Orwell, Addison County, Vermont Genealogy

Brief History
Orwell was chartered on August 18, 1763. No settlement occurred in town for another eight years, however.

The first settler is recorded as John Charter, a Scotsman who took up residence near what was then known as Rattlesnake Hill, now Mount Independence, in 1771.

By the mid-1770's, a few families were living in town, clearing land for fields and building rudimentary shelters for themselves and their livestock. With the start of the Revolutionary War, most residents returned to the safer, established communities to the south.

Further settlement did not commence until the close of the war.

The British burned nearly all of the buildings in town--and indeed the entire area---before the end of the war. No pre-revolution structures survive in Orwell today.

Cemeteries
The following is a list of cemeteries in present-day Orwell. For location of cemeteries, see Cemeteries of Vermont, Addison County, website at this link.


 * Coats Cemetery - inscriptions found at Find A Grave site.
 * Hack Cemetery - inscriptions found at Find A Grave site.
 * Lake View Cemetery - inscriptions found at Find A Grave site.
 * Mountain View Cemetery - inscriptions found at Find A Grave site.
 * North Cemetery - inscriptions found at Find A Grave site.
 * Saint Pauls Cemetery - inscriptions found at Find A Grave site.
 * Smith Cemetery - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.


 * Orwell Cemeteries List at FindAGrave
 * at FamilySearch Catalog
 * at FamilySearch Catalog
 * Addison County Cemeteries at FamilySearch Places

Church Records
Historically, the largest religious groups in Vermont were the Congregational, Baptist, Roman Catholic, and Methodist churches. For general information about Vermont denominations, view the New Hampshire Church Records wiki page. To see the churches in Orwell, visit. Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. The following are church records available online for the town of Orwell:

Land Records
The following are online land records for the town of Orwell:

Libraries and Historical Societies
Orwell Free Library 473 Main St Orwell, VT Phone: (802) 948-2041 Email: OrwellFreeLibrary@gmail.com Website: http://orwellfreelibrary.org/

Maps
The following are online maps of the town of Orwell:

1871 Map of Orwell Township

Newspapers
Addison County Independent ($)

Burlington Free Press

Rutland Herald

Probate Records
In Vermont, most probate records are kept at the town level. The following are online probate records for the town of Orwell:

The probate district for Orwell is Addison. Addison Probate Court 7 Mahady Court Middlebury, VT 05753 Phone: (802) 388-2612

Town Histories

 * A history of the town of Orwell, Vermont, by the Orwell Historical Society (1988) - view digital copy of this book online.
 * History of the town of Orwell, Vt., from 1763 to 1851, by Roswell Bottum - find this book in a library.
 * Vintage Photos of Orwell, VT

Town Records
In Vermont, most records are kept at the town level and generally began being kept at the founding of the town. These records may include the following: The following are Orwell town records available online:

Town Clerk Vital and Town Records, 1802-1887, can be found on FamilySearch (browse only images).

The Family History Library has microfilm of original records from the Orwell Town Clerk's Office. These include Records of births, marriages, and deaths, 1883-1997; indexes to births, marriages, deaths, 1857-1997, Town records, 1787-1791 and Index of births, deaths &amp; marriages recorded in early land records, 1829-1854.

Town Clerk
The town clerk is responsible for these records, and so most originals can be found at the town clerk's office.

Orwell Town Clerk PO Box 32 Orwell, VT 05760 Phone: (802) 948-2032 Website: http://www.town-of-orwell.org/

Vital Records
FamilySearch Historical Records Collection has Vermont birth, death, and marriage records online.