville records.

Adjacent towns:  Canaan | New Hampshire: Coös County:  Clarksville | Pittsburg | Stewartstown | Québec: Compton-Stanstead County:  East Hereford | Saint-Herménégilde