Abrams Collection Genealogy Highlights
Winter 2007
Volume 9, Number 1

A PDF version of Virginia Genealogy Sources for Michiganders is also available.

Does your family have roots in Virginia? You might be surprised. Today Virginia has defined borders with 95 counties and 40 independent cities. This was not always the case. Decades after the colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia were well-established on maps, few colonial administrators and residents really knew where the boundaries were, much less agreed upon them. The most long-lasting border discrepancy, between Virginia and Pennsylvania, was not settled until 1792. Even after that date, rivers that formed natural boundaries were one of the few sure ways individuals knew in which state they lived.

One of the links between Virginia and Michigan is the Ohio River. Southern Ohio was still a part of Virginia until 1787 with the establishment of the Northwest Ordinance. West Virginia did not become an independent state until the Civil War. Between these two lands ran the Ohio River, which was a main gateway to the Mississippi watershed, New Orleans and Western Expansion. Well before the American Revolution, individuals were traveling west to trade, hunt and seek out land. Maps dating from the mid-17th century have sections of what is now Ohio and Michigan marked with notations of "fine land." Settlers, and at times squatters, would travel down the Ohio to advance west and to the north to what are now northern Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. If a family had ancestors from Ohio in the early years of the 19th century, they may very well have originated in Virginia.

The British in Detroit also linked what is now Michigan with Virginia. The American Revolution was fought on the East Coast and in the Southern colonies of Georgia and South Carolina. Few realize the level of hostilities in the far western regions of what was at the time termed to be Pennsylvania and Virginia. Americans were pushing west while the British in Detroit were trying to hold as much land as possible. Military raids and full attacks were launched from British Detroit against the Americans living on the frontier. At the same time, these western regions were isolated from assistance due to the mountains that divided them from the eastern seaboard. Many Americans had to accept British offers of peace and protection in a refugee status. As a result of the hostilities, Americans were also taken captive and often ransomed at the British forts. Others landed in the region as there was a demand for skilled trades people and thus stable occupations in an unstable region.

Genealogical information on families residing in "Virginia" can be found in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and at times Michigan. While seen as a wilderness prior to 1810, in fact thousands of settlers were pouring into Virginia and pushing west as early as the 1730s. After the French and Indian War, settlers, often former military personnel, advanced across the Blue Ridge Mountains. After the Revolutionary War, the Ohio River was the main highway for thousands of pioneers moving west and taking up land in what is now, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and points further west.

Top Picks

Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County 1745-1800. 3 vols. Baltimore: Genealogy Publishing Company, 1989.
Genealogy F 232 .A9 A9 1989

English, William Hayden. Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio 1778-1783 and Life of General George Rogers Clark. 2 vols. Indianapolis: Bowen Merrill Company, 1896.
Genealogy E 234 .E58

Garner, Grace Kelso. Earliest Settlers, Western Frederickeastern Hampshire Counties in Virginia, Their Descendants. [s.l.: s.n.], 1978.
Genealogy F 232 .F75 G35

Meade, William. Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia. [Electronic Resource]. Columbia, MD: Archive CD Books, 2006.
Genealogy CD F 225 .M43 2006

Schweitzer, George K. Virginia Genealogical Research. Knoxville, TN: George K. Schweitzer, 1982.
Genealogy F 225 .S38z 1982

Stinson, Helen S. Handbook For Genealogical Research in West Virginia. 3 vols. South Charleston, WV: Kanawha Valley Genealogical Society, 1981-1994.
Genealogy F 240 .S75 1981z

Swem, E.G. Virginia Historical Index. Roanoke, VA: Stone Printing and Manufacturing Company, 1934.
Genealogy F 221 .S93

Wardell, Patrick G. Timesaving Aid to Virginia-West Virginia Ancestors. Athens, GA: Iberian Publishing Company, 1985.
Genealogy F 225 .W33 1985

Withington, Lothrop. Virginia Gleanings in England. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1980.
Genealogy F 225 .W58 1980

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Census

Heinegg, Paul. Free African Americans of North Carolina and Virginia. Baltimore: Clearfield Company, 1997.
Genealogy E 185.96 .H45 1997

Schreiner-Yantis, Netti. 1787 Census of Virginia: An Accounting of the Name of Every White Male Tithable Over 21 Years. 3 vols. Springfield, VA: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987.
Genealogy F 225 .Y36 1987

Workman, Velma Ballard. First Federal Census 1782-83, Virginia Territory. [S.I.: V.B. Workman], 1984.
Genealogy F 225 .F573 1984

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Immigration

Coldham, Peter Wilson. King's Passengers to Maryland and Virginia. Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 1997.
Genealogy F 180 .C64 1997

Hume, Robert. Early Child Immigrants to Virginia, 1618-1642. Baltimore: Magna Carta Books, 1986.
Genealogy F 225 .H86 1986

Standard, William Glover. Some Emigrants To Virginia. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1964.
Genealogy F 225 .S82 1964

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Internet Sources

American Civil War Homepage
sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html

County Formation Maps
www.myvirginiagenealogy.com/va_maps/va_cf.htm

Old Virginia Obituaries, 1790-1940
virginiaobits.homestead.com/

Rent roll of Virginia 1704, 1705
ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/va/misc/1704va.txt

Richmond Daily Dispatch
dlxs.richmond.edu/d/ddr/index.html

VA-AfricanAmer
A mailing list for anyone with a genealogical interest in African Americans in the state of Virginia. To subscribe send "subscribe" to vaafricanamer-l-request@rootsweb.com (mail mode) or va-africanamer-drequest@rootsweb.com (digest mode).

