Virginia Genealogy is being developed as a genealogical and historical resource for your personal use. It contains information and records for Virginia ancestry, family history, and genealogy. Specifically, it provides sources for birth records, death records, marriage records, census records, tax records, court records, and military records. It also provides some historical details about different times and people in Virginia history.
Virginia County Names
Virginia County Names: Two hundred and seventy years of Virginia History
This book tells the story of how Virginia’s counties received their names and, through those names, explores the history, thoughts, and sentiments of the people who named them. The county names themselves suggest a remarkable breadth of history and provide material for understanding Virginia’s colonial past from a perspective unlike that offered by the county names of any other state. While this is not intended as a history of Virginia, the names serve as a means of illuminating important portions of the Old Dominion’s history—the names being the magnet and the facts of Virginia history the iron filings drawn to them.
Every effort has been made to verify the facts presented and, where certainty was not possible, to indicate the degree of doubt involved. Because the origins and associations of Virginia’s county names extend far beyond the boundaries of the Commonwealth, the account reaches back as far as 1370 in Scottish history and forward to the Jamestown Exposition of 1907, where many men for whom Virginia counties were named were commemorated.
The subtitle, Two Hundred and Seventy Years of Virginia History, reflects the principal span of the narrative. It begins with the founding of Jamestown in 1607 and follows the naming of Virginia’s counties through 1880, when the state’s youngest county was organized.
Recent Virginia Genealogy
Virginia County Names: Two hundred and seventy years of Virginia History
Virginia County Names: Two hundred and seventy years of Virginia History aims to tell how the Virginia counties got their names, and in telling the story it endeavors to show that the thoughts and feelings of the Virginians are reflected in the names the counties bear.
Portsmouth Public Library Collection of Yearbooks
The Portsmouth Public Library Collection of Yearbooks provides access to 266 yearbooks documenting students, faculty, and school life in Portsmouth, Virginia. Extending from the 1920s into the twenty-first century, the collection includes yearbooks from public and private schools, colleges, military academies, and nursing schools. For genealogists and local historians, these publications provide photographs, names, class affiliations, clubs, athletics, activities, and other details that can help identify individuals and document their education and community connections.
Petersburg Public Library Collection of Yearbooks
The Petersburg Public Library Collection of Yearbooks provides access to 80 school yearbooks documenting students, teachers, and school life in Petersburg, Virginia, across much of the twentieth century. For genealogists and local historians, these yearbooks can help identify individuals and place them in a particular school and year while providing photographs, class affiliations, clubs, athletics, activities, and other details that may not appear in traditional genealogical records.
Nottoway County Public Library Collection of Yearbooks
The Nottoway County Public Library Collection of Yearbooks provides access to 84 school and college yearbooks documenting students, faculty, and school life in Nottoway County, Virginia. Spanning much of the twentieth century, these publications can be particularly useful to genealogists and local historians by providing photographs, names, class affiliations, clubs, athletics, activities, and other details that supplement more traditional genealogical records.
Newport News Public Library Collection of Yearbooks
The Newport News Public Library Collection of Yearbooks provides access to 219 school yearbooks documenting students and school life in Newport News, Virginia, across much of the twentieth century. For genealogists and local historians, these yearbooks can help identify students, teachers, and school personnel while providing photographs and details about classes, clubs, athletics, activities, and other aspects of school and community life that may not appear in traditional genealogical records.
The Read and Reid Families of Charlotte and Rockbridge Counties
Foote records two distinct Virginia families whose surnames are easily confused. The Read family was established at Bushy Forest in present-day Charlotte County and became prominent in county government, Revolutionary service, education, and the ministry. The Reid family entered Rockbridge County through several migrations and became connected by marriage with the Alexander and McDowell families. Foote does not establish a relationship between the Read and Reid lines.
The Logan Families of Virginia and Kentucky
Foote records the Logan surname in three prominent but unconnected settings: John Logan among the first settlers and ruling elders of New Providence, Benjamin Logan among the Presbyterian householders of the Holston Valley before his removal to Kentucky, and Rev. Robert Logan in the Bethel and Fincastle communities. Foote does not establish a family relationship among these men.
Pearisburg Public Library Collection of Yearbooks
The Pearisburg Public Library Collection of Yearbooks provides access to 44 school yearbooks from Giles County, Virginia, documenting several generations of students, teachers, school activities, organizations, athletics, and community life. For genealogists and local historians, yearbooks can help place an individual in a particular school and year while also providing photographs, class affiliations, friendships, and other details rarely found in traditional records.
The McPheeters Family of Virginia and North Carolina
The McPheeters family traced its origins from Scotland through Ireland and Pennsylvania before establishing a substantial household in the Bethel settlement of Augusta County. Its best-documented descendant was Rev. William McPheeters, D.D., whose career connected Virginia’s Presbyterian churches and schools with Kentucky and North Carolina.
The Scott Families of Augusta and Charlotte Counties
Foote records two distinct Scott family groups in Virginia. The better-developed household was that of Rev. Archibald Scott, pastor of the associated Bethel and Hebron congregations in Augusta County. A separate line centered upon Colonel Thomas Scott of Charlotte County and his work with Hampden-Sydney College. Foote does not establish a relationship between these families.
The Carrington Family of Cumberland and Charlotte Counties
The Carrington family established itself first along Willis Creek in what became Cumberland County and later formed an influential branch in Charlotte County. Through marriages with the Mayo, Read, Cabell, Venable, Bernard, Sims, and Watkins families, its descendants became prominent in Virginia’s legal, political, military, and educational life. The following account brings together the Carrington family references scattered throughout William Henry Foote’s Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical, Second Series, arranging them by generation and family relationship. Paul Carrington and the Barbados Family Foote begins the family line with Paul Carrington and his wife, whom he describes as belonging to…
