Dickenson County, Virginia Genealogy

United States

Virginia

Dickenson County

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

Virginia Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Clintwood Organized: 03 Mar 1880 Parent County(s): Buchanan, Russell, Wise Neighboring Counties Buchanan  • Pike (KY)  • Russell  • Wise See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

Dickenson County is located in the southwestern area 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.

County Courthouse

Dickenson County Courthouse
119 Court House Lane
Clintwood, VA 24228-0190
Phone: 276-926-1616
Dickenson County Website

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.

Dickenson County, Virginia Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1880	1880	1880	1880	1880	1880	1810
* Statewide registration for births and deaths began in 1912. General compliance year is unknown.

Record Loss

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

Boundary Changes

Parent County: Created from Buchanan, Russell, Wise Counties, on 03 March 1880. County seat: Clintwood Interactive Map of Virginia County Formation History (1790-1897) - animated maps illustrating Virginia county boundary changes Virginia Historical Boundary Changes - list of all boundary changes by county provided by Newberry Library

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:

Towns
Clinchco Clintwood	Haysi
Unincorporated communities
Nora
Census-designated places
Dante

Resources

Bible Records

For databases and indexes, see Virginia Bible Records.

• 1607-2007 Virginia, Historical Society Papers, 1607-2007 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Dickenson County, Virginia online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find A Grave VAGenWeb USGenWeb Archives VA Tombstone Transcription Project Virginia Gravestones BillionGraves
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Find A Grave FamilySearch Places
See Virginia Cemeteries for more information.

• 1800-1986 Virginia, Jewish Cemetery Records Index, ca. 1800-1986 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Census Records

For databases, indexes, and information online, see Virginia Census.

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1890	5,077	—
1900	7,747	52.6%
1910	9,199	18.7%
1920	13,542	47.2%
1930	16,163	19.4%
1940	21,266	31.6%
1950	23,393	10.0%
1960	20,211	−13.6%
1970	16,077	−20.5%
1980	19,806	23.2%
1990	17,620	−11.0%
2000	16,395	−7.0%
2010	15,903	−3.0%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

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, FHL Collection; At various libraries (WorldCat).

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 FHL.

Church Records

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

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 FHL.

Court Records

Online Court Indexes and Records
Library of Virginia's Chancery Records Index includes digital images for Dickenson County chancery records for the years 1883-1915.

Emigration and Immigration

For databases and immigrant groups, see Virginia Emigration and Immigration

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups

African American

• 1865-1872 Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1935-2009 Virginia, African-American Funeral Programs, 1935-2009 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Funeral Homes

• 1935-2009 Virginia, African-American Funeral Programs, 1935-2009 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Genealogies

Compiled Genealogies by Surname

• See Dickenson County, Virginia Compiled Genealogies for a list of published books and articles, or jump to the surname using the alphabet bar.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Compiled Genealogies for Multiple Families

• Sutherland, Elihu Jasper. E. J. Sutherland Collection, Dickenson County, Virginia, 1650-1965. MSS., FHL Collection [Includes Dickenson Co. families, 1650-1964 and Dickenson Co. genealogy 1732-1933.]
• Sutherland, Elihu Jasper. Some Sandy Basin Characters. Clintwood, Va.: E.J. Sutherland, 1962. 1985 reprint: FHL Collection

Land and Property Records

For land indexes, records, and databases, see Virginia Land and Property, including Colonial and State Land Grants.

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 FHL.
• 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 FHL.
• 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.

Maps and Gazetteers

County and state maps, historical and more current, are valuable research tools. For map collections, online and in libraries, see Virginia Maps.

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• FamilySearch Places: Cities and Towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Military Records

Civil War

• 1861-1865 Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1861-1865 Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 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. FHL Collection.

Regiments. Civil War service men in Dickenson County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed here:

- 2nd Regiment, Virginia State Line (Cavalry) (Confederate). Company B.

- 5th Regiment, Virginia State Line (Cavalry, Artillery, and Infantry) (Confederate). Companies C and D.

Naturalization and Citizenship

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records

• 1906-1929 Virginia Naturalization Petitions, 1906-1929 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Newspapers

For online newspaper resources, see the Virginia Newspapers page.

Other Records

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

Probate Records

For probate records, indexes, and databases, see Virginia Probate Records.

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch — How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

Tax Records

For additional online collections and the value and use of Virginia's tax lists in your research, see Virginia Taxation.

Vital Records

For additional indexes, databases, and details, see Virginia Vital Records.

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

Birth

• 1853-1866 Virginia, Slave Birth Index, 1853-1866 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1912-1913 Virginia, Birth Certificates, 1912-1913 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1584-1917 Virginia Births and Christenings, 1584-1917 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Marriage

• 1660-1959 Virginia, United States Marriages at Findmypast ($) — index $
• 1740-1850 Virginia Marriages 1740-1850 at Ancestry — index ($)
• 1785-1940 Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940 at Ancestry — index ($)
• 1785-1940 Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index ; Also at: MyHeritage ($)
• 1853-1935 Virginia, Bureau of Vital Statistics, County Marriage Registers, 1853-1935 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index
• 1936-1988 Virginia, Marriage Certificates, 1936-1988 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Death

• 1912-1987 Virginia, Death Certificates, 1912-1987 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1853-1912 Virginia Deaths and Burials, 1853-1912 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Divorce

• 1918-1988 - Virginia, Divorce Records, 1918-1988 at FamilySearch — index & images

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Dickenson County. For state-wide facilities, see Virginia Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers

Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local Family History Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
• FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Bristol Virginia Family History Center

• Washington County Public Library - Main Library - an affiliate library
• [https://librarytechnology.org/library/25184/ Washington County Public Library - Hayters Gap Branch

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Dickenson County. For state-wide library facilities, see Virginia Archives and Libraries.

Societies

Listed below are societies in Dickenson County. For state-wide genealogical and historical societies, see Virginia Societies.

Websites

• Dickenson Co., VAGenWeb. Part of the USGenWeb Project. Maps, name indexes, history.
• Cyndi's List

• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.

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 FHL; online at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.

FamilySearch affiliate libraries may have access to center-only databases, but do not always have all services normally provided by a family history center.