Virginia Death Record Index, 1853 to 1896
ajax.lva.lib.va.us/F/?func=file&file_name=find-b-clas29&local_base=clas29

Virginia GenWeb
www.rootsweb.com/~vagenweb/

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Land

Joyner, Peggy S. Abstracts of Virginia's Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys. Portsmouth, VA: P.S. Joyner, 1985.
Genealogy F 225 .J76 1985 v.3

Joyner, Ulysses P. Orange County Land Patents. [Orange, VA:] Orange County Historical Society, 1985.
Genealogy F 232 .O6 J69 1985

Smith, Annie Laurie. Quit Rents of Virginia: Copy of the Rent Rolls of the Several Counties of Virginia for the Year 1704: And Land Owners of that Section Called the Northern Neck [for which] No Quit Rents Exist. Richmond, VA: Expert Letter Writing Co. 1957.
Genealogy F 225 .S57 1957

Virginia Land Records. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1982.
Genealogy F 225 .V875 1982

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Military

Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1988.
Genealogy F 225 .B632 1988

Crowther, George Rodney III. Surname Index to Sixty-Five Volumes of Colonial and Revolutionary Pedigrees. Washington, D.C.: National Genealogical Society, 1964.
Genealogy CS 42 .N43 no.27

Gill, Harold B. Apprentices Of Virginia, 1623-1800. Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1989.
Genealogy F 229 .G49 1989

McAllister, J.T. Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary War. Hot Springs, VA: McAllister Publishing Company, 1913.
Genealogy E 263 .V8 M13

Reddy, Anne Waller. West Virginia Revolutionary Ancestors Whose Services Were Non-Military and Whose Names, Therefore, Do Not Appear in Revolutionary Indexes of Soldiers and Sailors. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1963.
Genealogy F 240 .R31 1963

Revolutionary Soldiers in Kentucky: Containing a Roll of the Officers of Virginia Line Who Received Land Bounties; A Roll of the Revolutionary Pensioners in Kentucky; a List of the Illinois Regiment Who Served Under George Rogers Clark in the Northwest Campaign. Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1992.
Genealogy E 255 .R47 1992

Skidmore, Warren. Lord Dunmore's Little War of 1774: His Captains and Their Men Who Opened Up Kentucky & the West to American Settlement. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2002.
Genealogy E 83.77 .S56 2002x

Smith, John H. Virginia Revolutionary Militia. Indianapolis: Ye Olde Genealogie Shoppe, [199-].
Genealogy UB 374 .V8 S65 1990z

Virginia Military Records. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1983.
Genealogy F 225 .V884 1983

Wardell, Patrick G. War of 1812: Virginia Bounty Land & Pension Applicants. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1987.
Genealogy E 359.4 W37 1987

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Periodicals

County Court Note-book. Vols. 1-10. Bethesda, 1921-1931.
Genealogy CS 42 .C6199

Dorman, John Frederick, ed. Virginia Genealogist. Vols. 1-50. Washington, D.C.: Dorman, 1957-2006.
Genealogy Periodicals

Genealogies of Virginia Families: From Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine. 4 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 1981.
Genealogy F 225 .G47

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Taxes

Little, Barbara Vines. Orange County, Virginia Tithables 1743-1783, Part One & Two. Orange, VA: Dominion Market Research Corporation. 1988.
Genealogy F 232 .O6 L58 1988

Virginia Tax Records. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1983.
Genealogy F 225 .V887 1983

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Vital Records

Borden, Duane Lyle. Tombstone Inscriptions: Shenandoah County Virginia and Bordering Counties. Denver: D.L. Borden, 1986.
Genealogy F 225 .B6 1986

Houston, William R.M. Colonial Residents of Virginia's Eastern Shore: Whose Ages Were Proved. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1985.
Genealogy F 232 .A2 H68 1985

Virginia Will Records from the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the William and Mary College Quarterly, and Tyler's Quarterly. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1993.
Genealogy F 225 V94 1982

Wulfeck, Dorothy Ford. Wulfeck's Virginia Marriages: 2nd Series, 1607-1800. Concord, CA: A.M. Coppage, 1990.
Genealogy F 225 .W842 1990

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Updated 02/21/2008