Cavendish, Windsor County, Vermont Genealogy

Brief History
The charter for Cavendish was issued by New Hampshire on October 12, 1761 and the Town was rechartered by New York on June 16, 1762. Cavendish was most likely named for William Cavendish, the fourth Duke of Devonshire.

The Town of Cavendish was home to U.S.S.R. dissident and author, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn from 1977 to 1994. The Nobel Laureate called Cavendish home because it was a place where he could find sanctuary and a quiet atmosphere in which to write. Once Communist rule in Russia was over, he decided to return to Russia.

Town Histories

 * History of Cavendish, Vermont., by Lois Wheeler (1952) - Find this book in a library.
 * Families of Cavendish : the early settlers of the Black River Valley in Windsor County, Vermont : a social and genealogical history, by Linda Margaret Farr Welch, Carmine Guica, and Barbara B Kingsbury (1999) - Find this book in a library.
 * Neither wealth nor poverty; the history of the woolen mills of Gay Brothers, 1869-1944, Tunbridge, Cavendish, Vermont, by Janet Mabie (1944) - Find this book in a library.

Go to Archive.org to find published materials for this town.

Vital Records
The town of Cavendish kept annual town reports. These reports often contained birth, marriage, and death information. Below is a list of years when Cavendish kept town reports. (NOTE: Occasionally, these town reports missed vital statistic information from the end of the year. If you don't find your ancestor's vital information, check the following year's town report to see if your ancestor's information was recorded later.) FamilySearch Historical Records Collection has Vermont birth, death, and marriage records online.

Probate Records
The probate district for Cavendish is Windsor. Windsor Probate Court PO Box 402 (Cota Fuel Bdg) N. Springfield, VT 05150 Phone: (802) 886-2284

Maps
1869 map of Cavendish

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


 * Cavendish Center Cemetery (aka Mount Union Cemetery) - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.
 * Cavendish Village Cemetery - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.
 * Coffeen Cemetery - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.
 * Farr Cemetery - inscriptions a Find A Grave site.
 * Hillcrest Cemetery - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.
 * Old Revoluntionary War Cemetery - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.
 * Proctor Cemetery - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.
 * Twenty Mile Stream Cemetery - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.

Cemeteries of Cavendish, Vermont records are available onmicrofilm at the Family History Library.

Churches
First Universalist Church Records, 1848-1965, are on microfilm at the Family History Library.

Baptist Church Records, 1866-1966, are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.

Town Records
Digital images of Cavendish Town records, 1782-1996, are available online at FamilySearch.

The Family History Library has microfilm of original records from the Cavendish Town Clerk's Office. These include Land records, 1761-1904; indexes to land records, 1761-1952, Town records, 1776-1885, Records of births, marriages, and deaths, 1900-1996, and Records of marriages, births and deaths, 1840-1900; indexes to marriages, 1778-1883.

Town of Cavendish Mailing Address: P.O. Box 126 Physical Address: 37 High St. Cavendish, VT 05142 Phone: (802) 226-7291 Clerk Email: j.pixley@comcast.net Website: Cavendishvt Facebook: Facebook Cavendish-Vermont

Newspapers
Rutland Herald Newspaper

Libraries and Historical Societies
Cavendish Historical Society PO Box 472 Cavendish, VT 05142. Phone: (802) 226-7807 Website: Cavendish Historical Society News Blogspot

Cavendish Fletcher Community Library 573 Main St. Proctorsville, VT 05153 Phone: (802) 226-7503 Email: Kwelch@wswsu.org Website: Cavendish Library