Tazewell County, Virginia Genealogy

United States   Virginia    Tazewell County

Southwest Virginia county.





History


The county is named after Henry Tazewell (1753-1799), a Revolutionary War Captain and Virginia politician.

Parent County
1799--Tazewell County was created 17 December 1799 from Russell and Wythe Counties. County seat: Tazewell

Record Loss

 * Lost censuses: 1800, 1810, 1890

Biography

 * Brock, R.A. Virginia and Virginians: Tazewell County: Eminent Virginians, 1606-1888. Richmond, Virginia: H.H. Hardesty, 1888. 1998 reprint available at FHL. Online index is available.

Census
For tips on accessing census records online, see Virginia Census.

1790 - Lost.

1800 - Lost.

1810 - Lost, but a subsitute is available, see Taxation.

1840


 * Douthat, James L. 1840 Mountain Empire of Virginia Census. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 2001. 975.5 X2d 1840. Free online surname index and purchase details at Mountain Press website. [Includes Tazewell County.]

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 to Tazewell County, Virginia Chancery Records 1800-1920 are available online through Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index. These records, which were often concerned with inheritance disputes, contain a wealth of genealogical information.

County Court


 * "Tazewell County, Virginia, Order Book 1800-1810, Selected Entries," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1971):61-70; Vol. 15, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1971):121. Available at New England Ancestors ($). [Project cancelled once it was learned that Netti Schreiner-Yantis was preparing to publish a complete transcript of this order book.]

Genealogy
More than 20 genealogies have been published about Tazewell County families. To view a list, visit Tazewell County, Virginia Genealogy.

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Anderson. 699 patents dated 1782-1912 in what is now Russell and Tazewell Counties, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper. 2007. [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.]
 * Sims, Edgar Barr. Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia. [Springfield, Virginia]: Genealogical Books in Print, c1992. Available at FHL. [Includes Tazewell County, Virginia.]

Local Histories

 * Bickley, George W.L. and J. Allen Neal. History of the Settlement and Indian Wars of Tazewell County, Virginia. Parsons, West Virginia: McClain Print. Co., 1974. Available at FHL.
 * Bundy, Nellie White. Sketches of Tazewell County, Virginia's Early History. Virginia?: Historic Crab Orchard Museum, 1976. Available at FHL.
 * Fulk, Marie Rabbitt. History of Tazewell County, Illinois: Together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Biographies, History of Illinois. 1879; reprint, Evansville, Indiana: Unigraphic, 1975. Available at FHL.
 * Harman, John Newton. Annals of Tazewell County, Virginia from 1800 to 1922 in Two Volumes. Richmond: W.C. Hill Print. Co., 1922-1925. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Pendleton, William C. History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia, 1748-1920. Richmond, Virginia: W.C. Hill Printing Co., 1920. Available at FHL; digital versions available at Ancestry ($) and Google Books (full-view).

Revolutionary War

 * Kegley, Mary B. Revolutionary War Pension Applications of Southwest Virginia Soldiers. n.p.: M.B. Kegley, 1997. [Includes Tazewell County pensioners.]
 * 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 versions at U.S. Census Bureau and Google Books et. al. 1967 reprint: 973 X2pc 1840. [See Virginia, Western District, Tazewell County on page 136.]
 * 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." 973 M24ur; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes veterans from this county; Virginia section begins on page 238.]

War of 1812

 * 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. 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. [See Vol. 5, Virginia, Tazewell County, p. 106. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.]

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.

Occupations

 * Stevenson, John J. "Notes on the Quinnimont Coal Group in Mercer Co. of West Virginia and Tazewell Co. of Virginia Notes on the Quinnimont Coal Group in Mercer Co. of West Virginia and Tazewell Co. of Virginia," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 19, No. 109 (Jun.-Dec. 1881):498-505. Available at JSTOR ($).

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Tazewell County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1979):218-220. Available at New England Ancestors ($).

Taxation
How can Virginia tax lists help me?


 * [1802] Weaver, Jeffrey C. The 1802 Tazewell County, Virginia Personal Property Tax List, available online, courtesy: New River Notes.
 * [1810] Schreiner-Yates, Netti. A Supplement to the 1810 Census of Virginia: Tax Lists of the Counties for which the Census is Missing. Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1971. Available at FHL. [The source for this publication is the 1810 personal property tax lists. Tazewell County is included because the 1810 Census for that county has been destroyed.]
 * [1810] Tazewell County, Virginia, 1810 [Personal Property] Tax List. [Signal Mountain, Tennessee?: Mountain Press?, n.d.] Available at FHL.
 * [1810] Tax list, 1810, Southwest Virginian. Norton VA: Feb 1981. Vol. 4 Iss. 19.
 * [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. Tazewell County is included in Vol. 5.]

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
 * RootsWeb Mailing List: SW_VA-L (Topic: Southwest Virginia)