Stafford County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Stafford County



History


The county is named after the English county of Staffordshire.

Parent County
1666--Stafford County was created 5 June 1666 from Westmoreland County. County seat: Stafford

Neighboring Counties

 * Caroline
 * Charles County, Maryland
 * Culpeper
 * Fauquier
 * King George
 * Prince William
 * Spotsylvania

Census
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.]

Church
Catholic


 * Downing, Margaret Brent. "The Old Catholic Chapel and Graveyard near Aquia, Stafford County, Va.," The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Jan. 1925):561-563. Available at JSTOR ($).

Church of England


 * "Extracts from the Register of St. Paul's Parish, Stafford (Now King George) County, Virginia," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Apr. 1901):360-366. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * Nicklin, John Bailey Calvert. "Data from the Register of St. Paul's Parish, King George (Formerly Stafford) County, Virginia, 1716-1793," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Jan. 1933):28-33. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * O'Brien, Michael J. "Virginia, Stafford County, Overwharton Parish - Extracts from the Registers of the Protestant Episcopal Church of, from 1720 to 1758, Transcribed by Mr. Powhattan Moncure, Custodian of the Records," The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, Vol. 12 (1913):156-161. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books (full-view). [O'Brien attempts to identify Irish surnames in this Church of England parish register.]

Court
General


 * Waterman, Thomas T. "The Old Court House Buildings, Stafford County, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Apr. 1936):247. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * Waterman, Thomas T. "The Old Buildings at Stafford Court House," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct. 1936):587-588. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * Happel, Ralph. "Stafford and King George Courthouses and the Fate of Marlborough, Port of Entry," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Apr. 1958):183-194. Available at JSTOR ($).

County Court


 * "Notes from the Records of Stafford County, Virginia, Order Books," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Jul. 1936):191-206; Vol. 44, No. 4 (Oct. 1936):296-311; Vol. 45, No. 1 (Jan. 1937):11-28; Vol. 45, No. 2 (Apr. 1937):171-188; Vol. 45, No. 3 (Jul. 1937):243-259; Vol. 45, No. 4 (Oct. 1937):367-382; Vol. 46, No. 1 (Jan. 1938):20-33; Vol. 46, No. 2 (Apr. 1938):126-134; Vol. 46, No. 3 (Jul. 1938):222-230; Vol. 46, No. 4 (Oct. 1938):316-320; Vol. 47, No. 1 (Jan. 1939):22-26; Vol. 47, No. 2 (Apr. 1939):126-132; Vol. 47, No. 3 (Jul. 1939):248-252; Vol. 47, No. 4 (Oct. 1939):335-348. Available at JSTOR ($).

District Court of Fredericksburg

The District Court of Fredericksburg and later the Superior Court of Chancery had jurisdiction over certain Stafford County court cases. An index has been compiled:


 * Indexes of Court Records in the Clerk's Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1782-1904. Original records, Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Va., microfilmed reproduction available at FHL. [Indexes the following records: District Court law book v. 8, 1782-1792; District Court law books 1790-1793, v. A-F 1789-1811; Superior Court of Law law order books v. G-H 1812-1831; Superior Court of Chancery chancery order books 1814-1831; Hustings Court orders v. A-O 1782-1871; Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery law order books v. A-E 1831-1875; Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery chancery order books v. A-D 1831-1872; Circuit Court chancery order books v. A2, B-C 1875-1904; Fredericksburg District Court (1789-1808) had jurisdiction over the following counties: Spotsylvania (including Fredericksburg), Caroline, King George, Stafford, Orange, and Culpeper; Superior Court of Chancery (1802-1831) had jurisdiction over the following localities: city of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, Culpeper, Fauquier, Fairfax, Lancaster, Northumberland, Madison, King George, Orange, Prince William, Richmond, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Essex, and Westmoreland.]

Superior Court of Chancery

See District Court of Fredericksburg

DNA
DNA has been collected for purported descendants of the following Stafford County, Virginia residents. Attempts have not been made to verify the lineages of those tested.


