Loudoun County, Virginia Genealogy

United States   Virginia    Loudoun County

County Courthouse


Loudoun County Courthouse 18 East Market Street Leesburg, VA 20176

Telephone: 703-777-0270 (Clerk of the Circuit Court) Website: Circuit Court of Loudoun County Directions

Hours: Open 8:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Monday through Friday The Clerk's office closes at 4:30 P.M.

History
Loudoun County is named after Major General John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun (1705-1782). Campbell, a Scottish nobleman, served as Governor General of Virginia (1756-1758) at the time Loudoun County was organized.

Parent County
1757--Loudoun County was created 25 March 1757 from Fairfax County. County Seat: Leesburg

Boundary Changes
When Loudoun County was organized, the eastern border was Difficult Run. Officials moved the line further northwest to near Sugarland Run in 1798. The boundary, a straight line, does not follow the stream. This boundary change impacts genealogists, because this land and its occupants, which had originally belonged to Fairfax County, fell under the jurisdiction of Loudoun County for 40 years, from 1757 to 1798, after which time it went back to Fairfax County.

For animated maps illustrating Virginia county boundary changes, visit My Virginia Genealogy. [Maps created using AniMap Plus County Boundary Historical AniMap 3.0, by permission of the Goldbug Company.]

Variant Spellings

 * Loudon

Record Loss
Loudoun County has suffered some record loss. The following records cannot be found:


 * 1) Survey books.
 * 2) A few original wills.
 * 3) Pre-1793 marriage bonds (only "F" groom surname bonds survive). Ministers' returns can be used as a substitute for many of the marriages occurring between 1757 and 1793.
 * 4) One court minute/order book.
 * 5) Lost censuses: 1790, 1800, 1890

Populated Places
Loudoun County, Virginia Populated Places identifies local towns and post offices.

Getting Started
Finding out if a genealogy has been published about your Loudoun County family is often a good first step. Many resources are easily available online, such as the census. After checking those sources, you might wish to examine vital records (births, marriages, and deaths), and land, and probate.

If you are researching families who lived in Loudoun County, Virginia between the 1750s and 1790s, the Sparacios' books are a great time saver. They comprehensively index several publications covering that period:


 * Sparacio, Ruth Trickey and Sam Sparacio. Surname Index of Antient Press Publications. 14+ vols. McLean, Va.: R. &amp; S. Sparacio, Antient Press, 1993-. 975.5 P22s v. 1-2; publisher's website: Antient Press. (Some of the index volumes have not been printed and it is necessary to contact the publishers to search them.)

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Loudoun County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1972):126-129. ; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).
 * The WPA Survey for Loudoun County. Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, Va.; microfilmed reproduction:

African American
Many resources relating to the free and enslaved black popluations of Loudoun County have been collected, indexed, and published to help genealogists trace their ancestors. Loudoun County, Virginia African Americans details these handy resources.

Cemeteries
Loudoun County's cemetery records have been thoroughly indexed and local volunteers are available to photograph tombstones. Loudoun County, Virginia Cemeteries aids researchers in accessing these resources.

Census
All extant Loudoun County, Virginia census records (population, mortality, and slave schedules) have been published and indexed and volunteers are available to do free lookups for most census years, see: Loudoun County, Virginia Census.

Church
Many old Loudoun County church records survive. Select Baptist, Catholic, Church of England, Episcopal, German Reformed, Lutheran, Presyterian, and Quaker records have been abstracted and published, see the Loudoun County, Virginia Church page.

Court
Abstracts of several of Loudoun County's courts have been published, including chancery court, county court, criminal cases, Dumfries district court, fee books, and loose papers. These resources are outlined on the Loudoun County, Virginia Court page.

DNA
DNA has been collected from men claiming descent from more than 20 Loudoun County, Virginia historic families. DNA data helps to establish people's origins, kin, and dispersed descendants, see: Loudoun County, Virginia DNA.

Genealogy
More than 275 genealogies have been published about Loudoun County families. To view a list, visit Loudoun County, Virginia Genealogy.

House Histories
House histories have become a popular hobby. Learning about the inheritance of specific estates can aid genealogists in piecing together family trees. Loudoun County, Virginia House Histories points readers to such resources.

Immigration

 * Bartley, Bev. "The Seeding of Loudoun," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter 1993):1-2.
 * [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=Loudoun&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 Loudoun County, Virginia (work in progress), Courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.
 * "Pennsylvania-Germans in Loudoun Co., VA," Pennsylvania German, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Mar. 1908).

The following transported English convicts who served labor terms and/or lived in eighteenth-century Loudoun County, Virginia have been identified as part of Nathan W. Murphy's Ph.D. dissertation research:

William Atterbury | William Grove | Griffith Meyrick | Richard Pell | Christopher Perfect | William Sadd | Samuel Smotherman

Land
Loudoun County has a rich collection of land records. Many deeds, grants, land causes, patents, and superior court deeds have been published and indexed. Some finding aids are available online, while volunteers offer to make free lookups for others records. Loudoun County, Virginia Land assists researchers in locating finding aids and accessing the original records.

