Bath County, Virginia Genealogy

Guide to Bath County, Virginia ancestry, family history and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, immigration records, and military records.

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Description
Bath County is located in the Southwest portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia sharing a border with West Virginia. It was established in 1745 and named for England's resort City of Bath because it, too, is the home to a number of warm mineral springs. The County Seat is located in Warm Springs, Virginia.

Bath County Virginia Courthouse
Bath County Courthouse P.O. Box 180 Warm Springs, VA 24484-0180 Phone: 540-839-2361

Clerk Circuit Court has birth records 1854-1880 Death records 1854-1870 divorce records, probate, land and court records from 1791

Bath County Virginia History


The county is named after the resort town of Bath, England.

Parent County
1790--Bath County was created 14 December 1790 from Augusta, Botetourt and Greenbrier (now in West Virginia) Counties. County seat: Warm Springs.

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Virginia county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Virginia County Boundary Maps" (1617-1995) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

 * Lost censuses: 1800, 1890

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Bath County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1960):128-131. Available at . Digital version at American Ancestors ($).

African Americans

 * Freedmen's Bureau Letters or Correspondence, 1865-1872

Cemeteries
For a more detailed list, including addresses, phone numbers, and external links, see Bath County, Virginia Cemeteries.

The following is a list of cemeteries in Bath County:

The Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library has a number of Bath County, Virginia cemetery databases on-line.

Census
1785


 * Burton, Charles T. Botetourt County, Va., 1785 Enumeration. Troutville, Va.: Burton?, 1972. Available at and, links to digital version included. [All or part of present-day county of Bath is included.]

1790 - Lost

1800 - Lost, but a substitute is available, see Taxation

1810


 * Crickard, Madeline W. 1810 Census of Bath County, Virginia. Beverly, W. Va.: Crickard, 1968?. Available at ; collection with index and images available at Ancestry ($).

1840


 * Douthat, James L. 1840 Bath County, Virginia Census. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 2004. Free online surname index and purchase details at Mountain Press website.

1890 Union Veterans


 * "Virginia's Union Veterans: Eleventh Census of the United States 1890." Prince William County Virginia, by Ronald Ray Turner.

Genealogy
More than a dozen genealogies have been published about Bath County, Virginia families. For a list, see Bath County, Virginia Compiled Genealogies.

Land and Property
Grants and Patents


 * Sims, Edgar Barr. Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia. [Springfield, Virginia]: Genealogical Books in Print, c1992. Available at . [Includes Bath County, Virginia.]

Local Histories

 * McAllister, Jean Graham. A Brief History of Bath County, Virginia. Staunton, Va.: McClure Co., 1920. Available at ; digital version at Google Books (full-view); collection with index and images at Ancestry ($).
 * McAllister, Joseph Thompson. Historical Sketches of Virginia Hot Springs, Warm Sulphur Springs and Bath County, Virginia. Salem, Va.: Salem Printing and Publishing Company, 1908. Digital version at Google Books (full-view).
 * Morton, Oren Frederic. Annals of Bath County, Virginia. Staunton, Va.: McClure Co., 1917. Available at and ; digital versions at Google Books (full-view); and Archive.org ($); collection with index and images at Ancestry ($).

Revolutionary War

 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census]. 1841. Digital versions at U.S. Census Bureau and Google Books et. al. 1967 reprint: 973 X2pc 1840. [See Virginia, Western District, Bath County on page 134.]

War of 1812
Bath County men served in the 81st Regiment.


 * List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883; Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Why Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance... Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883. 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. [See Vol. 5, Virginia, Bath County, p. 63.]

Civil War

 * - 11th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry. Company F (The Bath Grays) and Company G (The Bath Guards).
 * - 18th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate). Company G.
 * - 25th Regiment, Virginia Infantry (Heck's) (Confederate). Company B (Bath Grays).
 * - 26th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate). Company E.
 * - 47th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate). Companies A and B.
 * - 52nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry (Confederate). Company K (Bath Rifles).

Records and histories are available, including:


 * 1861-1865 - Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865
 * 1861-1865 - Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers 1861-1865
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index ($)
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index ($)

Miscellaneous Records

 * 1607-2007 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Naturalization
Virginia Naturalization Petitions, 1906-1929

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.
 * Bath County News-Outlook - full text of more than 100 issues freely available via Google Newspaper Archive

Petitions

 * Eckenrode, H.J. Virginia State Library: A Calendar of Legislative Petitions Arranged by Counties Accomac - Bedford. Richmond, Va.: Davis Bottom, Superintendent of Public Printing, 1908. Digital version at Google Books. [Bath County petitions (1777-1863) are described on pp. 194-210.]

Probate Records

 * Bruns, Jean R. Abstracts of the Wills and Inventories of Bath County, Virginia, 1791-1842. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995. Available at ; digital version at Ancestry ($); and World Vital Records ($).

Online Probate Records
 * 1639 – 1850 Virginia Land, Marriage and Probate Records 1639-1850 at Ancestry.com — index to transcribed records, $
 * 1791-1813; 1813-1822; 1822-1830 Virginia Pioneers - Images of Wills, Estates, Inventories, Bonds, Deeds  ($)

Taxation
How can Virginia tax lists help me?


 * 1793 - Tax List, Delinquent, 1793, Bath County Heritage Newsletter, Issue 15 (Fall 1987).
 * 1800 - "Bath County, Virginia, 1800 Tax List," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1963):21-28. ; digital version at American Ancestors ($).
 * 1815 - Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. [The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Bath County is included in Vol. 5.]

Birth

 * 1853-1896 - Fridley, Beth, comp. Bath County, Virginia Births: 1853-96 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * 1853-1870 - Bath County Birth Index 1853-1870. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1912-1913 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Marriage

 * 1660-1800 - Virginia Marriages 1660-1800 (Ancestry) ($).
 * 1660-1800 - Virginia Marriages 1660-1800 (Ancestry) ($).
 * 1740-1850 - Virginia Marriages 1740-1850 (Ancestry) ($).
 * 1790-1889 - Bath County Marriage Index. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1936-1988 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Divorce

 * 1918-1988 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Death

 * 1853-1870 - Bath County Death Index 1853-1870. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1912-1987 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Bath County Virginia Genealogy Societies and Libraries
Bath County Historical Society

Bath County Virginia Genealogy Websites

 * Bath County, Virginia USGENWEB
 * Bath County, VA History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Familytree101)
 * Cyndi's List
 * Cyndi's List