Buckingham County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Buckingham County



Parent County
1758--Buckingham County was created 14 September 1758 from Albemarle County. County seat: Buckingham

Record Loss
County court records were destroyed by fire in 1869. Only one plat book survived the fire and some wills and deeds were recorded later.

Neighboring Counties

 * Albemarle
 * Appomattox


 * Cumberland
 * Fluvanna
 * Nelson
 * Prince Edward

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

The following is a list of cemeteries in Buckingham County:

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

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Bannister. 778 patents dated 1723-1842 in what is now Buckingham County, Virginia Patents 1723-1842 placed on a map. DeedMapper, 2002. [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.]

Military
French and Indian War


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Buckingham County veterans; see place name index.]

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

 * Moore, Caroline Tiedeman. "Payne Family Bible, Buckingham County, Virginia, and Micapony, Florida," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1974):304. Available at New England Ancestors ($).
 * Stinson, Hubert M. "Harris-Stinson-Carter-Wood-Branch Bible Record, Buckingham County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1980):41-43. Available at New England Ancestors ($).

Probate
Local Court


 * King, George Harrison Sanford. "Will of Joseph Cabell, Buckingham County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1971):298-302. Available at New England Ancestors ($).

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Buckingham County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1962):121-124. Available at New England Ancestors ($).

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.
 * Woodson, Robert F. and Isobel B. Woodson. Virginia Tithables from Burned Record Counties: Buckingham, 1773-1774; Gloucester, 1770-1771, 1774-1775; Hanover, 1763 and 1770; James City, 1768-1769; Stafford, 1768 and 1773. Richmond, Virginia: I.B. Woodson, 1970. Available at FHL.
 * Indexed images of the 1788 and 1800 Personal Property Tax Lists of Buckingham County, Virginia are available online at Binns Genealogy.
 * "Buckingham County, Virginia 1800 Tax List," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1968):114-118; Vol. 12, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1968):162-168; Vol. 13, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1969):23-27. Available at New England Ancestors ($).
 * 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. Buckingham County is included in Vol. 1.]

Vital Records
Marriage


 * Lindsay, Mrs. James R. "Buckingham County Virginia Marriage Bonds, 1784-1794" (Only known marriage records during this period), Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 2 (April 1963):13-14.

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

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