June 7, 2012

Colonial Virginia Source Records, 1600s-1700s

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Comprehensive in its coverage of colonial Virginia, this database references approximately 353,000 individuals in a unique collection of family histories, local histories, military records, court records, newspaper abstracts, tax lists, and marriage records.

The sources collected here are especially useful because they were collected from local sources and often cover a period of time before centralized record keeping was established. For example, although the first federal census was not taken until 1790, in Virginia Tax Payers, 1782-1787, you'll find a list of 34,000 early residents. In Early Quaker Records in Virginia you'll find an exact transcription of genealogical data in the oldest Quaker records in Virginia, the so-called Chuckatuck Record. Among the more unusual resources is a collection of abstracts from 18th century Virginia newspapers (found in the book Genealogical Abstracts from 18th-Century Virginia Newspapers).

Extracted from more than 7,000 issues of 80 newspapers, each abstract provides at least two pieces of genealogical data. This is an especially exciting resource for obtaining information on enslaved African-American ancestors since many of the abstracts are advertisements for the return of runaway slaves...