See the Vital Records section of this guide.

See the Vital Records section of this guide.

• 1777 – Present: Superior or county courts have county-wide jurisdiction over major civil and criminal cases. Records available at the county courthouse.

• 1786 – Present: Justice courts had county-wide jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases. As other courts were created, jurisdiction of the justice courts was reduced to minor civil cases. Records available at the county courthouse.

• 1800s – Present: District courts have county-wide jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal cases. Records available at the county courthouse.

• Generally maintained by: County Coroner or County Medical Examiner

Note: If the cause of death is suspicious or unknown, the Coroner's office is responsible for conducting an inquest.

• 1777 – Present: Superior or county courts have county-wide jurisdiction over major civil and criminal cases. Records available at the county courthouse.

• 1786 – Present: Justice courts had county-wide jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases. As other courts were created, jurisdiction of the justice courts was reduced to minor civil cases. Records available at the county courthouse.

• 1800s – Present: District courts have county-wide jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal cases. Records available at the county courthouse.

See the Vital Records section of this guide.

• Generally maintained by: Office of the town clerk

See the Vital Records section of this guide.

See the Vital Records section of this guide.

Applied for through county court or U.S. District Courts. Vermont State Archives and Records Administration holds microfilm copies of some naturalizations from 1836 to 1972. Others remain at the district probate office. A complete WPA index which includes Vermont along with the rest of New England (except Connecticut) for 1790 to 1906, is held at the National Archives.

• Up to 1906: Held by the municipal, county, or federal court where application was filed.
• 1906 - ____: Certificates held by the NARA facility in Boston, but petitions and declarations of intention remain with the relevant county court.

Most Vermont naturalization records have been transferred from municipal and county courts to the Vermont State Archives. Other naturalization records however remain in the custody of the courts.

See the Online Guide for naturalization records in the Vermont State Archives.

The State Archives also holds copies of petitions and declarations of intention filed with the United States District Court for Vermont from 1801 to 1972.

Note that all certificates of naturalization issued after 1906, are only available from the federal government. Researchers interested in certificates issued for Vermonters by a federal court should contact the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Boston Records Center in Waltham, MA. Researchers searching for all other post-1906 certificates should contact the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.

Some Vermont Naturalization records from the U.S. District Courts and the Immigration and Naturalization Service are available on FamilySearch and the paid subscription service Ancestry.

• Annual assessments sometimes appear as part of the proprietor or town meeting records, which may be in the town records microfilms at Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, or sometimes in separate books in town clerks' offices or vaults.

Probate records are only indexed by district. District offices have indexes filed by decedent only. Microfilm indexes are available at Vermont State Archives and Records Administration. More information remains in the original probate files held in the districts themselves.

• Pre-1777: Researchers looking for probate records prior to Vermont’s independence in 1777 are encouraged to check the records of New York or New Hampshire. There are no known probate records in Vermont prior to independence.
• Since 1777, Vermont probate records have been kept by probate district courts. Unlike Vermont county courts, which have jurisdiction over the entire county, early Vermont probate districts were confined to a specific geographical area within the county. As a result, counties were comprised of multiple probate districts. Initially, the number of probate districts per county was set by Vermont legislators at four.
• 1779: General assembly representatives in February 1779, created three probate districts in Bennington County (Bennington, Manchester, and Rutland), and four in Cumberland County (Guilford, Rockingham, Windsor, and Barnet).
• 1781: Cumberland County was abolished, and the counties of Windsor, Windham, and Orange were formed. Rutland County was also formed from the northern portion of Bennington County. As a result of the reconfiguration, the number of probate districts per county decreased. Each Vermont county was divided into two probate districts, with the exception of Rutland, which was established with one. Since that time, all Vermont counties have been comprised of either one or two probate districts.
• Today, Vermont has 14 counties and 18 probate districts. The four southern counties (Bennington, Rutland, Windham, and Windsor) still have two probate courts each. The remaining counties each have one probate district whose jurisdiction is confined to the current county boundaries.