Caroline County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Caroline County



Parent County
1727--Caroline County was created 1 February 1727 from Essex, King and Queen, and King William Counties. County seat: Bowling Green

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

The following is a list of cemeteries in Caroline County:

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.]

Court
Chancery Court


 * Indexed images of Caroline County, Virginia Chancery Records 1787-1849 are available online through Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index. Additional records are available at the Caroline County Courthouse. These records, often concerned with inheritance disputes, contain a wealth of genealogical information.
 * Reddy, Anne Waller. Suit -- Brown vs. Brown: Chancery Court Records in Caroline County, Virginia. 1950?. MSS., available at FHL. [Rene (René, Rainey, or Renney) Parsons Brown of Caroline County was sued by John Brown of Franklin County.]

District Court of Fredericksburg

The District Court of Fredericksburg and later the Superior Court of Chancery had jurisdiction over certain Caroline County court cases. An index has been compiled:


 * Indexes of Court Records in the Clerk's Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1782-1904. Original records, Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Va., microfilmed reproduction available at FHL. [Indexes the following records: District Court law book v. 8, 1782-1792; District Court law books 1790-1793, v. A-F 1789-1811; Superior Court of Law law order books v. G-H 1812-1831; Superior Court of Chancery chancery order books 1814-1831; Hustings Court orders v. A-O 1782-1871; Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery law order books v. A-E 1831-1875; Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery chancery order books v. A-D 1831-1872; Circuit Court chancery order books v. A2, B-C 1875-1904; Fredericksburg District Court (1789-1808) had jurisdiction over the following counties: Spotsylvania (including Fredericksburg), Caroline, King George, Stafford, Orange, and Culpeper; Superior Court of Chancery (1802-1831) had jurisdiction over the following localities: city of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, Culpeper, Fauquier, Fairfax, Lancaster, Northumberland, Madison, King George, Orange, Prince William, Richmond, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Essex, and Westmoreland.]

Superior Court of Chancery

See District Court of Fredericksburg

Family Histories
It is anticipated that this bibliography will eventually identify all known family histories published about residents of this county. In addition to finding a direct ancestor’s surname listed, and watching to see if more recent publications make additions and corrections to earlier works, this list is also useful for determining if genealogists have published accounts, to quote Elizabeth Shown Mills, for any members of an ancestor’s “FAN Club” [Family, Associates, and Neighbors]. Checking publications about those individuals can lead you to new information about your own ancestry. Be mindful that compiled genealogies may contain errors.

Bibliography


 * [Barlow] Barlow, Gordon. The Barlow Family in Caroline County, Virginia: England to America (1503-2004). Swoope, Virginia: G.K. Barlow, 2004. Available at FHL.
 * [Blackburn] Gahn, Bessie Wilmarth. Blackburn Family in Records of Essex and Caroline Counties, Virginia. MSS., National Library of the Daughters of the America Revolution, Washington, D.C., 1950, available at FHL.
 * [Campbell] Ledgerwood, Marian Carter and Fanna Julia Campbell Spicer. Ancestors and Descendants of William Hugh Campbell of Caroline County, Virginia and Washington County, Arkansas. Hot Springs Village, Arkansas: M.C. Ledgerwood, 1999. Available at FHL; digital version at BYU Family History Archives.
 * [Coleman] Reddy, A.W. Coleman Family from Caroline County, Virginia, Order Books. MSS., available at FHL.
 * [Collins] Collins, Herbert R. History and Genealogy of the Collins Family of Caroline County, Va. and Related Families 1569-1954. Richmond, Virginia: Dietz Press, Inc., 1954. Available at FHL.
 * [Crutcher] Thayer, Beatrice Darby. Samuel E. Crutcher, Son of William Crutcher, Caroline County, Virginia. Manhattan, Kansas: B.D. Thayer, 1980. Available at FHL.
 * [Dickerson] See Sizer.
 * [Farish] Key, Marcus M., F. Paul Farish, and John Frederick Dorman. "Notes on Stevens Farish of 'North Point,' Caroline Co., Va.," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1975):23-29. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors($).
 * [Farish] Key, Marcus M. "Further Notes on Stevens Farish of 'North Point,' Caroline Co., Va.," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1976):49-50. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors($).
 * [Garnett] Garnett, Douglas Acree. Garnett Family, Ancestors &amp; Descendants of Joseph B. Garnett Sr. (1849-1931): Involving Gloucester, Essex, Caroline and King &amp; Queen Counties, Virginia. Chesterfield, Virginia: D. Garnett, 2000. Available at FHL; digital version at BYU Family History Archives.
 * [Garrett] Garrett, Harry Lee. Garrett History: History of the Garrett Family of Essex and Caroline Counties of Virginia Beginning with William Garrett, Born 1752, Soldier in the American Revolution, Died July 11, 1825. 1962. Available at FHL.
 * [Hawes] Ryland, Elizabeth Hawes. Hawes Family of Caroline County, Virginia. Arlington, Va.: Thomas Nelson Chapter, DAR, n.d. Available at FHL.
 * [Herndon] Shields, Ruth Herndon and John Goodwin Herndon. The Descendants of William and Sarah (Poe) Herndon, of Caroline County, Va. and Chatham County, N.C. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: R.H. Shields, 1956. Available at FHL.
 * [Meador] Nunnally, Perkins. The Descendants of Jonas and Frances Meador of Essex, Caroline and Cumberland Counties, Virginia. Pine Bluff, Arkansas: P. Nunnally, 1968. Available at FHL.
 * [Meador] Meador, Victor P. Our Meador Families in Colonial America: As Found in the Records of Isle of Wight, Lancaster, (Old) Rappahannock, Richmond, Essex and Caroline Counties, Virginia. Independence, Missouri: V.P. Meador, 1983. Available at FHL.
 * [Newman] Boogher, William F. Gleanings of Virginia History: An Historical and Genealogical Collection, Largely from Original Sources. Washington: n.p., 1903. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books. [Includes a chapter titled "Genealogy of the Newman Family, 1618-1900," see Table of Contents; discusses Newmans of Caroline County.]
 * [Sale] Morris, Clyde L. Our Virginia Ancestors: Morris Family-Spotsylvania County, Duerson Family-Spotsylvania County, Sale Family-Caroline County, Thomas Family-Caroline County and Others Hockaday, Brock, Black, Long, Carneal. Fairfax, Virginia: C.L. Morris, 1988. Available at FHL.
 * [Shipp] Sanders, Walter R. The Shipp Genealogy from Essex, Caroline, Faquier Counties, Virginia, to Green, Taylor, Woodford, Jefferson, Fayette, Christian, Bourgon, Scott, Owen, Counties, Kentucky, and Johnson Counties, Indiana. 1946. Available at FHL.
 * [Sizer] Mundin, Lewis Howard. A Genealogy of the Sizer and Dickerson Families of Caroline County, Virginia. Richmond, Virginia: L.H. Mundin, 1982. Available at FHL.
 * [Sutton] Sutton, T. Dix. The Suttons of Caroline County, Virginia. Richmond, Va.: Richmond Press, 1941. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($).
 * [Thomas] See Sale.
 * [Todd] Rubey, Ann McKinney Todd, Florence Isabelle Stacy, and Herbert Ridgeway Collins. Speaking of Families--the Tod(d)s of Caroline County, Virginia and Their Kin. Columbia, Missouri: Artcraft Press, 1960. Available at FHL.
 * [Yates] Newman, Harry Wright. Yates Family of Caroline County, Virginia. MSS., available at FHL.

