Russell County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Russell County



Parent County
1785--Russell County was created 17 October 1785 from Washington County. County seat: Lebanon

Neighboring Counties

 * Buchanan 
 * Dickenson
 * Scott
 * Smyth
 * Tazewell
 * Washington
 * Wise

Cemeteries

 * Knisely, Mary Jane. "Russell County, Virginia, Family Cemeteries," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1977):111-112. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).

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.

1820


 * Sutherland, Elihu Jasper. Russell County, Virginia, Census of 1820. Clintwood, Va.: unknown, 1940. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($).

1850


 * Ball, Bonnie S. and Ada Grace Catron. The Seventh Population Census of the United States for Russell County, Virginia, 1850. Haysi, Va.: B. Ball?, 1964. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($).

1870


 * Salyer, Elisabeth L.W. 1870 Census of Russell County, Virginia. West Palm Beach, Fla.: Palm Beach County Genealogical Society, 1975. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($).

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.]

DNA
DNA has been collected from men claiming descent from the following Russell County, Virginia residents. Attempts have not been made to verify the lineages of those tested.


 * [Fletcher] Descendant of William Fletcher, b. c1744, d. 1798 Russell County, Virginia. Y-DNA 12 Marker Test, FTDNA. Genetic signature available online (labelled William Fletcher of Accomac County, Virginia/James Fletcher of Brunswick County, Virginia), courtesy: The Fletcher DNA Project.

Family Histories
Bibliography


 * [Colley] Boardman, Elizabeth Joye Mabe. Thomas Colley Family: Russell County, Virginia; Washington County, Virginia; Dickenson County, Virginia; Buchanan County, Virginia; Smyth County, Virginia. [Palm Coast, Florida]: J. Boardman, 2001. Available at FHL; digital version at BYU Family History Archives.

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Anderson. 699 patents dated 1782-1912 in what is now Russell and Tazewell Counties, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper. 2007. [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.]
 * Sims, Edgar Barr. Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia. [Springfield, Virginia]: Genealogical Books in Print, c1992. Available at FHL. [Includes Russell County, Virginia.]

Military
Revolutionary War


 * Kegley, Mary B. Revolutionary War Pension Applications of Southwest Virginia Soldiers. n.p.: M.B. Kegley, 1997. Available at FHL. [Includes Russell County pensioners.]

Newspapers
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 the Virginia Gazette and other Virginia newspapers (1736-1803), see: The Geography of Slavery in Virginia.

Private Papers

 * Knisely, Mary Jane. "An Old Account Book of Russell County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1977):310. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Russell County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1978):131-133. 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.


 * [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. Russell County is included in Vol. 1.]
 * [1792, 1801] Images of the 1792 and 1801 Personal Property Tax Lists of Russell County, Virginia are available to browse online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1810] 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. Russell County is included because the 1810 Census for that county has been destroyed.]
 * [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. Russell County is included in Vol. 5.]
 * [1815] Kegley, Mary B. Southwest Virginia Tax Assessments, 1815: Grayson, Lee, Scott, Russell, Washington, and Wythe Counties. Wytheville, Va.: Kegley Books, 1991. Original edition and 1992 supplement available at FHL. [The source for this publication is a private collection of 1815 tax assessment tickets for the First District of Virginia. The tickets includes landowners' names, number of acres or lots, number of buildings along with descriptions, and number of slaves. N.B. These are not the 1815 land tax books.]

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