Local Research Tips

The links on this page should be visited before beginning research in Virginia counties, especially the ones in the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck areas. Records in some counties may not exist due to them being destroyed by fire.

There is also a list of publications listed below that may be of use to researchers.

• Lost Records Localities Digital Collection (LVA)
• Virginia County Formation Chronology in Text (1617-1963)
• Virginia Discontinued Counties
• Museums, Historical Societies & Libraries
• FamilySearch Wiki for Local Counties
• Old Place Names (MPAAGHS)

• Uprooted and Transplanted: From Africa to America: Focus on African-Americans in Essex County, Virginia: Oppressions, Achievements, Contributions The 1600s-1900s
• McGuire, Lillian H. 1999. New York: Vantage Press.
• LC Control No.: 98090757

• A History of African-Americans in Middlesex County 1646-1992
• by Tommy L. Bogger, Ph.D. and The Black Church Cultural Affairs Committee. White Stone, VA, 1994. Nohill, Inc.
• LC Control No.: 96103579

• Historical Notes on the Life and Achievements of Blacks in Lancaster County and the State of Virginia (1619-1974)
• Cowling, Dorothy Norris C. 1991. Richmond, VA: Lancaster County African American Historical Society.
• (A study sponsored by the Lancaster County African American Historical Society.)

• The four publications listed below are by Suzanne P. Derieux and Wesley E. Pippenger. More information about these and other area-related works.
  • King and Queen County, Virginia Marriage Records: Transcripts of Consents, Affidavits, Minister Returns, and Marriage Licenses, Volume 1: 1853-1874. (2013)
  • King and Queen County, Virginia Marriage Records: Transcripts of Consents, Affidavits, Minister Returns, and Marriage Licenses, Volume 2: 1875-1886. (2013)
  • Essex County, Virginia Marriage Records: Transcripts of Consents, Affidavits, Minister Returns, and Marriage Licenses, Volume 1 - 1850-1872. (2011)
  • Essex County, Virginia Marriage Records: Transcripts of Consents, Affidavits, Minister Returns, and Marriage Licenses, Volume 2 - 1873-1883. (2013)

• Historic Sites in Virginia's Northern Neck and Essex County: A Guide
• Wolf, Thomas A. 2011. Warsaw, VA: Preservation Virginia, Northern Neck Branch.

• The Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association in retrospect : encompassing thirty-four African-American churches in Essex, Middlesex and King and Queen counties, Virginia
• by Lillian H. McGuire and The History-Update Committee. McGuire, Lillian H. 2006. Tappahannock, VA: Barbour Printing Services.

• Essex County Virginia Newspaper Notices 1738-1938
• Pippenger, Wesley E. 2009. Tappahannock, VA: Wesley Pippenger.
• (There are articles relating to people in surrounding counties.)

• History of Mattaponi Baptist Church, King and Queen County, Virginia
• Hundley, William Thomas. 1928. Richmond, Va: Printed by Appeals Press; Cumnor, VA

• Land and Heritage in the Virginia Tidewater : A History of King and Queen County
• Kaplan, Barbara Beigun, and Robert Willis. 1993. [Richmond, VA?]: s.n.

• Historic Buildings in Middlesex County, Virginia, 1650-1875
• Gray, Louise E., Evelyn Q. Ryland, Bettie J. Simmons, Richard A. Genders, and Walter C. C. Johnson. 1978. S.l: s.n.].

• Family Histories of Middlesex County, Virginia
• DeBusk, Jessie M. 1982. [Urbanna, Va.]: Ralph Wormeley Branch, APVA.

• Court papers, 1684-1823
• Virginia. Circuit Court (Middlesex County)

• A Place in Time : Middlesex County, Virginia, 1650-1750
• Rutman, Darrett Bruce, and Anita H. Rutman. 1984. New York: Norton.

• Virginia, African-American Funeral Programs, 1935-2009
• Hosted by FamilySearch (The funeral programs are primarly those of people with roots in the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck areas.)

• Free People of Color prior to 1865

• Register of Free Negroes, 1810-1861 for Essex County
• available at the Essex County Courthouse, Essex County Museum & Historical Society
   and the Library of Virginia (microfilm)

• Register of Free Negroes, 1800-1862 for Middlesex County
• available at the Middlesex County Courthouse
   and the Library of Virginia (microfilm)

• The Free Negro in Virginia 1619-1865 (free PDF, EPUB)
• by John Henderson Russell
• Johns Hopkins Press, 1913

• Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina from the Colonial Period to about 1820
• by Paul Heinegg

• Free African Americans of Virginia, NC, SC, MD and DE (online version)