Greensville County, Virginia Genealogy

United States   Virginia    Greensville County

County Courthouse


Greensville County Courthouse P.O. Box 631 337 South Main Street Emporia, VA 23847-0631 434-348-4215


 * Clerk Circuit Court has marriage, land and probate records from 1781; divorce and court records from 1900

History


The county is believed to have been named after English explorer Sir Richard Grenville (1542-1591).

Parent County
1780--Greensville County was created 16 October 1780 from Brunswick and Sussex Counties. County seat: Emporia

Variant Spellings

 * Greenville

Record Loss

 * Lost censuses: 1790, 1800, 1890

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Greensville County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1968):107-108. ; digital version at American Ancestors($).

African American
Freedmen's Bureau Letters or Correspondence, 1865-18721


 * Heinegg, Paul. "Greensville County Personal Property Tax List, 1782-1830," Free African Americans.com. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]

Biography

 * Brown, Douglas Summers. Historical and Biographical Sketches of Greensville County, Virginia, 1650-1967. Emporia, Va.: The Riparian Woman's Club, 1968..

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 of England
See also Meherrin Parish See also St. Andrew's Parish

Court
County Court


 * Goodwyn, Dora Hedges. "Notes from the Records of Greensville County," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jul., 1913):31-38. ; digital version at JSTOR ($). [Partial abstracts of Greensville County Court Order Book 1.]
 * Goodwyn, W. Samuel. "Officers Recommended and Qualified for the Militia of Greensville County, Virginia, 1782-1815," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Oct., 1918):96-103; Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jan., 1919):176-184 . ; digital version at JSTOR ($). [Abstracted from Greensville County Court Order Books.]

Genealogy
More than a dozen genealogies have been published about Greensville County families. To view a list, visit Greensville County, Virginia Genealogy.

Immigration

 * Ljungstedt, Milnor. "Items from Southern Records" [Showing Family and Trade Connections with Northern Colonies and the Home Countries], The American Genealogist, Vol. 15 (1938):95-104. Digital version at American Ancestors. [Greensville Co., VA surname: Harris.]

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Hudgins. 694 patents dated 1715-1800 in what is now Greensville County, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper, 2000. [Names of those who received land patents, dates, land descriptions, and references may be viewed free of charge (click "Index" next to the county listing); however, in order to view the maps, it is necessary to purchase Direct Line Software's DeedMapper product.]

Local Histories

 * Brown, Douglas Summers, Virginia Lee Baker, Eleanor Little Eanes, and L. Ralph Slagle eds. Historical and Biographical Sketches of Greensville County, Virginia, 1650-1967. Emporia, Va.: The Riparian Woman's Club, 1968. Free Lookups Available! Reviewed by Herbert C. Bradsham in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 77, No. 4 (Oct., 1969):506-507. Review available at ; digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * Sketches of Greensville County, Virginia, Second Edition, 1968-2000. Free Lookups Available!

Migration

 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1976):199-208. ; digital version at American Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Greensville County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on pp. 127-128.]
 * Elliott, Katherine B. Emigration to Other States from Southside Virginia. 2 vols. South Hill, Virginia: K.B. Elliott, 1966. Vol. 1 of original edition at ; 1983 reprints (both volumes) at ; 1990-1992 reprints (both volumes) also at . [Includes individuals who migrated out of Greensville County to other parts of the country.]

Revolutionary War

 * Douthat, James L. 1782 Greensville County, Virginia Property Valuation Impressed During Revolutionary War. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 2010. Free online surname index and purchase details at Mountain Press website.
 * 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 version at Google Books. 1967 reprint: . [See Virginia, Eastern District, Greensville County on page 130.]
 * Rejected or Suspended Applications for Revolutionary War Pensions. Washington, D.C., 1852. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1969, and 1991. Reprints include "an Added Index to States." ; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes veterans from this county; Virginia section begins on page 238.]

Militia

 * Goodwyn, W. Samuel. "Officers Recommended and Qualified for the Militia of Greensville County, Virginia, 1782-1815," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Oct., 1918):96-103; Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jan., 1919):176-184 . ; digital version at JSTOR ($). [Abstracted from Greensville County Court Order Books.]

War of 1812

 * Douthat, James L. Roster of War of 1812, Southside, Virginia. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 2007. Free online surname index and purchase details at Mountain Press website. . [Includes Greensville County.]
 * 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. ; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. [See Vol. 5, Virginia, Greenville County [sic], p. 82. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.]

Civil War
Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865

Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers 1861-1865

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.

Private Papers
Virginia, Historical Society Papers, 1607-2007

Taxation
How can Virginia tax lists help me?


 * [1782-1830] Heinegg, Paul. "Greensville County Personal Property Tax List, 1782-1830," Free African Americans.com. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]
 * [1787] Schreiner-Yantis, Netti and Florene Speakman Love. The 1787 Census of Virginia: An Accounting of the Name of Every White Male Tithable Over 21 Years, the Number of White Males Between 16 &amp; 21 Years, the Number of Slaves over 16 &amp; Those Under 16 Years, Together with a Listing of Their Horses, Cattle &amp; Carriages, and Also the Names of All Persons to Whom Ordinary Licenses and Physician's Licenses Were Issued. 3 vols. Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987. . [The source of this publication is the 1787 personal property tax list. Greensville County is included in Vol. 1.]
 * [1788] Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1976):199-208. ; digital version at American Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Greensville County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on pp. 127-128.]
 * [1789, 1798] Indexed images of the 1789 and 1798 Personal Property Tax Lists of Greensville County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1800] Tax List, 1800, The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Apr. 1982); Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul. 1982)..
 * [1815] Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Ga.: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. . [The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Greensville County is included in Vol. 2.]

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Websites

 * Greensville Co., VAGenWeb. Part of the USGenWeb Project. Maps, name indexes, history.
 * Cyndi's List
 * LearningHow to Edit our Wiki Sites
 * Greensville County Family History Hall of Fame "May we preserve their memories &amp; Contributions!"
 * Contribute information on Historians &amp; Genealogist
 * Contribute information on Historians &amp; Genealogist