Albemarle Parish, Sussex County, Virginia Genealogy

United States   Virginia    Albemarle Parish

History
Albemarle Parish has served Surry and Sussex counties.

Albemarle Parish was a pre-Revolutionary War Episcopal parish that reflected the political and civil dominance of the Church of England in the affairs of Virginia at the time. Albemarle Parish should not be confused with Albemarle County.

James City County, Virginia was created in 1634 as one of Virginia's eight original shires, and was located on both sides (north and south) of the James River. Then Surry County was created in 1652 from the part of James City County that was south (southwest) of the river.

When Surry County was created, it contained two parishes which formerly had been part of James City County. These were Lawne's Creek Parish, formed in 1640, and Southwark Parish, formed in 1647.

In 1732, part of Surry County was added to Brunswick County. Then, in 1738, Lawne's Creek and Southwark Parishes were restructured. This resulted in the area north of the Blackwater River being called Southwark Parish, and the area south of the Blackwater River being given the new name of Albemarle Parish.

Sussex County was formed in 1754 (some sources say 1753) from the part of Surry County that was south of the Blackwater River. This left Surry County as being located north of the Blackwater and as a part of Southwark Parish. The new county of Sussex was in Albemarle Parish. In fact, all of Albemarle Parish was then located in Sussex County.

This, then, means that between 1738 and 1754, Albemarle Parish was in Surry County. Then, from 1754 until the parishes were abolished around the time of the Revolutionary War, Albemarle Parish was in Sussex County.

Founded

 * 1738 "from those parts of Lawne's Creek and Southwark parishes that lay southwest of Blackwater River"

Parish History

 * Bell, Landon Covington Bell. Albemarle Parish. Richmond, VA: 1950. Google Books page | WorldCat page
 * Ingersoll, Louise Van H. Southside Masons of Virginia: Descendants of Captain John Mason, the Elder of Albemarle Parish. Washington, DC: 1948. WorldCat page
 * Nelson, John K. A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishioners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776. University of North Carolina, 2001. Google Books page
 * Townes, Amanda Jane. The Care of the Poor in Albemarle Parish, Surry and Sussex Counties, Virginia, 1742-1787. M.A. thesis, College of William and Mary, 1976. WorldCat page
 * Upton, Dell. Holy Things and Profane: Anglican Parish Churches in Colonial Virginia. Yale University, 1997. Google Books page (with limited preview)

Parish Records
The original Vestry Book for Albemarle Parish is extant, although it does not begin until 16 Nov 1742. Some earlier pages are missing. Parish register records including births and deaths, as well as christenings and their sponsors, are readily available in published form.

Parish Registers

 * Boddie, John Bennett. Births, Deaths and Sponsors, 1717 - 1778 from the Albemarle Parish Register of Surry and Sussex Counties, Virginia. 1958; Reprint, Baltimore: Clearfield, 1998. | digital version at World Vital Records ($) | Google Books page (with limited preview) | WorldCat page
 * Horne, Elizabeth, and Virginia Horne. Albemarle Parish Register of Surry and Sussex Counties, Virginia, 1717-1779. Wadesboro, NC: Daughters of the American Revolution, Craighead-Dunlap Chapter, 19--. WorldCat page
 * "Notes from Albemarle Parish Register, Sussex County, Va.," William and Mary Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 1, Jul 1905, pp. 1-6. | digital copy in Google Books | digital version at JSTOR ($)
 * Richards, Gertrude R.B. Register of Albemarle Parish, Surry and Sussex Counties, 1739-1778. Richmond, VA: The National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1958; Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1984; Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press, 2010. | Google Books page | WorldCat page

Parish Vestry Book

 * Davis, Virginia Lee Hutcheson, and Andrew Wilburn Hogwood. Albemarle Parish Vestry Book, 1742-1786: Surry and Sussex Counties, Virginia. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. for Clearfield Co., 2005. Google Books page (with limited preview) | WorldCat page