"Vermont, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1732-2005," images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-27950-4617-38?cc=1987653 : accessed 14 January 2016), Windsor > Reading > Births, marriages, deaths, town records 1817-1858 vol 3-4 > image 306 of 480; town clerk offices, Vermont.
I was "browsing" through the town clerk records from Reading, Vermont looking for proof of when my 4th great grandfather Jonathan Merrill moved to Reading. I know he died there in 1879 and I know the date of one of his children's birth was in Plymouth, Vermont in 1840. Logically he moved there between those dates.
As I was jumping around trying to find the files dated past 1840, I came across the image above. It was from 1839 and I was about to go to another page when I noticed notes on the second page dated 1860! I realized one of the clerks had gone back and added notes about people to earlier notes. On another page I found a whole family genealogy added to the birth of a person in 1840. Someone had come back and added the other children's birthdates and even some death dates for the parents. All signed and certified by the clerk.
The lesson learned from this is to be willing to go page-by-page even though the date you are seeking is not on the image you are looking at presently. We never know what kind of gems of family history are hidden in the "side notes".
Happy treasure hunting....
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