 * [Harrison] Descendant of Burr Harrison, b. 1637 St. Margaret's Parish, Westminster, Middlesex, England, d. 1697 Westmoreland County, Virginia. Y-DNA 37 Marker Test, FTDNA (labelled H-63, Lineage 22). Genetic signature available online, courtesy: The Harrison DNA Project, World Families Network. [Ancestor of many Harrison families of Northern Neck and neighboring counties, including: Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford.]
 * [Wilkerson] Descendant of John Wilkerson, b. c1715 of Stafford County, Virginia. Y-DNA 67 Marker Test, FTDNA (Kit 103754). Genetic signature available online (labelled W-9), courtesy: The Wilkerson DNA Project, World Families Network.

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


 * [Ball] Hill, Ronald A. "Ball Family Migration: Virginia to Kentucky, 1784," The American Genealogist, Vol. 78, No. 2 (April 2003):103-114.
 * [Brent] Palmer, Lucy Jane Brent. "Charles Brent of Stafford County, Virginia, and Some of His Descendants," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Apr. 1926):180-183; Vol. 34, No. 3 (Jul. 1926):280-285; Vol. 34, No. 4 (Oct. 1926):378-384.
 * [Combs] Combs, Josiah. "The Ancestry of Joseph Combs, of Stafford," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Oct. 1946):341-343. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Combs] "Corrections: The Ancestry of Joseph Combs, of Stafford," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Jan. 1947):97. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Dilley] Jones, Thomas W. "Dilley of Northern Virginia and Ohio: A Proposed Solution Hanging on a Single Word," The American Genealogist, Vol. 79, No. 3 (Jul. 2004):220-227.
 * [Fitzhugh] "Will of William Fitzhugh, and Other Extracts from the Records of Stafford County," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jan. 1895):276-280. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Mercer] Garnett, James Mercer. Genealogy of the Mercer-Garnett Family of Essex County, Virginia, Supposed to be Descended from the Garnetts of Lancashire, England... Richmond, Virginia: Whittet &amp; Shepperson, 1910. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books (full-view).
 * [Rousseau] Rousseau, Marilyn K. "The Colonial Virginia Ancestry of a Pioneer Florida Family: William H. Rousseau (1818-1870), Florida House of Representatives 1852, Florida State Senate 1865," The American Genealogist, Vol. 79, No. 3 (Jul. 2004):184-198.
 * [Simms] Hall, William K. and Wilma Chappell. The Simms Family of Stafford County, Virginia. St. Louis, Missouri, 1969. Reviewed in The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1970):91. Review is available at New England Ancestors ($).
 * [Starke] "Starke Family of Stafford County," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Apr. 1897):255-256. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Washington] "William Washington of Stafford County, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Oct. 1906):132-134. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [Withers] "The Withers Family. Of Stafford, Fauquier, &amp;c.," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Jan. 1899):309-313; Vol. 6, No. 4 (Apr. 1899):425-427. Available at JSTOR ($).

Guides

 * King, George H.S. "A Survey of Stafford County Records [1792]," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Jul. 1945):215-218. Available at JSTOR ($).

Historic Residences

 * Goolrick, John T. Old Homes and History Around Fredericksburg: The Northern Neck and the Southside, Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties and Battle Sketches. Richmond: Garrett &amp; Massie, c1929. Available at FHL; digital versions at Ancestry ($) and BYU Family History Archives.

Immigration

 * Boogher, William F. Gleanings of Virginia History: An Historical and Genealogical Collection, Largely from Original Sources. Washington: n.p., 1903. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books. [List of immigrants, 1707, sailed to Virginia under Capt. James Gaugh on the Ship Joseph and Thomas from Bristol, England, see p. 8.]
 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes wills of residents of Stafford 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=Stafford&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 Stafford County, Virginia (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.
 * O'Brien, Michael J. "Virginia, Stafford County, Overwharton Parish - Extracts from the Registers of the Protestant Episcopal Church of, from 1720 to 1758, Transcribed by Mr. Powhattan Moncure, Custodian of the Records," The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, Vol. 12 (1913):156-161. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books (full-view). [O'Brien attempts to identify Irish surnames in this Church of England parish register.]

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Davey. 253 patents dated 1651-1911 in what is now Fairfax, Fauquier, Northumberland, Prince William, Stafford, and Westmoreland Counties, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper. [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, which is "Nova" in this instance); however, in order to view the maps, it is necessary to purchase Direct Line Software's DeedMapper product.]
 * Gray, Gertrude E. Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants 1694-1742. Vol. I. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1987. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry. [Includes Stafford County.]
 * Gray, Gertrude E. Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1742-1775. Vol. II. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes Stafford County.]
 * Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants 1623-1666. Vol. I (1934; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1991). Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes Stafford County. N.B. If Ancestry's search engine fails, try checking the printed index at the end of the book.]

