Dickenson County, Virginia Genealogy

Guide to Dickenson County, Virginia ancestry, family history and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, immigration records, and military records.

Description
Dickenson County is located in the Southwest portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia and shares a border with Kentucky. The County was named for Delegate William J. Dickenson who sponsored the bill in the House of Delegates to establish this 100th county.

Dickenson County Virginia Courthouse
Dickenson County Courthouse Box 190 Main Street Clintwood, VA 24228-0190 Phone: 540-926-1616

County Health Department has birth, death, and burial records. Clerk Circuit court has marriage, divorce, court and land records from 1880 and military discharge records.

Parent County
1880 Dickenson County was created 3 March 1880 from Buchanan, Russell and Wise Counties. County seat: Clintwood

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Virginia county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Virginia County Boundary Maps" (1617-1995) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website. They rely on AniMap 3.0 software.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cemeteries

 * 1800-1986 - at FamilySearch — index

Census
1890 Union Veterans


 * Virginia's Union Veterans: Eleventh Census of the United States 1890. c1994. By Ronald Ray Turner. Online at: Prince William County Virginia, ;.

1900


 * Dickenson County, Virginia, 1900 Federal Census. 1984. By Gregory Lynn Vanover, Joan Short Vanover, and Barbara Kendrick Vanover. Pound, Virginia : G.L. Vanover. Available at.

Baptist

 * Sand Lick Primitive Baptist Church, the First Hundred Years, 1837-1937: A History of the Oldest Religious Organization in Dickenson County, Virginia. 1937. Reprint 1985. By Elihu Jasper Sutherland. Clintwood, Virginia : Mullins Printing. Available at.

Genealogy
More than a dozen genealogies have been published about Dickenson County families. For a list, see Dickenson County, Virginia Compiled Genealogies.

Local Histories

 * Coalfields Expressway Final Environmental Impact Statement - Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise Counties, Virginia. 2001. By US Department of Transportation-Federal Highway Administration and Virginia Department of Transportation. Online at: Google Books.
 * Meet Virginia's Baby: A Brief Pictorial History of Dickenson County, Virginia, from Its Formation in 1880 to 1955, with Stress on Pioneer Background. 1955. Reprint 1975. By Elihu Jasper Sutherland. Clintwood, VA : E.J. Sutherland. Available at.
 * Pioneer Recollections of Southwest Virginia. 1984. By Elihu Jasper Sutherland and Hetty Swindall Sutherland. Clintwood, VA : H.S. Sutherland, G.L. Vanover, and J.S. Vanover. Available at.
 * The Forests of Dickenson County, Virginia. 1917. By W.G. Schwab. Charlottesville, VA : n.p. Online at: Hathitrust, Google Books.
 * The Geology and Coal Resources of Dickenson County, Virginia. 1921. By Albert William Giles. University of Virginia. Online at: Google Books.
 * Virginia County Names: Two Hundred and Seventy Years of Virginia History. 1908. By Charles M. Long, MA, PhD. New York, NY : The Neale Publishing Company. Online at: Google Books.

Civil War

 * - 2nd Regiment, Virginia State Line (Cavalry) (Confederate). Company B.
 * - 5th Regiment, Virginia State Line (Cavalry, Artillery, and Infantry) (Confederate). Companies C and D.

Records and histories are available, including:


 * 1861-1865
 * 1861-1865
 * 1861-1865 U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1861-1865 U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * Between Brothers: Civil War Soldiers of Wise and Dickenson County [Virginia]. By Lillian Gobble and Rhonda Robertson. Big Stone Gap, Virginia : L. Gobble and R. Robertson..

Miscellaneous Records

 * 1607-2007 at FamilySearch — index and images

Naturalization

 * Virginia

Private Papers
Dickenson County, Virginia, Family Bible Records, 1934-1935. Clintwood, Virginia: Mullins Printing, 1999. Available at.

Research Guides

 * A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Dickenson County. The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1964):124-126. Available at ; digital version at American Ancestors ($).

Vital Records

 * E. J. Sutherland Collection, Dickenson County, Virginia, 1650-1965. By Elihu Jasper Sutherland. MSS., available at . Includes Dickenson County Vital Statistics, 1830-1938.

Birth

 * 1853-1866 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1912-1913 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Marriage

 * 1660-1959 Virginia, United States Marriages at FindMyPast ($) — index $
 * 1740-1850 Virginia Marriages 1740-1850 Ancestry ($).
 * 1936-1988 at FamilySearch — index and images

Divorce

 * 1918-1988 at FamilySearch — index and images

Death

 * 1912-1987 at FamilySearch — index and images

Dickenson County Virginia Genealogy Websites

 * Dickenson Co., VAGenWeb. Part of the USGenWeb Project. Maps, name indexes, history.
 * Dickenson County, VA History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Familytree101)
 * RootsWeb Mailing List: SW_VA-L (Topic: Southwest Virginia)
 * Cyndi's List
 * Cyndi's List