Norfolk (Independent City), Virginia Genealogy

Description
The City of Norfolk is located in the Eastern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia and was named for Norfolk, England.

Courthouse
For additional records, see Norfolk County.

Parent County
1845--Norfolk was created in 1845 from Norfolk County.

African American
Search the Library of Virginia's Virginia Untold collection for digitized records related to African Americans of the City of Norfolk.

Directories
Don's List contains Norfolk telephone directories for 1957, 1961-1962, and 1964.

Family Histories

 * [Sweny] Henkel, Steve. "Murder in the Family: Identifying the Parents and Siblings of George Wythe Sweny, Murderer of His Great-Uncle, George Wythe, Chancellor of Virginia," The American Genealogist, Vol. 78, No. 2 (April 2003):87-94.
 * [Willoughby] Captain Thomas Willoughby 1601-1657 : of England, Barbadoes and Lower Norfolk County, Virginia : some of his descendants 1601-1800 (1978)

Maps

 * Walter, Alice Granbery. Map of Norfolk Town &amp; Vicinity, 1682, Norfolk Borough 1736. 1972..

Civil War
Since Norfolk was created in 1845, the Civil War records for the men of this area will usually be found in the city records, rather than county records.

Civil War Battle
The following Civil War battle was fought in Norfolk:


 * May 18-19, 1861 = Sewell's Point


 * Maps of Civil War battles in Virginia: 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865

Newspapers

 * 1802-1803 - Norfolk Herald at Google News - free.


 * 1804-1816 - Norfolk Gazette and Publick Ledger at Google News - free.


 * 1811-1859 - Norfolk &amp; Portsmouth Herald at Google News - free.


 * 1820-1833 - The Norfolk and Portsmouth Herald at Google News - free.

Indexed images of the Virginia Gazette (1736-1780) are available online through the Colonial Williamsburg website. In addition, 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 this source and other Virginia newspapers (1736-1803), see: The Geography of Slavery in Virginia. These newspapers are valuable resources for all regions of Virginia.

Occupations

 * Cutten, George Barton. The Silversmiths of Virginia (together with Watchmakers and Jewelers) from 1694 to 1850. Richmond, Va.: The Dietz Press, Incorporated, 1952. Available at . [Includes a section on Norfolk silversmiths.]

Taxation
How can Virginia tax lists help me?


 * [1789, 1798] Indexed images of the 1789 and 1798 Personal Property Tax Lists of Norfolk, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1815] Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. Available at . [The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Norfolk is included in Vol. 3.]

Vital Records

 * 1785-1940 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index; Also at: MyHeritage ($)
 * Tucker, George Holbert. Abstracts from Norfolk City Marriage Bonds [1797-1850]. [Norfolk, Va.?]: William H. Delaney, 1934. Available at ; digital version at World Vital Records ($).

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to Family History Centers
 * Elizabeth River Virginia Family History Center