King William County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; King William County

Parent County
1700--King William County was created 5 December 1700 from King and Queen County. County seat: King William

Neighboring Counties

 * Caroline
 * Hanover
 * King and Queen
 * New Kent

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

1790 - Lost, but a subsitute is available, see Taxation.

1800 - Lost, but a subsitute is available, see Taxation.

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

Church

 * Mason, George Carrington. "The Colonial Churches of King and Queen and King William Counties, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Oct. 1943):440-464. Available at JSTOR ($).

Court

 * Ryland, Elizabeth Hawes. "King William County and Its Court House," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan. 1940):99-112. Available at JSTOR ($).

Family Histories

 * [Arnold] MacIvor, Hazel Arnold. Some Ancestors and Descendants of Benjamin Arnold, King William County, Virginia and Greenville, South Carolina. Lake Orion, Michigan: Arnold Family Association of the South, 1974. Available at FHL.
 * [Crane] Hockett, Thomas Jack. The Crane/Crain/Crayne Family of King William, King &amp; Queen, Pittsylvania, and Washington Counties, Virginia. St. David's, Pennsylvania: J. Hockett, 1993. Available at FHL.
 * [Davenport] Beekman, Jane Kyhl. Davenport of King William, Goochland, Cumberland and Halifax Counties, Virginia, North Carolina, and Elsewhere: With Allied Families of Boyd, DeJarnet, Kent and Terry. Muncie, Indiana: J.K. Beekman, 2006.
 * [Figg] Mudd, William Aubrey. Figg Family of King William County, Virginia. Richmond, Virginia: W.A. Mudd, Jr., 1981. Available at FHL.
 * [Fox] "Fox Family of King William County, Va.," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Apr. 1912):262-266. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Fox] Cocke, Ellen M. Some Fox Trails in Old Virginia: John Fox of King William County, Ancestors, Descendants, Near Kin. Richmond, Virginia: Dietz Press, 1939. Available at FHL; digital book at BYU Family History Archives.
 * [Hendrick] Hendrix, GeLee Corley. "Benjamin Hendrick (1730-1818) of Virginia and Carolina and Some of His Descendants: Research in 'Burned' Southern Counties," The American Genealogist, Vol. 65, No. 1 (Jan. 1990):44-53. Available at FHL.
 * [Johnson] Lee, Ida J. "Extracts from King William County Records," [Johnson Family] The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jan. 1926):74-78. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Kell(e)y] Kelley, Franlin Bradley. Kelley-Kelly of King William County, VA 1840-1900. MSS., Smithfield Branch of the Isle of Wight Library, Smithfield, Virginia, available at FHL.
 * [Lipscomb] Lee, Ida J. "King William County Records -- Lipscomb Family," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Apr. 1926):138-145. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Moore] "Col. Augustine Moore, of 'Chelsea,' King William Co., Va.," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Jul. 1908):49-53. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Neale] "King William County Records: Neale Family," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Oct. 1926):328-330. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Quarles] Lee, Ida J. "Extracts from King William County Records," [Quarles Family] The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jan. 1926):72-73. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Roane] Ryland, Elizabeth Hawes. "The Roanes of King and Queen and King William Counties," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Jul. 1938):286-290. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Taylor] Lee, Ida Johnson. "Taylor Family of King William Co., Va.," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan. 1934):48-55. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Waller] Riffe, Andrew Lewis. "The Wallers of Endfield, King William County, Virginia," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 59, No. 3 (Jul. 1951):337-352. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Waller] Riffe, Andrew Lewis. "The Wallers of Endfield, King William County, Virginia," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Oct. 1951):458-493. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Waller] Riffe, Andrew Lewis. "Correction: The Waller of Endfield, King William County, Virginia. Part I," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Oct. 1951):500. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Waring] Duesberry, Ethel F. A Genealogical Record of the Waring Family in the Counties of Essex and King William, Virginia. MSS., Virginia State Library, available at FHL.

Historic Residences

 * Clarke, Peyton Neale. Old King William Homes and Families. Louisville: J.P. Morton and Company, 1897. Digital book available at BYU Family History Archives and Google Books (full-view).
 * "Old Houses in King William County," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Oct. 1938), unpaginated. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * Ryland, Elizabeth Hawes. "Homes in King William County: Comments and Corrections," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Jan. 1939):120-121. Available at JSTOR ($).

Immigration

 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. "Intercepted Letters Relating to America, 1777-1811," The Genealogist, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Fall 2000):184-200. [Overseas contacts of residents of King William County with the following surname: Frazer.]
 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes wills of residents of St. John's Parish and King William County proved in London. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.]
 * [http://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=King&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 King George, King and Queen, and King William Counties, Virginia (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.

Land

 * "Extracts of King William County Records," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan. 1917):65-70; Vol. 25, No. 2 (Apr. 1917):174-179; Vol. 25, No. 3 (Jul. 1917):290-296. Available at JSTOR ($). [Remnants of destroyed deeds.]

Local Histories

 * Harris, Malcolm H. "'Delaware Town' and 'West Point' in King William County, Va.," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Oct. 1934):342-351. 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 King William County militia officers, soldier enlistments, and veterans; see place name index.]

Revolutionary War


 * Clerk, H. Randolph. "King William County Payments for Wives, Widows and Parents of Soldiers," [Revolutionary War] The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Apr. 1918):232-233. Available at JSTOR ($).

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 St. John's Parish and King William 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.


 * Lee, Ida J. "King William County Personal Tax List, 1782-1850," [some letter 'A' surnames] The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Apr. 1927):114-122. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * Lee, Ida J. "Land Taxed in King William County in 1782," [1782 Land Tax] The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Oct. 1926):326-328. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * Indexed images of the 1787 and 1797 Personal Property Tax Lists of King William County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * Indexed images of the 1787 and 1797 Land Tax Lists of King William County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * 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 list. King William County is included because the 1810 Census for that county has been destroyed.]
 * 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. King William County is included in Vol. 3.]

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