Law and Legislation

 * There are seven religious petitions from residents of Loudoun County, Virginia (dated 1776-1802) online in Early Religious Petitions, courtesy: American Memory, The Library of Congress. (Church of England, German Lutheran, German Episcopelian Society.)
 * There are 492 petitions from residents of Loudoun County, Virginia (1776-1865) in the Legislative Petitions Database. Available online, courtesy: Library of Virginia.
 * Petition to Send Slaves to Africa, 1827, Northern Virginia Genealogy, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Jul. 1996).

Local Histories
The History of Loudoun County, Virginia website includes many articles about Loudoun's past, including the following topics: African American chronology, Civil War, Colonial history, and Indians.

Other local histories include:


 * Divine, John, Brownen and Souders. When Waterford &amp; I Were Young. Free Lookups Available!
 * Head, James W. History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia. [Washington? District of Columbia]: Park View Press, 1908. ; digital versions at Ancestry ($), Google Books, Heritage Quest Online ($), and World Vital Records ($).
 * "How Loudoun Fought an Epidemic in 1793," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Dec. 2002):1-2.
 * Nichols, Joseph V. "Tales of Old Virginia," The Bulletin of the Historical Society of Loudoun County, Virginia, 1957-1976. Leesburg, Va.: Goose Creek Productions, 1998, pp. 117-120. Free Lookups Available!
 * Osburn, Penelope M. "Establishing the Towns in Loudoun County," The Bulletin of the Historical Society of Loudoun County, Virginia, 1957-1976. Leesburg, Va.: Goose Creek Productions, 1998, pp. 71-75. Free Lookups Available!
 * Osburn, Thomas. "Former Citizen Writes Interestingly of the Inhabitants of Bluemont in the '50's," written 1923, published in Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Dec. 1998):1-2; Vol. 7, No. 1 (Mar. 1999):2; Vol. 7, No. 2 (Jun. 1999):2.
 * Phillips, John T. The Historians Guide to Loudoun County, Virginia. Leesburg, Virginia: Goose Creek Productions, c1996. Free Lookups Available! [One section of this book was republished as "Colonial Ferries and Ordinaries at Goose Creek," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Fall 1993):1-2.
 * Scheel, Eugene M. The Story of Purcellville. Free Lookups Available!
 * Weatherly, Yetive. Lovettsville, the German Settlement. Free Lookups Available!
 * Williams, Harrison. Legends of Loudoun: An Account of the History and Homes of a Border County of Virginia's Northern Neck. Richmond, Virginia: Garrett and Massie, 1938. ; reprint: ; digital versions at Ancestry ($), BYU Family History Archives, and Heritage Quest Online ($). Free Lookups Available!

Maps
Several historic maps of Loudoun County survive. Modern maps, created to show county boundary changes, and to plot land owners, are also available, see: Loudoun County, Virginia Maps.

Migration

 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1976):199-208; Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1978):43-50.. ; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Loudoun County's 1790 Delinquent List appears on 20:201-202; 1786 and 1788 Delinquent Lists appear on 22:44-45.]
 * Loudoun Co., Virginia to Ohio: Migration of Families, courtesy: USGenWeb.
 * Moore, Robert P. "New Jersey Families in Loudoun Co., Va., Tithable Lists in the 1700s," The Nelson County Genealogist, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Autumn 1992):9-10.
 * "Pennsylvania-Germans in Loudoun Co., VA," Pennsylvania German, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Mar. 1908).
 * Weatherly, Yetive. Lovettsville, the German Settlement. Free Lookups Available!

Military
Records regarding Loudoun County veterans are kept in diverse archives and repositories. The Loudoun County, Virginia Military page will assist you in finding these resources.

Naturalization

 * Aliens, 1800s-1900s. Available online, courtesy: The Archives of the Clerk of the Loudoun County Circuit Court.
 * Index to Naturalization Petitions, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria, 1909-1929, available online, courtesy: Alexandria Library, Special Collections Division, Alexandria, Va. [Includes WWI soldies stationed in or near Loudoun 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.

Loudoun Co. Newspapers: Information Regarding Newspapers Previously Published in Loudoun Co. is a helpful guide, courtesy: USGenWeb.


 * "The Genius of Liberty," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 10, Nos. 1 &amp; 2 (Mar.-June 2002):1.
 * "Marriage Records from the Genius of Liberty," [1810s-1820s] Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 10, Nos. 1 &amp; 2 (Mar.-June 2002):2-4.
 * Osburn, Penelope M. "A Hometown Newspaper: 'The True American,' The Bulletin of the Historical Society of Loudoun County, Virginia, 1957-1976. Leesburg, Va.: Goose Creek Productions, 1998, pp. 97-110.