Immigration

 * [http://www.immigrantservants.com/search/advancedResults.php?surname=&givenName=&varientSurnameSpellings=&gender=&dateOfBirthDay=&dateOfBirthMonth=&dateOfBirthQuantifier=&dateOfBirthYear=&placeOfBirthParish=&placeOfBirthTown=&placeOfBirthCity=&placeOfBirthCounty=&placeOfBirthColony=&placeOfBirthNation=&occupations=&religions=&orphan=&familyPosition=&immigrationYearQualifier=&immigrationYear=&portOfDepartureTown=&portOfDepartureCity=&portOfDepartureCounty=&portOfDepartureNation=&placeOfArrivalTown=&placeOfArrivalCounty=&placeOfArrivalColony=&shipName=&convict=&yearOfIndentureQualifier=&yearOfIndenture=&lengthOfIndentureYears=&lengthOfIndentureMonths=&yearOfFreedomQualifier=&yearOfFreedom=&placeOfIndentureTown=&placeOfIndentureCity=&placeOfIndentureCounty=Caroline&placeOfIndentureColony=&agentSurname=&agentGivenName=&agentTitle=&masterSurname=&masterGivenName=&masterTitle=&residenceParish=&residenceTown=&residenceCity=&residenceCounty=&residenceColony=&residenceNation=&landowner=&literate=&spouseSurname=&spouseGivenName=&spouseMarriageDateDay=&spouseMarriageDateMonth=&spouseMarriageDateQualifier=&spouseMarriageDateYear=&spouseMarriageLocationParish=&spouseMarriageLocationCounty=&spouseMarriageLocationColony=&spouseMarriageLocationNation=&deathDateDay=&deathDateMonth=&deathDateQualifier=&deathDateYear=&deathLocality=&deathCounty=&deathColony=&deathState=&testate=&proofServantStatus=&proofConvictStatus=&headright=&preServitudeSources=&postServitudeSources=&comments=&family=&sourceCitations=&interestedResearchers= List of imported servants and transported convicts from Europe] who served labor terms in Colonial Caroline County, Virginia (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.

Land
Surveys


 * Sparacio, Ruth Trickey and Sam Sparacio. Caroline County, Virginia County Surveys, 1729-1762, and Proceedings of Committee of Safety, 1774-1776. McLean, Virginia: Antient Press, 1997. Available at FHL.

Grants and Patents


 * Hudgins. 371 patents dated 1650-1752 in what is now Caroline County, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper. [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

 * Wingfield, Marshall. A History of Caroline County: From Its Formation in 1727 to 1924. Richmond, Va.: Press of Trevvet Christian &amp; Co., 1924. 1975 reprint available at FHL [2 copies]; digital version at Ancestry ($). Reviewed in The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1970):89. Review available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors($).

