Dinwiddie County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Dinwiddie County



Parent County
1752--Dinwiddie County was created 27 February 1752 from Prince George County. County seat: Dinwiddie

Neighboring Counties

 * Amelia
 * Brunswick
 * Chesterfield
 * Greensville
 * Nottoway
 * Prince George
 * Sussex

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
Church of England


 * Chamberlayne, Churchill Gibson. Births from the Bristol Parish Register of Henrico, Prince George and Dinwiddie Counties, Virginia, 1720-1798. Richmond, Virginia: C.G. Chamberlayne, 1898. Two published transcripts available at FHL here and here; digital book at Ancestry ($).
 * Mason, George Carrington. "The Colonial Churches of Prince George and Dinwiddie Counties, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul. 1943):249-271. Available at JSTOR ($).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints


 * Petersburg LDS Ward and Branch Records

Court
Chancery Court


 * Indexes (1844-1954) and images (1844-1932) to Dinwiddie County, Virginia Chancery Records are available online through Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index. These records, often concerned with inheritance disputes, contain a wealth of genealogical information.

Remnants of County Court


 * "Records of Dinwiddie County," [1789, 1790] The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jan. 1915):214-218. Available at JSTOR ($).

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


 * [Briggs] Lancaster, Robert A. "Wales, Dinwiddie County, Virginia," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Jul. 1936):232-237. Available at JSTOR ($). [Residence of the Briggs family.]
 * [Goodwin] Goodwin, John S. The Goodwin Families in America. Whittet &amp; Shepperson, 1897. 1969 reprint available at FHL. 1990s supplement also available at FHL.
 * [Goodwin] "Appendix K: The Goodwyns of Dinwiddie County, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 2, Supplement (Oct. 1897):104-114. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Goodwin] "Appendix K: The Goodwyns of Dinwiddie County, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2, Supplement (Oct. 1899):19-22. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Goodwin] "Additional Notes on the Goodwyns and Goodwins of Dinwiddie Co., Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2, Supplement (Oct. 1899):140-142. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Goodwin] "Dinwiddie Co., Va., Richland Orangeburg Districts, S. C., Goodwyns," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2, Supplement (Oct. 1899):26-37. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Goodwin] "The Goodwins of Dinwiddie Co., Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2, Supplement (Oct. 1899):135-138. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Rives] Rives, Jno. R. T. Green Rives of Dinwiddie County, Virginia and Lincoln County, Tennessee and His Descendants. Birmingham, Ala.: Printed by A.H. Cather Pub. Co., 1958. Digital version at Ancestry ($).

Immigration

 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes will of a resident of Bristol Parish 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=Dinwiddie&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 Dinwiddie County, Virginia (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.

Historic Residences

 * [Pride's Tavern] "Inventory of Halcott Pride's Estate in Dinwiddie County," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Apr. 1938):219-226. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * Lancaster, Robert A. "Wales, Dinwiddie County, Virginia," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Jul. 1936):232-237. Available at JSTOR ($). [Residence of the Briggs family.]

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Hudgins. 818 patents dated 1653-1785 in what is now Dinwiddie County, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper, 2003. [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

 * Dinwiddie County: The Countrey of Apamatica. Richmond, Virginia: Whittet &amp; Shepperson, 1942. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($). Reviewed by Chas. Edgar Gilliam in The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Apr. 1943):228-230. Review available at JSTOR ($).

Military
French and Indian War


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Westmoreland County militia officers, soldier enlistments, and 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.

Probate
Sussex County, Virginia Court


 * "Inventory of Halcott Pride's Estate in Dinwiddie County," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Apr. 1938):219-226. Available at JSTOR ($).

London Courts


 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes will of a resident of Bristol Parish 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.


 * "Personal Property List Dinwiddie County, 1782," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Oct. 1917):96-106; Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jan. 1918):196-201; Vol. 26, No. 4 (Apr. 1918):250-258. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * Indexed images of the 1790 and 1800 Personal Property Tax Lists of Dinwiddie County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * Indexed images of the 1790 and 1799 Land Tax Lists of Dinwiddie 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. Dinwiddie County is included in Vol. 1.]

Vital Records
Birth


 * Chamberlayne, Churchill Gibson. Births from the Bristol Parish Register of Henrico, Prince George, and Dinwiddie Counties, Virginia, 1720-1798. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996. Digital version 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