Cumberland County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Cumberland County



Parent County
1748--Cumberland County was created in 1748 from Goochland County. County seat: Cumberland

Neighboring Counties

 * Amelia
 * Buckingham
 * Fluvanna
 * Goochland
 * Powhatan
 * Prince Edward

African American

 * Heinegg, Paul. "Cumberland County Personal Property Tax List 1782-1816," Free African Americans.com, available online. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]

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.]

Court
Indexed images of Cumberland County, Virginia Chancery Records 1750-1912 are available online through Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index. These records, often concerned with inheritance disputes, contain a wealth of genealogical information.

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


 * [Harrison] Descendant of Benjamin Harrison, b. c1715, d. 1761 Cumberland County, Virginia. Y-DNA 26 Marker Test, FTDNA (labelled H-106, Lineage 2). Genetic signature available online, courtesy: The Harrison 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


 * [Armistead] Gardner, Nancy E.P. and Malcolm Gardner. "The Armisteads of Cumberland County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1968):51-62; Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1968):119-126; Vol. 12, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1968):155-161; Vol. 13, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1969):11-18; Vol. 13, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1969):56-60; Vol. 13, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1969):111-115; Vol. 13, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1969):163-168. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).
 * [Armistead] Gardner, Nancy E.P. and Malcolm E. Gardner. "The Armisteads of Cumberland County, Virginia: Additions and Corrections," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1971):293-297. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).
 * [Lee] Shumate, Molly A. Lee: Ancestors and Descendants of Charles Lee of Cumberland Co., VA. Port Charlotte, Florida: M.A. Shumate, 1999. Available at FHL.
 * [Page] Page, Richard Channing Moore. Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia. Also a Condensed Account of the Nelson, Walker, Pendleton and Randolph Families, With References to the Bland, Burwell, Byrd, Carter, Cary, Duke, Gilmer, Harrison, Rives, Thornton, Wellford, Washington, and Other Distinguished Families in Virginia. New York: Press of the Publishers' Printing Co., 1893. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books (full-view).

Immigration

 * 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 ($). [Cumberland Co., VA surname: Thompson.]
 * [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=Cumberland&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 Cumberland County, Virginia (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Bannister. 405 patents dated 1714-1835 in what is now Cumberland County, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper, 2004. [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.]

Migration

 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1976):199-208; Vol. 21, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1977):167-171. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records often identify migrants who left the county and their intended destinations. Cumberland County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on 20:34; 1789 Delinquent List appears on 21:168.]

Military
French and Indian War


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Cumberland 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 Cumblernad County, see p. 70.]
 * Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Colonial Militia 1651-1776. Baltimore: Southern Book Co., 1954. Available at FHL; digital book at Ancestry ($). [Identifies some Cumberland County militia officers and soldiers; see place name index.]

Revolutionary War


 * McIlwaine, H.R. Proceedings of the Committees of Safety of Cumberland and Isle of Wight Counties, Virginia, 1775-1776. Richmond: D. Bottom, Superintendent of Public Printing, 1919. Available at FHL; digital versions at Ancestry ($), BYU Family History Archives, and Google Books (full-view).

War of 1812


 * Douthat, James L. Roster of War of 1812, Southside, Virginia. Signal Mountain, Tennessee: Mountain Press, 2007. Available at FHL. [Includes Cumberland County.]

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.

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Cumberland County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1964):122-124. Available at FHL; digital version 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.


 * [1759] McCrary, Patti Sue. Cumberland County, Virginia Tithable Lists for 1759. Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books, 2007. Available at FHL.
 * [1782-1816] Heinegg, Paul. "Cumberland County Personal Property Tax List 1782-1816," Free African Americans.com, available online. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]
 * [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. Cumberland County is included in Vol. 1.]
 * [1788-1789] Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1976):199-208; Vol. 21, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1977):167-171. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records often identify migrants who left the county and their intended destinations. Cumberland County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on 20:34; 1789 Delinquent List appears on 21:168.]
 * [1791, 1800] Indexed images of the 1791 and 1800 Personal Property Tax Lists of Cumberland County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1800] "Cumberland County, Virginia, 1800 Tax List," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1973):197-200; Vol. 17, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1973):249-252. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).
 * [1804] Morton, W.S. Cumberland County Poll List [1804], excerpted from "Cumberland County Records," William and Mary College Quarterly, 2nd Series, Vol. 22 (1942):61-64. Available at FHL; reprinted in Virginia Tax Records. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983, which is also available at FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * [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. Cumberland County is included in Vol. 1.]

Vital Records
Marriage


 * Elliott, Katherine B.. Marriage Records, 1749-1840, Cumberland County, Virginia. South Hill, Va., 1969. Reviewed in The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1970):36. Review available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).

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