| This is the first of two volumes containing Warning Out records transcribed from the town books. Volume 1, covering northern Vermont, contains records as early as 1785 and as late as 1818. Volume 2, covering southern Vermont, is being compiled now and already includes Warnings Out as early as 1768. This volume encompasses the northern half of Vermont, specifically Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, 1_amoille, Orange, Orleans and Washington counties. I used microfilmed records, rather than the original records, wherever possible. The Family History Library of Salt Lake City has the largest collection of pre-1850 microfilmed Vermont town records. Their collection, however, is by no means complete. The other large microfilm collection is found at the Vermont Public Records Division in Middlesex, VT. This agency has an active microfilming program, but a surprising number of towns have not had their earliest records completely filmed. In cases where the town records had not been microfilmed, a visit to the town clerk’s office was necessary. While use of microfilm made the project feasible, visiting the clerk’s office was far more enjoyable. Every town clerk was helpful, and handling the original old records gave an authenticity to the research somehow lacking in a roll of film. I regret that a few northern Vermont towns may have escaped inclusion in this volume, but deadlines had to be met.
|
| 
| While the present volume can stand on its own, it is also meant as a complement to Vermont Warnings Out (2 vols., 1995-1997). Both publications offer an opening into the sometimes dark genealogical corners of Vermont from the I 760s to the I 820s. In these years, Vermont was a frontier state for New England rather as Alaska still is for the United States today. Tens of thousands moved into Vermont, sometimes living in two or three or more towns, and then often leaving for more promising opportunities in upstate New York or Ohio or places beyond. Many of these people escaped census detection altogether. and many more were listed in one census only to disappear from the next. Given that vital records were kept erratically in these years and that land records can be found only at the local level, the difficulties for researchers looking for ancestors or others can readily mount up. In regard specifically to the present publication, given that early church records are often lost or troubling to access, discovering religious affiliations can be an additional challenge once the ancestor is located. This volume should help.
|
Consortium Library / Government Documents