A Basic Toolkit for Vermont Immigrant Research: BECOMING NEIGHBORS

I spent many happy hours this past winter as part of a team project with the Old Stone House Museum & Historic Village in Brownington -- two staff members and I and four more volunteers chose people from the 1920 Census who had immigrated to Orleans County, Vermont, and looked for their family histories in both directions: going back in our research to the nations where their parents had been born (Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, even Russia; we could also have chosen Finland, Norway, Scotland, England, and of course French Canada). 

We used the 1920 Census because it's astonishing. Pogroms chased people out of Eastern Europe, the Great War relocated others, and of course, Irish people still had reason to leave British domination. Soon we found there were many other reasons for migrating to America, including national poverty and freedom of religion. 

Step 1: Choose someone from the Census page for your town-of-interest whose background or family structure intrigues you.

Step 2: Begin to ask questions, based on what you see on your Census page and what you already know about Vermont, America, or world history. 

Step 3:  Use resources like Ancestry, Newspapers.com, friends and neighbors, social media, geographic chat groups, and more, to trace this person's ancestors, movement around the country, and more.

Step 4: If you haven't already in Step 3, find resources that bring you toward the present -- with a goal of finding a living descendant who can tell you more about this family and how and when it began to feel like Vermonters, or Americans, or other ways of belonging.

Here's the worksheet we used to keep ourselves asking questions. You can read what we discovered, when you visit the website (stories still being added): https://oldstonehousemuseum.org/collections-research/becomingneighbors. You'll also see regional publications telling the stories we found, for the rest of 2026.

Narrative Worksheet: Fill in the gaps, to have a great first draft ready for the story of the immigrant(s) you’ve looked into. Feel free to write more on another page!

 

________________________________ shows up on the 1920 US Census as a resident of the

town (or village) of ___________________________. Following the lines across the page shows that he/she came from __________________________ . Other neighbors listed in that survey came from ____________________ and __________________ and _______________.

I wondered when I saw this: [what did you wonder about your person?]

 

 

Searching for family stories from a hundred years ago isn’t simple. But I figured I could start with these resources:

 

When I discovered this about “my person’s” family, the next things I wondered were:

 

To look for answers, I tried these investigations:

 

So today, I am pretty confident that important members of this person’s family were:

 

 

I tried looking farther back, and I discovered:

 

 

It looks like this person’s arrival in my town was usual/unusual, considering that:

 

 

I found evidence that this family stayed in XX County OR left XX County (when?), and this is how the family made a living:

 

 

There is still some evidence of where this person lived. My best guess at the location in town or for nearby descendants is:

 

 

I have copies of some documents or photographs that connect to this story. Here’s a list, with how they connect:

 

 

 

The most surprising thing I discovered in this search was:

 

 

We are eager to hear what you discover!

 

Click on this Census page to see some amazing information.

  

This project is supported in part by the Vermont Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, www.vermonthumanities.org.

A Poem for Mother's Day, 2026

Here's a photo that speaks to my New England roots, for sure!

I wrote this for one of my amazing "daughters-in-law" this morning. My family seems to put both work and love at the top of the list. I'm grateful!

 

This Pause

In another time, another country, we might know the calendar

with its weekly sabbath day within our very bones and breath:

the sweet halt of work, the pause to contemplate, to renew

acquaintance with old stories of grace and courage, accompanied

by music braided golden with emotion.

 

But we are grown children of immigrants, people who hold work

as salvation, strength, the sure thing to save us from the world’s

forceful fist. Our lists summon attention, effort, tasks and goals,

so the shimmer of sunlight at the window, rain’s rhythmic call,

reliable thump of the heart evades

 

our notice so often. Then, sister, let us reclaim this day: Let us

taste love with our coffee, savor peace with our pastry. Mothers

we are—noticing the time, the laundry, meals to plan, prepare,

all attached to the same clock that will call us back to work

when Monday circles toward us—

 

but this is the moment we choose for ourselves. We hold it

tenderly; we laugh at how absurd it is to “take time off” when

so much is waiting for our capable hands, our clever minds.

We hear the others waking up, know the only way to hold

joy and rest is with both hands.

 

Here is the Mother’s Day we didn’t plan, didn’t expect,

inner admission of how much we give … outer recognition in

a phone call, a kiss, a smile, someone’s thanks expressed.

Vital intention: We choose our lives. We sweeten our own

celebration. We sing.

 

BK