Orange County, Vermont Genealogy

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

Description
The County is located in the east center area of the state.

County Courthouse
Town Clerks have birth, marriage, death, burial and land records; County Clerk has divorce and court records from 1781 and land records from 1771; Probate Judge has probate records from 1771.

Towns Organized Before 1800: Bradford 1770 Braintree 1781 Brookfield 1781 Chelsea 1781 Corinth 1764 Fairlee 1761 Newbury 1763 Orange 1781 Randolph 1781 Straford 1761 Thetford 1761 Topsham 1763 Turnbridge 1761 Vershire 1781 Washington 1781 West Fairlee 1779 Williamstown 1781

Boundary Changes

 * 18 October 1785, Addison County set off.
 * 5 November 1792, Caledonia, Essex and Orleans Counties set off.
 * 1 November 1810, part of Jefferson County set off (renamed Washington County 8 November 1814.)
 * 26 October 1835, Lamoille County set off.

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.

Populated Places
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: \

Towns:

Extinct Town:

•

Villages:


 * Newbury
 * Wells River

Community:


 * Bradford

Neighboring Counties

Addison | Caledonia | Washington | Windsor | Grafton County, New Hampshire

Cemeteries

 * List of Orange County Cemeteries
 * Random Acts VT Cemetery Records Research Guide

Census
A transcript of the 1771 census of Gloucester County, New York survives:


 * O'Callaghan, Edmund B. Documentary History of the State of New York Vol. 4 (1851):709. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.

Civil War

 * 1861 - 1867  at FamilySearch — index and images

Regiments and Companies:


 * - 2nd Regiment, Vermont Infantry
 * - 4th Regiment, Vermont Infantry, Companies B and K

Probate
Online Probate Records
 * 1749 - 1999 Vermont Wills and Probate Records 1749-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1800 - 1921 at FamilySearch — images

Orange County Probate Districts
 * Randolph District - Braintree, Brookfield, Chelsea, Orange, Randolph, Tunbridge, Washington and Williamstown.
 * Bradford District - Bradford, Corinth, Fairlee, Newbury, Strafford, Thetford, Topsham, Vershire and West Fairlee.
 * Orange District - in 1994 the Randolph and Bradford Districts merged under the Orange District.

Town Records

 * 1850-2005 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Vital Records

 * 1732 - 2005 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1850 - 2005 at FamilySearch — index and images

See also How to order Vermont Vital Records, order electronically online or download an application for the following Vermont certificates: Downloadable applications from Vermont Department of Health.
 * Birth Certificate,
 * Marriage Certificate ,
 * Divorce Certificate,
 * Civil Union Dissolution Certificate, or
 * Death Certificate

Societies and Libraries
See also a List of Vermont Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies

Historical Societies
Bradford Historical Society Woods Academy Building 172 North Main Street Bradford, VT PO Box 424 Bradford, VT 05033 Telephone:802-222-4423 E-mail:[mailto:lccoffin@charter.net lccoffin@charter.net] Braintree Historical Society 2766 Braintree Hill Road Braintree, VT 05060 Telephone: 802-728-5272 Email:[mailto:phawley@sover.net phawley@sover.net] Brookfield Historical Society Marvin Newton House Ridge Road PO Box 447 Brookfield, VT 05041 E-mail:[mailto:glord@norwich.edu glord@norwich.edu] Website Chelsea Historical Society Museum Route 110, Main Street 274 East Randolph Road Chelsea, VT 05038 Telephone: 802-685-4447 Corinth Historical Society, Inc. Corinth Academy Museum 1767 Center Road Corinth, VT 05039 Telephone: 802-685-3812 E-mail:[mailto:nerestoration@valley.net nerestoration@valley.net] Fairlee Historical Society Town Hall 75 Town Common Rd PO Box 95 Fairlee, VT 05045 Telephone: 802-333-4363 Newbury Historical Society 155 Tyler Farm Rd PO Box 33 Newbury, VT 05051 Telephone: 816-233-7687 or 802-757-2256 E-mail:[mailto:newburyhistorical@gmail.com newburyhistorical@gmail.com] Thetford Historical Society Historical Library: Bicentennial Building 16 Library Road PO Box 33 Thetford, VT 05074 E-mail:[mailto:info@thetfordhistoricalsociety.org info@thetfordhistoricalsociety.org] Website

Websites

 * Orange County, VT History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Vermont Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Vermont Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * FamilySearch Catalog for Orange County
 * The Orange County VTGenWeb Project, a member of The VTGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Orange County