Vermont Land Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
The collection consists of Vermont town clerk land records for the years 1600 to 1900. Coverage years for each town will vary. Additional indexes and records are being added to this collection.

Land records give the locations and dates for land transactions with the names of buyers and sellers. Most volumes of land records have indexes of buyers and sellers. Look in the indexes first to find the volumes and page numbers where the actual land records can be found. Then look in the appropriate land records volumes to see the images of the deeds.

Land records were kept in the towns. They recorded land transactions to document the transfer of land ownership and thereby establish legal rights to land, track responsibilities for tax revenues, and designate persons to serve in various functions of the county, such as maintaining public roads in the early times. Towns began recording deeds soon after the town was formed and continue to the present.

The records were handwritten in large bound volumes. One deed usually fills one to three pages. Deeds may be recorded either in separate land record books or as part of the town records. Later deeds may have been recorded on pre-printed forms. Each town has separate grantor (seller) and grantee (buyer) indexes. Original copies of land records are in the town clerk’s office.

Vermont was originally part of Massachusetts. In 1749, New Hampshire claimed a large portion of the area and granted land for 129 towns in Vermont. In 1764, New York claimed jurisdiction over a large portion of the land held by New Hampshire. In 1777, Vermont became independent, and claimed the land was under its jurisdiction. The towns remained the same, and the town records contain the land deeds without regard to the political jurisdiction of the time. The legislature granted land in the towns to a group of individual called proprietors, so the earliest deeds are called proprietor’s deeds. Towns began recording deeds soon after the town was formed (Combined with text in date range). The town clerk transcribed into the registers the original documents which remained with the owners or their families. A high percentage of adult males who lived in rural areas of Vermont owned land at some point during their lifetime. Very few women owned land in their own right. They sometimes witnessed deeds and may have been asked to relinquish their dower’s rights.

Localities in this collection will include:
 * Addison County: Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, Shoreham, Starksboro, Waltham.
 * Bennington County: Glastenbury, Readsboro, Searsburg.
 * Caledonia County: Hardwick.
 * Chittenden County: Bolton, Burlington, Charlotte, Essex, Hinesburg, Huntington, Jericho, Milton, Richmond, Shelburne.
 * Essex County: Lemington.
 * Franklin County: Bakersfield, Berkshire, Enosburg, Fairfax, Fairfield, Fletcher, Georgia, Highgate, Montgomery, Richford, Sheldon, Swanton.
 * Lamoille County: Belvidere, Cambridge, Elmore, Hyde Park, Johnson, Morristown, Waterville, Wolcott
 * Orange County: Bradford, Braintree, Brookfield, Fairlee, Strafford, Thetford, Topsham, Tunbridge, Vershire, West Fairlee.
 * Orleans County: Barton, Morgan, Troy, Westfield, Westmore.
 * Rutland County: Mendon, Tinmouth.
 * Washington County: Barre, Cabot, Calais, Montpelier, Roxbury, Warren, Waterbury, Woodbury, Worcester.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records: • 2

How Do I Search This Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know the following:
 * Names of interested parties
 * Approximate date of the transaction
 * Location of the property

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * Use the places and date to search for the family in census and church records
 * Use land records to search for additional land transactions for other family members. The parents may have sold or given property to a son or daughter. Such transactions confirm relationships that might not be found in other records
 * Search for records of people in the county who shared a surname. These may have been the couple’s parents, uncles, or other relatives. Your ancestor may have been an heir who sold inherited land that had belonged to parents or grandparents
 * To find later generations, search the land records a few years before and after a person’s death. Your ancestor may have sold or given land to his or her heirs before death, or the heirs may have sold the land after the individual died. For daughters, the names of their husbands are often provided. For sons, the given names of their wives may be included. Heirs may have sold their interest in the land to another heir even though the record may not indicate this. Continue this process for identifying each succeeding generation
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct
 * Some counties were subdivided or the boundaries may have changed. Consider searching neighboring counties as well since that courthouse may have been more convenient for the person
 * One deed does not usually give sufficient information about a couple and their children. A careful study of all deeds for the person or the family will yield a richer return of information

I Can't find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities

Research Helps
The following articles will help you research your family in the state of Vermont.
 * Vermont Guided Research
 * Vermont Record Finder
 * Vermont Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Vermont Research, 1880-Present

Other FamilySearch Collections
These collections may have additional materials to help you with your research.

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Governor and Council. Charters granted by the state of Vermont, v. 1-2, 1779-1846
 * Vermont Genealogy St. Albans, Vermont : Genealogical Society of Vermont, c1996- FS Library 974.3 D25v

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * Herbert Williams Denio, Massachusetts land grants in Vermont Cambridge, Massachusetts : John Wilson and Son, University Press, 1920
 * New York land patents 1688-1786 : covering land now included in the state of Vermont (not including military patents)State papers of Vermont; v. 7 Montpelier, Vermont : Secretary of State, 1947
 * Grants of Vermont Territory by the government of New Hampshire
 * Vermont, Office of Secretary of State. Petitions for grants of land, 1778-1811.
 * Office of the Secretary of State. Index to the papers of the Surveyors-General. Rutland, Vt., Tuttle Co., 1918.
 * Hiram A. Huse, state librarian, continued and brought up to date. Pub. by authority by Harry A. Black, secretary of state, Charters granted by the state of Vermont : being transcripts of early charters of townships and smaller tracts of land granted by the state of Vermont, with an appendix containing the Vermont charter of Woodbridge, the New Hampshire charter of St. George, and Lieut. Andrew F. Phillips grant and mortgage thereof; also historical notes relative to Vermont towns Bellows Falls, Vermont : P.H. Gobie Press Inc. printers-binders, 1922

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.