Winchester (Independent City), Virginia Genealogy

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

Description
The City of Winchester is located in the Northern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia and is included in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The City of Winchester was named for Winchester, England.

Courthouse


For additional records, see Frederick County, Virginia.

Parent County
1874--Winchester became an independent city in 1874. Previously, it had belonged to Frederick County.

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

Court
Chancery Court


 * Indexed images of Winchester, Virginia Chancery Records 1787-1936 are available online through Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index. These records, often concerned with inheritance disputes, contain a wealth of genealogical information.

Genealogy

 * [Page] Rutherford, Dolores Crumrine. The Page Family in Virginia Personal Property Taxes (1782-1850). 2 vols. Carmichael, Calif.: D.C. Rutherford, 2002. [Winchester appears in Vol. 2]

Local Histories

 * Morton, Oren Frederic. The Story of Winchester in Virginia, the Oldest Town in the Shenandoah Valley. Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, 1925. Available at ; digital version at Ancestry ($).

General Information

 * Morton, Oren Frederic. The Story of Winchester in Virginia, the Oldest Town in the Shenandoah Valley. Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, 1925. Available at ; digital version at Ancestry ($) - includes information about French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, and World War 1.

French and Indian War

 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at . Online at: Ancestry ($). Identifies some Winchester militia officers, soldier enlistments, and veterans; see place name index.

Civil War
Since Winchester became an independent city in 1874 from Frederick County, go to the Frederick County page for information about the Civil War military units of that area. During the Civil War men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their area.

Civil War Battles
The following Civil War battles were fought in Winchester.


 * March 23, 1862 = Kernstown I
 * May 25, 1862 = Winchester I, also known as Bowers Hill
 * June 13-15, 1863 = Winchester II
 * July 20, 1864 = Rutherford's Farm
 * July 24, 1864 = Kernstown II


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

Newspapers

 * 1798-1820 - Winchester Gazette (Winchester, Va.) at Genealogy Bank ($).
 * 1806-1809 - Philanthropist (Winchester, Va.) at Genealogy Bank ($).
 * 1828-1836 - Winchester Virginian (Winchester, Va.) at Genealogy Bank ($).
 * 1855-1873 - Winchester Virginian at Google News - free.
 * 2009-present - Winchester Star (Winchester, Va.) at Genealogy Bank ($).

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.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Virginia, Winchester, Evening Star Obituaries - FamilySearch Historical Records

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 Winchester silversmiths.

Officials

 * Morton, Oren Frederic. The Story of Winchester in Virginia, the Oldest Town in the Shenandoah Valley. Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, 1925. Available at ; digital version at Ancestry ($). Includes civil officers, 1743-1908.

Probate

 * 1652-1900 Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1900 at Ancestry — index & images, ($)

Taxation

 * [1782] Morton, Oren Frederic. The Story of Winchester in Virginia, the Oldest Town in the Shenandoah Valley. Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, 1925. Available at ; digital version at Ancestry ($). Includes 1782 list of inhabitants and 1782 list of lot owners.
 * [1787-1841] Winchester Personal Property Tax Lists 1787-1841 (images); digital version in Tax List Club at Binns Genealogy ($).
 * [1792, 1803] Images of the 1792 and 1803 Personal Property Tax Lists of Winchester, 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 1815 land tax. Winchester is included in Vol. 4.

Vital Records

 * 1785-1940 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index; Also at: MyHeritage ($)
 * 1785-1940 Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940 at Ancestry ($) — index