Occupations

 * "Beard Account Book," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Sep. 1997):1; Vol. 5, No. 4 (Dec. 1997):3; Vol. 6, No. 1 (Mar. 1998):3. [Identifies persons with accounts 1790s-1840s.]
 * Binns, John. A Treatise on Practical Farming. Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, Va.
 * "Business Directory of Leesburg: Containing the Names of Merchants and Mechanics with Their Places of Business, published by William L. Stork, Bookseller &amp; Stationer, Leesburg, VA, 1860," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Mar. 1997):1; Vol. 5, No. 2 (June 1997):3; Vol. 5, No. 3 (Sep. 1997):2.
 * Business Licenses, 1757-1900. Available online, courtesy: The Archives of the Clerk of the Loudoun County Circuit Court. [Includes liquor, mill, ordinary, restaurant and hotel, and retail indexes.]
 * Cutten, George Barton. The Silversmiths of Virginia (together with Watchmakers and Jewelers) from 1694 to 1850. Richmond, Va.: The Dietz Press, Incorporated, 1952. [Includes a section on Leesburg silversmiths.]
 * "Hillsboro General Store, Post Office and Lending Library 1821-1836," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 6, No. 2/3 (Sep. 1998):1; Vol. 6, No. 4 (Dec. 1998):3. [Indexes persons with accounts.]
 * List of Male and Female Indentures (Apprenticeships) from 1757-1872. Available online, courtesy: The Archives of the Clerk of the Loudoun County Circuit Court.
 * Marsh, Helen Hirst. "Early Loudoun Water Mills," The Bulletin of the Historical Society of Loudoun County, Virginia, 1957-1976. Leesburg, Va.: Goose Creek Productions, 1998, pp. 29-34.
 * Marsh, Helen Hirst. "Hometown Banking: The Loudoun Company," The Bulletin of the Historical Society of Loudoun County, Virginia, 1957-1976. Leesburg, Va.: Goose Creek Productions, 1998, pp. 111-116.
 * U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patents, 1790-1909. Available online, courtesy: Ancestry ($). [Lists dozens of inventions patented by residents of Loudoun County, Virginia.]

Officials

 * "Some of the Officials of Loudoun County 1757 - The Civil War," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 6, No. 2/3 (Sep. 1998):4; Vol. 7, No. 1 (Mar. 1999):1. . [N.B. This serial article was published backwards, includes Court Clerks, Deputy King's Attorneys and Commonwealth Attorneys, and Sheriffs.]

Private Papers
Researchers should not limit their searches to records kept by government officials and religious organizations. Diaries, business account books, and family Bibles, kept in private hands, though they can be difficult to track down, yield valuable genealogical data. Loudoun County, Virginia Private Papers points researchers to some of these resources.

Probate
A good collection of wills, administrations, and guardianship records survives for Loudoun County, see: Loudoun County, Virginia Probate.

School

 * History of Secondary Education in Loudoun County. 1948. Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, Va.
 * "Virginia Public School Register, Broad Run District, Frankville School, 1886-1893," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 4, No. 2 (June 1996):1; Vol. 4, No. 3 (Sep. 1996):1.

Taxation
Virginia tax records provide valuable clues to genealogical relationships. Many survive and have been published and indexed dating back to the county's formation, see: Loudoun County, Virginia Taxation.

Transportation

 * Constantino, Roberto. Miscellaneous Road Cases, Loudoun County, Virginia, 1758-1782: Loudoun County Circuit Court, Clerk of Circuit Court, Archives: Miscellaneous Road Cases, Files No. 38 to 48, Leesburg, Virginia. Westminster, Maryland: Willow Bend Books: Heritage Books, 2003.
 * Rose, Murray. "Potomac River Bridges into Loudoun County," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Spring 1993):1-2; Vol. 1, No. 4 (Summer 1993):1.
 * Saffer, Wynne. "Overseers of the Road in Southern Loudoun in 1801," Northern Virginia Genealogy, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Oct. 1998):166-169.
 * "Seven Ferries Served Loudoun in 1700s," Loudoun: The 1757 Legacy, Newsletter of the Loudoun Genealogy Club, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Dec. 2002):2-4.

Vital Records
Vital records include births, marriages, and deaths. To learn what survives for the area, visit Loudoun County, Virginia Vital Records.

Acknowledgement
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of local expert Marty Hiatt, CG. Her knowledge has greatly improved this research guide.

Societies and Libraries

 * Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, Va., is an excellent facility devoted entirely to the area's local history and genealogy. It is supported by the Town of Leesburg.
 * The Friends of the Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, Va., is an organization devoted to supporting the Thomas Balch Library and its collections.

Websites

 * Loudoun County, Virginia at USGenWeb. Includes maps, name indexes, history and other information about Loudoun County. Don't miss Loudoun County, Virginia Resource Materials and Look-Ups, on this site. It is an excellent free resource.
 * Family History Library Catalog at FamilySearch. Learn what Loudoun County resources are available at the Family History Library.
 * Loudoun County, Virginia - Family History &amp; Genealogy Message Board at Ancestry. 7500 posts about Loudoun County families.
 * Loudoun County, Virginia Genealogy Forum at GenForum. Over 1500 posts about Loudoun County families.
 * Loudoun County, Virginia Mailing List at Rootsweb. Thousands of messages about Loudoun County families.