Halifax County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Halifax County



Parent County
1752--Halifax County was created 27 February 1752 from Lunenburg County. County seat: Halifax

Neighboring Counties

 * Campbell
 * Caswell County, North Carolina
 * Charlotte
 * Granville County, North Carolina
 * Mecklenburg
 * Person County, North Carolina
 * Pittsylvania

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 - Exists, but is defective, see:


 * "Halifax County, Virginia, 1820 Census: A Comment," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1959):26. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors($). [Explains that in 1820, census takers skipped entire Halifax County communities.]

Church
Quaker


 * Brown, Jane Douglas Summers and Jones Memorial Library. Jane Douglas Summers Brown (1903-) Quaker Records: Jones Memorial Library (Lynchburg, Virginia); MS 1515. MSS, Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg, Va. Available on 26 microfilms at FHL. [Includes records of Halifax County Quakers; Brown assisted "William Wade Hinshaw in the writing of the Virginia volume of the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy."]

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


 * [Fletcher] Descendant of Thomas Fletcher, b. c1762, resident of Halifax County, Virginia, d. 1838 Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Y-DNA 37 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

 * [Goodwin] "Appendix Z: The Goodwins of Halifax County, Virginia," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 2, Supplement (Oct., 1897):131. Available at FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($).

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

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Hudgins and Wells. 782 patents dated 1738-1853 in what is now Halifax County, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper, 2006. [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.]

Local Histories

 * Carrington, Wirt Johnson. A History of Halifax County [Virginia]. Richmond, Virginia: Appeals Press, 1924. Available at FHL; 1959 reprint available at FHL; digital version of original edition at Ancestry ($). Reviewed in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Jul., 1925):331. Review available at FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($). Reviewed by Philip Alexander Bruce in The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Jan., 1925):66-73. Review available at FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($). Reprint reviewed in The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1970):37. Review available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors($).
 * Edmunds, Pocahontas White. History of Halifax. 2 vols. Halifax, Virginia: P.W. Edmunds, 1978. Reviewed by Susan L. Bracey in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 87, No. 3 (Jul., 1979):365-367. Review available at FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($).

Migration

 * Elliott, Katherine B. Emigration to Other States from Southside Virginia. 2 vols. South Hill, Virginia: K.B. Elliott, 1966. Vol. 1 of original edition available at FHL; 1983 reprints (both volumes) available at FHL; 1990-1992 reprints (both volumes) also available at FHL. [Includes individuals who migrated out of Halifax County to other parts of the country.]

Military
French and Indian War


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Halifax County militia officers and veterans; see place name index.]
 * Boogher, William F. Gleanings of Virginia History: An Historical and Genealogical Collection, Largely from Original Sources. Washington: n.p., 1903. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books. [Includes a chapter titled "Legislative Enactments connecting the preceding historic sketch [French and Indian War, Lord Dunmore's War] with the adjudication of the resulting accounts that follow; with the list of officers, soldiers and civilians entitled to compensation for military and other services rendered." For Halifax County, see pp. 83-85, 108-110.]
 * Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Colonial Militia 1651-1776. Baltimore: Southern Book Co., 1954. Available at FHL; digital book at Ancestry ($). [Identifies some Halifax County militia officers and soldiers; see place name index.]

Revolutionary War


 * Carrington, Wirt Johnson. "Revolutionary Soldiers, Halifax County Records, Court of Pleas, 1774-1777," The William and Mary Quarterly, Second Series, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Jan., 1927):60. Available at FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($). [Recommendations for military officers.]

War of 1812


 * Douthat, James L. Roster of War of 1812, Southside, Virginia. Signal Mountain, Tennessee: Mountain Press, 2007. Available at FHL. [Includes Halifax 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.

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Halifax County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1968):184-187. 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.


 * Warren, Mary Bondurant. Halifax County, Virginia Colonial Poll [1764-1769] and Tithables Lists [1755-1780]. Danielsville, Georgia: Heritage Papers, 1991. Available at FHL.
 * 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. Halifax County is included in Vol. 1.]
 * Indexed images of the 1789 and 1798 Personal Property Tax Lists of Halifax County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * 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 lists. Halifax County is included because the 1810 Census for that county has been destroyed.]
 * 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. Halifax County is included in Vol. 2.]

Vital Records
Marriage


 * "Halifax County Marriage Bonds" [1750s-1780s], The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Jan., 1912):202-204. Available at FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * Knorr, Catherine Lindsay. Marriage Bonds and Ministers' Returns of Halifax County, Virginia, 1753-1800. Pine Bluff, Arkansas: C.L. Knorr, 1957. Reviewed in The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1958):91. Review available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors($).

Voting

 * Warren, Mary Bondurant. Halifax County, Virginia Colonial Poll [1764-1769] and Tithables Lists [1755-1780]. Danielsville, Georgia: Heritage Papers, 1991. Available at FHL.

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