Trails to the Past of Vermont is requesting any genealogy materials that you may have such as Obituaries, News Clippings, Wills, Deaths, Births, and Marriages, You do not need the certificates, but only the source of the information.  If you should happen to have any of these items, please email them to Marie Miller, the Northeast District Administrator.  Thank you.

The county seat or shire town of Essex County is Guildhall. 

Prior to the arrival of colonists of European descent, the local Abenakis had subsisted largely on moose.

Vermont was divided into two counties in March, 1778. In 1781 the legislature divided the northernmost county, Cumberland, into three counties: Windham and Windsor, in approximately the modern location for those counties. The northern remainder was called Orange County. This latter tract nearly corresponded with the old New York county of Gloucester, organized by that province March 16, 1770, with Newbury as the shire town.

On September 3, 1783, as a result of the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the Revolutionary War ended with Great Britain recognizing the independence of the United States. Vermont's border with Quebec was established at 45 degrees north latitude.

On November 5, 1792, the legislature divided Chittenden and Orange counties into six separate counties, as follows: Chittenden, Orange, Franklin, Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans.  No reason is given for the county being named after the county of Essex in England.

Cities and Towns

Adjacent Counties
Coos County, New Hampshire – east
Grafton County, New Hampshire – south
Caledonia County, Vermont – southwest
Orleans County, Vermont – west
Coaticook Regional County Municipality, Quebec – north

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