Migration

 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1977):49-53. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Stafford County's 1787 Delinquent List appears on p. 53.]

Military
Colonial Militia


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Stafford 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 Stafford 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 Stafford County militia officers, soldier enlistments, and veterans; see place name index.]
 * Boogher, William F. Gleanings of Virginia History: An Historical and Genealogical Collection, Largely from Original Sources. Washington: n.p., 1903. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books. [Includes a chapter titled "Legislative Enactments connecting the preceding historic sketch [French and Indian War, Lord Dunmore's War] with the adjudication of the resulting accounts that follow; with the list of officers, soldiers and civilians entitled to compensation for military and other services rendered." For Stafford County, see pp. 101-102.]
 * Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Colonial Militia 1651-1776. Baltimore: Southern Book Co., 1954. Available at FHL; digital book at Ancestry ($). [Identifies some Stafford 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.

Occupations

 * Cutten, George Barton. The Silversmiths of Virginia (Together with Watchmakers and Jewelers) from 1694 to 1850. Richmond, Va.: The Dietz Press, Incorporated, 1952. Available at FHL. [Includes sections on Falmouth and Stafford County silversmiths.]

Private Papers

 * King, George Harrison Sanford. "Notes from the Journal of John Mercer, Esquire, (1704/5-1768) of Marlborough, Stafford County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1960):99-110; Vol. 4, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1960):153-162. Available at New England Ancestors ($).

Probate
Local Court


 * Hopkins, William Lindsay. Some Wills from the Burned Counties of Virginia and Other Wills Not Listed in Virginia Wills and Administrations 1632-1800. Richmond, Virginia: W.L. Hopkins, 1987. Available at FHL. [Includes Stafford County.]
 * King, George Harrison Sanford. "Will of Andrew Edwards, Stafford County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1972):307-310. Available at New England Ancestors ($).
 * Nicklen, John Bailey Calvert. "A Missing Will Book of Stafford County and Its Contents," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Jan. 1949):67-75. Available at JSTOR ($).

London Courts


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

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Stafford County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1979):55-57. 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.


 * [1723-1790] Vogt, John and T. William Kethley. Stafford County, Virginia Tithables: Quit Rent, Personal Property Taxes and Related Lists and Petitions, 1723-1790 in Two Volumes. 2 vols. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Pub. Co., 1990. Available at FHL.
 * [1742] Quit roll, circa 1742, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. Richmond VA: Nov 1989. Vol. 27 Iss. 4.
 * [1746-1749] A List of the Rents Belonging to the Estate of Capt. William Brent, Dece[ase]d Virginia, y[ea]rs 1746-1749, in Milnor Ljungstedt, "Some Stafford Records," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jul. 1922):183. Available at JSTOR ($).
 * [1768, 1773] Woodson, Robert F. and Isobel B. Woodson. Virginia Tithables from Burned Record Counties: Buckingham, 1773-1774; Gloucester, 1770-1771, 1774-1775; Hanover, 1763 and 1770; James City, 1768-1769; Stafford, 1768 and 1773. Richmond, Virginia: I.B. Woodson, 1970. Available at FHL.
 * [1787] Schreiner-Yantis, Netti and Florene Speakman Love. The 1787 Census of Virginia: An Accounting of the Name of Every White Male Tithable Over 21 Years, the Number of White Males Between 16 &amp; 21 Years, the Number of Slaves over 16 &amp; Those Under 16 Years, Together with a Listing of Their Horses, Cattle &amp; Carriages, and Also the Names of All Persons to Whom Ordinary Licenses and Physician's Licenses Were Issued. 3 vols. Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987. Available at FHL. [The source of this publication is the 1787 personal property tax list. Stafford County is included in Vol. 2.]
 * [1787] Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1977):49-53. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Stafford County's 1787 Delinquent List appears on p. 53.]
 * [1789, 1798] Images of the 1789 and 1798 Personal Property Tax Lists of Stafford County, Virginia are available to browse online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [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 1815 land tax. Stafford County is included in Vol. 4.]

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