This guide contains a sample of The Newberry's resources on this topic. To locate additional resources, please check our catalog or consult a reference librarian.

Guides and Bibliographies

Basset, T.D. Seymour (editor). Vermont: A Bibliography of its History. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1981. Call # Local History Ref Z1343.V37 (2nd floor open shelf). Committee for a New England Bibliography series. Consult both “Entries for Counties” and “Entries for Cities, Towns, and Unorganized Places.”

Eichholz, Alice. Collecting Vermont Ancestors. Montpelier, VT: 1986. Call # Local History Ref F48 .E33 (2nd floor open shelf). Provides a historical overview of the population of Vermont and a list of research resources in New England.

Hanson, Edward W. “Vermont Genealogy: A Study in Migration” in Genealogical Research in New England. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984. Call # Local History Ref F3.G46 (2nd floor open shelf). Features a table of Vermont probate districts, as well as a bibliography of town histories containing genealogical sections.

Leppman, John A. A Bibliography For Vermont Genealogy. St. Albans, VT: 2000. Call # Local History Ref Z1343.L45 (2nd floor open shelf). Notably includes lists of State Papers publications, and historical pre-statehood sources.

Gazetteers

Hemenway, Abby M. (editor). Vermont Historical Gazetteer: A Magazine. Burlington, VT: 1867-1891. Call # Local History Ref F46V583 (2nd floor open shelf). Much of the material was obtained from interviews with early settlers. An index was published in 1923 and is contained in the last volume in the series.

Swift, Esther Munroe. Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Greene, 1977. Call # Local History Ref F47.S84 (2nd floor open shelf). Towns listed under county. Entries include historical sketches.

Census

All federal census population schedules for Vermont are available online through Ancestry.com. Microfilm holdings complete through 1850 plus indexes. Scattered holdings 1860, 1870, and 1880. Also see Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Vermont (Call # F48 .C45 2nd floor open shelf), and Heads of Families at the Second Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1800: Vermont (Call # folio E6991.91).

Source Manuals and Local Histories

Search the online catalog for local histories, vital records, “cemetery books,” etc. under the name of the town (and sometimes county) as a subject heading.

Bartley, Scott A (editor). Vermont Families in 1791. Camden, ME: Picton, 1992. Call # Local History Ref F48.V5 (2nd floor open shelf).

Comstock, John M. The Congregational Churches of Vermont and Their Ministry, 1762-1914, Historical and Statistical. St. Johnsbury, VT: 1915. Call # D619.18. Lists various congregations by geographical location and date of organization.

Holbrook, Jay Mack. Vermont’s First Settlers. Oxford, MA: Holbrook Research Institute, 1976. Call # Local History Ref F47.5.H6 (2nd floor open shelf). Contains over six thousand alphabetical listings of some 4,483 persons who received land grants from 1763 to 1803. References are to page numbers in Volume 2 of the State Papers of Vermont (see below).

Murphy, Robert M (compiler). Vermont City Directories in Vermont Repositories. Montpelier, VT: 1999. Call # folio Z1343 .M87. Lists Vermont city directories dating from the mid-nineteenth century onward and their current location. The Newberry has selected Vermont city directories in its collection. Inquire at second floor reference desk.

Rollins, Alden M (compiler). Vermont Religious Certificates. Rockport, ME: Picton, 2003. Call # Local History Ref F48 .R637 (2nd floor open shelf). Volume compiled from diverse church and city records. Dates range from pre-Revolutionary War to about 1807.

Rollins, Alden M. Warnings Out. Rockport, ME: Picton, 1995. Call # Local History Ref F48.R64 (2nd floor open shelf). This collection of “Warning Out of Town” records from the early nineteenth century is split into two volumes: volume one deals with northern Vermont, and volume two deals with southern Vermont. Note: “Warning out of town” was a mechanism that many places in New England used to force socially unacceptable/ unwanted people out of small cities and towns.

State Papers of Vermont. Montpelier: 1939-1962. Call # Local History Ref F49.V4 (2nd floor open shelf). Each volume indexed. Of particular genealogical interest are: “New York Land Patents 1688-1786 Covering Land now Included in the State of Vermont” (volume 6, part 1) and “Petitions for Grants of Land, 1778-1811” (volume 5).

Military

Fisher, Carleton E. Soldiers, Sailors, and Patriots of the Revolutionary War- Vermont. Camden, ME: Picton Press, 1992. Call # Local History Ref E263.V5F58 (2nd floor open shelf).

Goodrich, John E. State of Vermont: Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War 1775 to 1783. Rutland, VT: Tuttle, 1904. Call # Local History Ref E263.V5R6 (2nd floor open shelf).

Vermont. Adjutant General. Revised Roster of Vermont Volunteers and Lists of Vermonters Who Served in the Army and Navy in the United States During the War of the Rebellion. Montpelier, VT: Watchman, 1892. Call # folio F843.935.