Migration

 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1976):29-34; Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1977):113-118. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Some of Caroline County's 1789 Delinquent Lists appear on 20:29; 1787-1789 Delinquent Lists appear on 21:116-117.]

Military
French and Indian War


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Caroline County militia officers, soldier enlistments, and veterans; see place name index.]
 * Boogher, William F. Gleanings of Virginia History: An Historical and Genealogical Collection, Largely from Original Sources. Washington: n.p., 1903. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books. [Includes a chapter titled "Legislative Enactments connecting the preceding historic sketch [French and Indian War, Lord Dunmore's War] with the adjudication of the resulting accounts that follow; with the list of officers, soldiers and civilians entitled to compensation for military and other services rendered." For Caroline County, see p. 69.]

Revolutionary War


 * Proceedings of the Committees of Safety of Caroline and Southampton Counties, Virginia, 1774-1776. Richmond, Virginia: Division of Purchase and Printing, 1929. Available at FHL.
 * Sparacio, Ruth Trickey and Sam Sparacio. Caroline County, Virginia County Surveys, 1729-1762, and Proceedings of Committee of Safety, 1774-1776. McLean, Virginia: Antient Press, 1997. Available at FHL.

Newspapers
Indexed images of the Virginia Gazette(1736-1780) are available online through the Colonial Williamsburgwebsite. 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.

Private Papers

 * [Campbell] Major, Mrs. Nettie Leitch. "Campbell Family Bible, Caroline County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1979):117-118. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors($).

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Caroline County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1963):30-33. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors($).
 * Davis, Virginia Lee Hutcheson. "Research Opportunities in Caroline County," The Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter, Vol. 18, No. 3 (May-June 1992):1-3. Available at FHL; digital version at Virginia Genealogical Society website.

Taxation
At first glance, researchers might conclude that Virginia tax lists contain very little family history data, though one soon learns that valuable genealogical conclusions can be drawn from these records, nicknamed "annual censuses," such as: relationships, approximate years of birth, socio-economic status, identification of neighbors, the ability to distinguish between persons of the same name, evidence of land inheritance, years of migration, and years of death.

Virginia began enumerating residents' payments of personal property and land taxes in 1782. These two types of taxation were recorded in separate registers. Personal property tax lists include more names than land tax lists, because they caught more of the population. The Family History Library has an excellent microfilm collection of personal property tax lists from 1782 (or the year the county was organized) well into the late nineteenth century for most counties, but only scattered land tax lists. Microfilm collections at The Library of Virginia include land tax lists for all counties and independent cities for the years 1782 through 1978, as well as personal property tax lists for the years 1782 through 1930 (and every fifth year thereafter). Taxes were not collected in 1808.

Some tax records are available online or in print, though published abstracts often omit useful details found only in the original sources. Statewide indexes can help genealogists identify specific counties where surnames occurred in the past, providing starting points for research.


 * [1783] "Caroline County Personal Property List, 1783," William and Mary College Quarterly, 1st Series, Vol. 27 (1919):154-163. Available at FHL; reprinted in Virginia Tax Records. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983, which is also available at FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * [1783] Fothergill, Augusta B. and John Mark Naugle. Virginia Tax Payers, 1782-87, Other Than Those Published by the United States Census Bureau. 1940; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1978. Available at FHL. [1783 personal property tax list of Caroline County.]
 * [1787] Schreiner-Yantis, Netti and Florene Speakman Love. The 1787 Census of Virginia: An Accounting of the Name of Every White Male Tithable Over 21 Years, the Number of White Males Between 16 &amp; 21 Years, the Number of Slaves over 16 &amp; Those Under 16 Years, Together with a Listing of Their Horses, Cattle &amp; Carriages, and Also the Names of All Persons to Whom Ordinary Licenses and Physician's Licenses Were Issued. 3 vols. Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987. Available at FHL. [The source of this publication is the 1787 personal property tax list. Caroline County is included in Vol. 1.]
 * [1787-1789] Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1976):29-34; Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1977):113-118. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Some of Caroline County's 1789 Delinquent Lists appear on 20:29; 1787-1789 Delinquent Lists appear on 21:116-117.]
 * [1789, 1799] Indexed images of the 1789 and 1799 Personal Property Tax Lists of Caroline County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1789, 1799] Indexed images of the 1789 and 1799 Land Tax Lists of Caroline County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1800] "Caroline County, Virginia, 1800 Tax List," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1970):82-87; Vol. 14, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1970):112-116; Vol. 14, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1970):155-159. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors($).
 * [1815] Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. Available at FHL. [The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Caroline County is included in Vol. 3.]

Vital Records
Birth

Beth Fridley has published the following indexes online at Ancestry:


 * Caroline County, Virginia Births, 1859-68 (Except 1863). Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Caroline County, Virginia Births, 1870-1880. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Caroline County, Virginia Births, 1881-96. Available at Ancestry ($).

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