Mathews County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Mathews County





History


The county is named after Admiral Thomas Mathews (1676-1751) of the British Navy.

Parent County
1790--Mathews County was created 16 December 1790 from Gloucester County. County seat: Mathews

Neighboring Counties

 * Middlesex
 * Gloucester

African American

 * Heinegg, Paul. "Mathews County Personal Property Tax List, 1791-1815," Free African Americans.com. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]

Census
1890 Union Veterans


 * Turner, Ronald Ray. Virginia's Union Veterans: Eleventh Census of the United States 1890. Available online, courtesy: Prince William County Virginia website. [Includes residents of this county.]

Church
Church of England


 * Mason, George Carrington. Colonial Churches of Tidewater Virginia. Richmond, Virginia: Whittet &amp; Shepperson, 1945. Available at FHL; digital version at BYU Family History Archives. [Includes Mathews County.]

Family Histories
It is anticipated that this bibliography will eventually identify all known family histories published about residents of this county. Use this list to:


 * Locate publications about direct ancestors
 * Find the most updated accounts of an ancestor's family
 * Identify publications, to quote Elizabeth Shown Mills, about an ancestor's "FAN Club" [Friends, Associates, and Neighbors]


 * [Page] Page, Richard Channing Moore. Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia. Also a Condensed Account of the Nelson, Walker, Pendleton and Randolph Families, With References to the Bland, Burwell, Byrd, Carter, Cary, Duke, Gilmer, Harrison, Rives, Thornton, Wellford, Washington, and Other Distinguished Families in Virginia. New York: Press of the Publishers' Printing Co., 1893. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books (full-view).

Newspapers
Professor Tom Costa and The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia have created a database of all runaway advertisements for slaves, indentured servants, transported convicts, and ship deserters listed in the Virginia Gazette and other Virginia newspapers (1736-1803), see: The Geography of Slavery in Virginia.

Probate

 * Hopkins, William Lindsay. Some Wills from the Burned Counties of Virginia and Other Wills Not Listed in Virginia Wills and Administrations 1632-1800. Richmond, Virginia: W.L. Hopkins, 1987. Available at FHL. [Includes Mathews County.]

Taxation
How can Virginia tax lists help me?


 * [1774-1775] Billups, John R. Tithables, 1774-1775, of Kingston Parish, also Billups' Accounts, 1787-1842. MSS., Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia; also available at FHL. [Kingston Parish was located in Gloucester County at the time, but later fell within the bounds of Mathews County.]
 * [1774-1791] Mason, Polly Cary. Records of Colonial Gloucester County Virginia. 2 vols. 1946-1948; reprint, Baltimore: Clearfield, 2003. Original edition and 1965 reprintavailable at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes land patent abstracts, 1704/05 rent roll, Gloucester County tax lists 1770-1782, Mathews County tax lists 1774-1791, burgesses, council, and court, county officials, etc.]
 * [1791-1820] Ward, Roger G. "Burned County Gleanings: Mathews County Land Tax Lists, 1791-1820," Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Fall 1997):317-323. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Abstracts of some taxpayers that include "genealogical tidbits," such as relationships, land transfers, etc.]
 * [1791-1815] Heinegg, Paul. "Mathews County Personal Property Tax List, 1791-1815," Free African Americans.com. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]
 * [1803] Indexed images of the 1803 Personal Property Tax List of Mathews County, Virginia are available online, courtesy:Binns Genealogy.
 * [1803] Indexed images of the 1803 Land Tax List of Mathews County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.

Websites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Family History Library Catalog