Lamoille and Orleans County, Vermont, and the War of 1812

Cannon

The yoke of the mother country having been thrown off, the American colonies rapidly advanced in progress. Vermont expanded into a free and independent State, and was finally annexed to the Union, March 4, 1791. In the mean time, the French nation, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, had arrived at the zenith of military glory, and was giving England great cause for fear and trembling. England, in turn, seeming to forget that her American offspring had arrived at maturity, and was able to protect its own institutions, continued her acts of tyranny. Looking upon herself as mistress of the ocean, during … Read more

History of Waterville, Lamoille County, Vermont

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

WATERVILLE VERMONT, an irregular outlined town lying in the northwestern part of the county, in latitude 44 33′, and longitude 4° 11′ bounded north by Belvidere, east by Belvidere and Johnson, south by Cambridge, and west by Bakersfield and Fletcher, in Franklin county, was chartered by Vermont to James Whitelaw, James Savage, and William Coit, Oct. 26, 1788, by the name of Coit’s Gore, with an area of 10,000 acres. On October 26, 1799, a part of this Gore was annexed to Bakersfield, and again, November 15, 1824, an act was passed by the legislature, “forming a new town out … Read more

History of Wolcott, Lamoille County, Vermont

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

WOLCOTT VERMONT, located in the eastern part of the county, in lat. 44° 34′, and long. 4° 31′, bounded northeasterly by Craftsbury, southeasterly by Hardwick, southwesterly by Elmore, and northwesterly by Hyde Park, was granted by the State, November 7, 1780, and chartered to Joshua Stanton and sixty-one others, August 22, 1781, as a township of 23,040 acres. Its name was given in honor of Maj-Gen. Oliver Wolcott, one of the original proprietors. The names of the other proprietors were as follows : Joshua Stanton, John Fellows, Matthew Mead, Aaron Comstock, Samuel Middlebrooks, Isaac Lewis, Clap Raymond, Abijah Taylor, Levi … Read more

Vital Records of Lamoille County, Vermont

Vital records in Vermont are maintained by the Department of Buildings and General Services in Montpelier. Lamoille County, Vermont, like other counties in Vermont had its vital records recorded at the local level up until 1924 when the state began to receive a copy of these records. Vermont Vital Records, 1760-1954This free database of Vermont vital records contains over 72,000 records for Lamoille County, Vermont. You should start your search here. If the records indexed so far do not produce the desired result then try a more in depth search by accessing the records of each town that have not … Read more

Lamoille County Vermont Courts

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

The act of the legislature incorporating the county provided that when some town should erect a suitable court-house and jail, the county should be deemed organized. This of course gave rise to much competition, as each town would naturally wish to secure to itself. the advantages and dignity appertaining to the county seat. . The lower portion of the county considered it the most advantageous to have Johnson made the shire town, while the northern portion wished to have it vested in Morristown. Finally the mooted question was left for a committee to settle, and Joshua Sawyer, a member of … Read more

Hyde Park, Lamoille County, Vermont

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

HYDE PARK VERMONT, the shire town, and geographical as well as political center of the county, lies in lat. 44° 37′, and long. 4° 26′, bounded northeasterly by Eden, southeasterly by Wolcott, southwesterly by Morristown, and northwesterly by Johnson. It has an area of 23,040 acres, its boundary lines being each about six miles in length, thus forming a square, which is set diagonally, north and south. No changes have been made in the territorial limits of the town since its original survey. It was granted by the State, November 6, 1780, and chartered August 27, 1781, to Jedediah Hyde … Read more

Lamoille County, Vermont Genealogy

1883 Map of Lamoille County Vermont

Welcome to our Lamoille County genealogy website. The purpose of this site is to provide genealogists with an accurate historical view of Lamoille County, Vermont. While we provide, or link to, an extensive collection of biographies, cemetery transcriptions, census extractions, census images, directories, historical sketches, military records, and vital records for Lamoille County; the intent of our website is in providing a glimpse of Lamoille, it’s history, and the people who lived in and helped create it. Though it is not the purpose of this work to enter minutely into the history of the territory of which it treats, it … Read more

Coosucks and St. Francis Indians

The territory embraced within the present limits of Vermont, previous to any occupation by Europeans, was claimed as a hunting-ground by several tribes of Indians who were hostile to each other, consequently it was often the scene of their savage wars, and constant invasion prevented its being made their permanent home. Indeed, it was Champlain’s nominal purpose to help the Canadian Indians in their war with those in the region of the lake, that first brought him upon its waters. The Iroquois, or Five Nations, was a powerful confederacy composed of several tribes of Indians, who had planted themselves in … Read more

Johnson, Lamoille County, Vermont

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

JOHNSON VERMONT, lies in the central part of the county, in latitude 44 40′, and longitude 4° 19′, bounded northeasterly by Belvidere and Eden, south easterly by Hyde Park and Morristown, southwesterly by Morristown and Cambridge, and northwesterly by Waterville and Cambridge, containing an area of little over 23,040 acres. The tale of its charter breathes somewhat of romance. As early as 1780, a Mr. Brown, an early settler in Jericho, Vermont, secured a grant of the township. He caused the outlines to be run, and commenced the allotment in the eastern part of the town, and gave to it … Read more

Early Manufacturing in Lamoille County, Vermont

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

The first manufacturing in the county was purely domestic. It was in the early days when the beautiful spring weather always found the men busy at the ” break and swingle-board,” and within doors the busy hum of hetcheling, carding, and spinning, was constantly heard. The early settlers were obliged to raise their flax and manufacture their own wearing apparel, for it must be remembered it then required sixty-four bushels of barley to buy one yard of broadcloth, and one bushel of wheat to purchase a yard of calico. The first general business and article of commerce was potash or … Read more