Rockingham, Windham County, Vermont Genealogy

Brief History
Rockingham is a town in Windham County along the Connecticut River and was chartered by Gov. Benning Wentworth on December 28, 1752. Rockingham includes the incorporated villages of Bellows Falls and Saxtons River. Rockingham has no formal town center, instead town offices and the Rockingham Public Library are located in the village of Bellows Falls.

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


 * Cambridgeport Cemetery - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.
 * Rockingham Meeting House Cemetery - inscriptions at Find A Grave site.


 * Rockingham Cemeteries List at FindAGrave
 * at FamilySearch Catalog
 * Windham 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 Rockingham, 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 Rockingham:

Records of the First Church of Rockingham, Vermont : from its organization, October 27, 1773, to September 25, 1839 - view a digital version of these records online free of charge.

City Directories

 * Bellows Falls City Directories, 1901 thru 1935, are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.
 * Vermont City Directories in Vermont Repositories
 * Bellows Falls City Directories, 1901-1967, are available on Ancestry.com ($)

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

Libraries and Historical Societies
Bellows Falls Historical Society is on Facebook.

Rockingham Free Public Library 65 Westminster Street Bellows Falls, VT 05101 Phone: (802) 463 4270 Website

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

1869 map of Rockingham

1869 map of Bellows Falls and Saxtons River

Newspapers
Brattleboro Reformer

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

The probate district for Rockingham is Westminster. Westminster Probate Court PO Box 47 Bellows Falls, VT 05101 Phone: (802) 463-3019

Town Histories

 * History of the town of Rockingham, Vermont, including the villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport and Bartonsville, 1753-1907, with family genealogies (1907), by Lyman Simpson Hayes - view a digital version of this book online free of charge.
 * History of the Town of Rockingham, including the villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport and Bartonsville, 1907-1957, by Frances Stockwell Lovell and Everett C. Lovell, 1958 - find this book in a library.
 * The old Rockingham meeting house, erected 1787 and the first church in Rockingham, Vermont, 1773-1840, by Lyman and William Hayes (1915) - view a digital version of this book online free of charge.

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 Rockingham town records available online:

Town Clerk Vital and Town Records, 1857-1983, can be found on FamilySerach (browse only images).

The Family History Library has microfilm of original records from the Rockingham Town Clerk's Office. These include Land records, 1761-1919; index to land records v. 1-23, 1779-1881 and Rockingham Justice of the Peace Marriage Records, 1839-1872.

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

Town of Rockingham &amp; Village of Bellows Falls, Vermont 7 Square PO Box 370 Bellows Falls, VT 05101 Phone: (802) 463-4336. Website

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