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.
- Burned Record Counties (VA-NOTES)
- Virginia County Boundary Changes (1634-1920)
- Virginia Discontinued Counties
- King & Queen County Time Line (1691-1929)
- Important Dates in the Establishment of King William County
- Essex County History
- FamilySearch Wiki for Local Counties
- Uprooted and Transplanted: From Africa to America: Focus on African-Americans in Essex County, Virginia: Oppressions, Achievements, Contributions The 1600s-1900s
- by Lillian H. McGuire
- Vantage Press: New York, NY, 1999
- 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
- Nohill, Inc: White Stone, VA, 1994
- LC Control No.: 96103579
Historical Notes on the Life and Achievements of Blacks in Lancaster County and the State of Virginia (1619-1974) - by Dorothy Norris Cowling
- 1991
- (A Study Sponsored by the Lancaster County African American Historical Society.)
- A Guide Historic Sites in Virginia’s Northern Neck & Essex County
- by Preservation Virginia, Northern Neck Branch
- Edited by Thomas A. Wolf
- The Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association and its Allied Bodies - In Restrospect 1877-1977, 1978-2002
- by Lillian H. McGuire and The History-Update Committee
- Essex County Virginia Newspaper Notices 1738-1938
- by Wesley E. Pippenger
- 2009
- (There are articles relating to people in surrounding counties.)
- 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, 1800-1860 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
- Clearfield (January, 2001)
- ISBN: 080635111X
- Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware from the Colonial Period to 1810
- by Paul Heinegg
- Clearfield (2000)
- ISBN: 0806350423
-
Free African Americans of Virginia, NC, SC, MD and DE (online version)
- Resources for Tracing Free African Americans - (pre 1865) @ Africana Heritage