Addison County, Vermont Genealogy

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

United States Vermont  Addison County

County Courthouse
Town Clerks have birth, marriage, death and burial records. County Clerk has divorce and birth certificates records from 1797. Probate Judge has probate records. Towns Organized By 1800: Addison 1761 Bridport 1761 Cornwall 1761 Ferrisburgh 1762 Leicester 1761 Lincoln 1780 Middlebury 1761 Monkton 1762 New Haven 1761 Orwell 1763 Panton 1761 Ripton 1781 Salisbury 1761 Shoreham 1761 Starksboro 1780 Vergennes 1788 Waltham 1796 Weybridge 1761 Whiting 1763

Local government. Internally, Vermont consists of nine cities, 254 towns and several unincorporated gores, governed by guidelines set by the state statutes and constitution. Towns govern themselves by Town Meeting. The governing power is found in the City Councils in cities. There are three types of incorporated municipalities in Vermont, towns, cities and villages. As in the other New England states, towns are the basic unit of municipal government. Cities are independent of and equivalent to towns. Villages are included in towns but assume responsibility for some municipal services within their boundaries, usually water, sewage and sometimes local roads. Incorporated villages are not found in any of the other New England states.

Like most of New England, there is slight provision for autonomous county government. Counties and shire towns (like county seats) are merely convenient repositories for various government services such as County and State Courts, with several elected officers such as a State's Attorney, Sheriff, and High Bailiff. All county services are directly funded by the State of Vermont.

Parent Counties
18 October 1785: from Rutland and Orange Counties.

Boundary Changes
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
Records are kept at town/city level or state level.

Archives and Libraries

 * Allen County Public Library, better known as ACPL, in Fort Wayne, Indiana has an extensive collection for this county..
 * Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, has extensive collection of vital records and history for this county.

Biography

 * 1) Gazetteer and business directory of Addison County, Vt., for 1881-82, Includes a history of the county with biographical sketches.
 * 2) History of Addison County, Vermont: with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers ▲  ▲

Cemeteries

 * List of Cemeteries in Addison County
 * The McLellan collection of Vermont cemetery inscriptions. Contains inscriptions from cemeteries in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties.

Federal

 * 1850 federal census of Addison County, Vermont ▲
 * Population schedules of the 7th census of the United States, 1850, Vermont

Land and Property
There are 22 towns and one city in Addison County each with its own government. For information on tax information and licenses contact the individual town offices. Town clerks are responsible for the record keeping of deeds land records, notes and liens, mortgages, property transfers, voter registration, vital statistics and licenses. Addison County Chamber of Commerce's Government Information

Civil War
Regiments and Companies:


 * - 2nd Regiment, Vermont Infantry
 * - 5th Regiment, Vermont Infantry, Companies B and F

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

Probate records are kept at town level, rather than county level.

Addison County and District Probate Files, 1845-1915, can be found on FamilySearch (browse only images).

Vital Records
There are 22 towns and one city in Addison County each with its own government. For information on tax information and licenses contact the individual town offices. Town clerks are responsible for the record keeping of deeds land records, notes and liens, mortgages, property transfers, voter registration, vital statistics and licenses. Addison County Chamber of Commerce's Government Information

See also How to order Vermont Vital Records, order electronically online or download an application for Vermont Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Divorce Certificate, Death Certificate Applications to mail.

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

Historical Societies

 * Addison Town Historical Society, 3968 VT Route 22A, Addison, VT 05491 Phone: (802) 759-2380
 * Bridport Historical Society, 3177 Crown Point Road, Bridport, VT 05734 Phone: (802) 758-2654
 * Cornwall Historical Society, c/o Town Hall, 2629 VT Route 30, Cornwall, VT 05753 Phone: (802) 462-2003
 * East Middlebury Historical Society, PO Box 2, East Middlebury, VT 05740

Websites

 * Addison County, VT History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Vermont Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Vermont Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * Linkpendium
 * The Addison County VTGenWeb Project, part of The VTGenWeb Project
 * USGenWeb Archives
 * USGenWeb Archives backup site