Charlotte County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Charlotte County

Parent County
1764--Charlotte County was created 26 May 1764 from Lunenburg County. County seat: Charlotte

Neighboring Counties

 * Appomattox
 * Campbell
 * Halifax
 * Lunenburg
 * Mecklenburg
 * Prince Edward

Church

 * Hamner, Sharon B. "Baptisms and Burials, Church of Our Saviour Parish Register, Charlottesville, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1979):83-87; Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1979):175-177. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).

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


 * [Farish] Key, Marcus M., F. Paul Farish, and John Frederick Dorman. "Capt. Farish's Near Hanging and Notes on the Charlottesville Farishes," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1980):283-286. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).
 * [Featherston] Macdonald, Margaret T. "Beware of the Charlotte County, Virginia, Marriage Bonds: The Featherston Family," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1979):3-7. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).
 * [Read] Eggleston, J. D. Distinguished Descendants of Colonel Clement Read and Bushy Forest and Other Charlotte County Homes of the Early Reads: Two Addresses. unknown: unknown, 1932. Digital version available at Ancestry ($).

Historic Residences

 * Eggleston, J. D. Distinguished Descendants of Colonel Clement Read and Bushy Forest and Other Charlotte County Homes of the Early Reads: Two Addresses. unknown: unknown, 1932. Digital version available at Ancestry ($).

Immigration

 * [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=Charlotte&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 Charlotte County, Virginia (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Hudgins. 528 patents dated 1731-1835 in what is now Charlotte County, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper, 2010. [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.]

Military
Colonial Militia


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Charlotte County militia officers 1767-1774; 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 Charlotte County veterans; 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.

Private Papers

 * [Williams] Southerland, Henry deLeon. "Williams Family Bible, Charlotte and Mecklenburg Counties, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1974):311-312. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Charlotte County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1963):115-117. 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.


 * Indexed images of the 1790 and 1800 Personal Property Tax Lists of Charlotte County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * "Charlotte County, Virginia, 1800 Tax List," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1971):110-116; Vol. 15, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1971):166-173. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).
 * 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. Charlotte County is included in Vol. 2.]

Vital Records
Birth

Beth Fridley has published the following databases online through Ancestry:


 * Charlotte County, Virginia Births, 1860-74 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Charlotte County, Virginia Births, 1875-78 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Charlotte County, Virginia Births, 1879-82 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Charlotte County, Virginia Births, 1883-96 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).

Marriage


 * Macdonald, Margaret T. "Beware of the Charlotte County, Virginia, Marriage Bonds: The Featherston Family," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1979):3-7. 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