Henrico County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Henrico County

Parent County
1634--Henrico County was created in 1634 as an original shire or county.County seat: Richmond

Neighboring Counties

 * Charles City
 * Chesterfield
 * Goochland
 * Hanover
 * New Kent
 * Powhatan

Cemeteries

 * Chamberlayne, Churchill Gibson. "Inscriptions from Various Tombstones in Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Henrico and New Kent Counties, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Jan. 1900):178-183. Available at JSTOR ($).

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Richmond

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.

General


 * McCartney, Martha W. Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 2007. Available at FHL; purchase at Genealogical Publishing Company.

Bibliography


 * [Adams] Coleman, C.W. "Genealogy of the Adams Family of New Kent and Henrico Counties, Va.," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Jan. 1897):159-164. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Branch] Cabell, James Branch. "Thomas and William Branch of Henrico and Some of Their Descendants," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Oct. 1917):111-121. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Cocke] "The Cocke Family of Virginia (Henrico)," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Jul. 1897):71-89. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Cocke] Southall, James P. " Concerning the Origin of the Cockes of Henrico," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Jul. 1931):228-234. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Cocke] Southall, James P.C. "Concerning Cox and Cocke Families of Henrico," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 52, No. 3 (Jul. 1944):214-216. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Cox] See Cocke.
 * [Goode] Goode, George Brown. Virginia Cousins: A Study of the Ancestry and Posterity of John Goode of Whitby, a Virginia Colonist of the Seventeenth Century, with Notes Upon Related Families, a Key to Southern Genealogy and a History of the English Surname Gode, Goad, Goode or Good from 1148 to 1887. J.W. Randolph &amp; English, 1887. Digital book at Google Books (full-view).
 * [Hancock] Childs, J. Rives. "Hancock Family of Lower Norfolk, Henrico and Bedford Counties," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Oct. 1924):413-416. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [LaForce] Allen, Cameron. "Rene Massoneau LaForce of Henrico and Goochland Counties, Virginia," The Genealogist, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Fall 2004):162-193; Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring 2005):69-92; Vol. 19, No. 2 (Fall 2005):231-249; Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring 2006):112-127.
 * [Lygon] Boddie, John Bennett. "Lydon of Madresfield, Worcester, England, and Henrico, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Apr. 1936):289-315. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Morton] Allen, James Walter. "Morton Family of Henrico, Prince Edward and Brunswick Counties, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Jul. 1931):210-220. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Tanner] Torrence, William Clayton. "Early Generations of the Tanner Family of Henrico County, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Oct. 1916):87-95; Vol. 25, No. 3 (Jan. 1917):198-205. Available at JSTOR ($).

Immigration

 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes wills of residents of Henrico County proved in London. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.]
 * [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=Henrico&placeOfIndentureColony=Virginia&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 Henrico County, Virginia (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.
 * 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. Available at New England Ancestors ($). [Henrico Co., VA: Randolph, Webb.]
 * "Parkers of Browsholme, Yorkshire, England," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Apr. 1898):442-444. Available at JSTOR($). See also Sally Moore Koestler, "Dr. Richard Parker of Charles City," accessed 1 February 2010.

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Bannister. 322 patents dated 1636-1803 in what is now Henrico County, Virginia 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
Colonial Militia


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Henrico County militia officers and/or soldiers; see place name index.]
 * Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Colonial Militia 1651-1776. Baltimore: Southern Book Co., 1954. Available at FHL; digital book at Ancestry ($). [Identifies some Henrico County militia officers; see place name index.]

French and Indian War


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Henrico County militia officers, soldier enlistments, and veterans; see place name index.]
 * Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Colonial Militia 1651-1776. Baltimore: Southern Book Co., 1954. Available at FHL; digital book at Ancestry ($). [Identifies some Henrico County militia officers; 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.

Probate
London Courts


 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes wills of residents of Henrico County proved in London. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.]

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.


 * Indexed images of the 1790 and 1801 Personal Property Tax Lists of Henrico County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * Indexed images of the 1802 Land Tax List of Henrico County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * 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. Henrico County is included in Vol. 1.]

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