Bennington County, Vermont Genealogy

Guide to Bennington 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 southwest area of the state.

County Courthouse
Town Clerks have birth, marriage, death and burial records; County Clerk has divorce records from 1899 and court records from 1861; Probate Judge has probate records. Towns Organized before 1800: Arlington 1761 Bennington 1749 Dorset 1761 Glastenbury 1761 Landgrove 1780 Manchester 1761 Peru 1761 Pownal 1760 Rupert 1761 Sandgate 1761 Shaftsbury 1761 Sunderland 1761 Winhall 1761

Parent County
Created 11 February 1779 from Colonial lands.

Boundary Changes

 * Windham County was set off 22 February 1781.

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.

Places / Localities
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: \

Extinct Town: Glastenbury (incorportation ended 1937)

Neighboring Counties
Rutland | Windsor | Windham | Berkshire, Massachusetts | Franklin, Massachusetts | Rensselaer, New York | Washington, New York

Cemeteries

 * List of Bennington County Cemeteries
 * List of Pownal Cemeteries: Includes some transcriptions
 * Random Acts VT Cemetery Records Research Guide

Federal
1790 US Census, Bennington County, Pownal Town Transcription

State
1785

Church Records
The Churches of Pownal, Pownal Historical Society, Inc.

History
History of Bennington County, Lewis Cass Aldrich, Syracuse, NY, D. Mason &amp; Co., Publishers, 1889.

Land and Property
Courtesy of The Pownal Historical Society, Inc.:


 * List of Freeman of Pownal, VT 1773

Maps

 * Pownal Maps

Military Records
Courtesy of Pownal Historical Society, Inc.:


 * Green Mountain Boys from Pownal | About the Green Mountain Boys
 * American Revolution: Soldiers buried in Vermont
 * Civil War: Vermont Volunteers

Civil War

 * 1861 - 1867 at FamilySearch — index and images

Regiments and Companies:


 * - 2nd Regiment, Vermont Infantry
 * - 4th Regiment, Vermont Infantry, Company A
 * - 5th Regiment, Vermont Infantry, Company E

Newspapers

 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has North Adams, MA newspapers (1895-1977) covering local news that included Windham County residents.

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

There are two Bennington County Probate Districts


 * Bennington District - Bennington, Glastenbury, Pownal, Readsboro, Searsburg, Shaftsbury, Stamford and Woodford.
 * Manchester District - Arlington, Dorset, Landgrove, Manchester, Peru, Rupert, Sandgate, Sunderland and Winhall.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Vermont, Bennington County Manchester District, Probates - FamilySearch Historical Records

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

Courtesy of the Pownal Historial Society, Inc.


 * Marriages in Pownal, VT to 1850
 * Deaths in Pownal, VT: 1921-1980

See also How to order Vermont Vital Records, order electronically online or download an application at Vermont Department of Health

Societies, Libraries and Museums
See also a List of Vermont Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical and Genealogical Societies

Historical Societies
Bennington Historical Society And Museum 75 West Main Street Bennington, VT 05201 Phone: 802-447-1571 Website

Dorset Historical Society PO Box 52 Main St & Rte 30 Dorset, VT 05251 Phone: 802-867-0331 Website

Landgrove Historical Society PO Box 734 Landgrove, VT 05148 Phone: 802-824-6624

Manchester Historical Society PO Box 363 Manchester, VT 05254 Phone: 802-362-3708 Website

North Bennington Museum and Historical Society PO Box 536 North Bennington, VT 05257 Phone: 802-442-9193 Website

Historical Society of Peru PO Box 73 Peru, VT 05152 Phone: 802-824-5945

Pownal Historical Society PO Box 313 Pownal, VT 05261 Phone: 802-823-5536 Website

Readsboro Historical Society PO Box 125 152 Glen Avenue Readsboro, VT 05350 Phone: 802-423-5432 Website

Rupert Historical Society PO Box 84 Rupert, VT 05768 Phone: 802-394-7864 or 802-394-7738

Russell Vermontiana Collection Martha Canfield Library PO Box 267 528 East Arlington Road Arlington, VT 05250 Phone: 802-375-6153

Shaftsbury Historical Society PO Box 401 3871 Vermont 7A Shaftsbury, VT 05262 Phone: 802-375-6376

Stamford Historical Society c/o Town Clerk 986 Main Road Stamford, VT 05352 Phone: 802-694-1361

Winhall Museum PO Box 607 Bondville, VT 05340 Phone: 802-297-2459

Family History Centers

 * Bennington Vermont Family History Center

Websites

 * Bennington County, VT History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Vermont Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Vermont Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * The Bennington County VTGenWeb Project, an member of The VTGenWeb Project
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project (backup site)