Bath County, Virginia Genealogy

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

Description
Bath County is located in the Southwest portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia sharing a border with West Virginia. It was named for England's resort City of Bath because it, too, is the home to a number of warm mineral springs.

Bath County Virginia Courthouse
Bath County Courthouse P.O. Box 180 Warm Springs, VA 24484-0180 Phone: 540-839-2361

Clerk Circuit Court has birth records 1854-1880 Death records 1854-1870 divorce records, probate, land and court records from 1791

Bath County Virginia History


The county is named after the resort town of Bath, England.

Parent County
1790--Bath County was created 14 December 1790 from Augusta, Botetourt and Greenbrier (now in West Virginia) Counties. County seat: Warm Springs.

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Virginia county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Virginia County Boundary Maps" (1617-1995) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

 * Lost censuses: 1800, 1890

Research Guides

 * A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Bath County. The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1960):128-131. CD available at: American Ancestors ($)..

African Americans

 * Freedmen's Bureau Letters or Correspondence, 1865-1872

Cemeteries
For a more detailed list, including addresses, phone numbers, and external links, see Bath County, Virginia Cemeteries.

The following is a list of cemeteries in Bath County:


 * 1800-1986 - at FamilySearch index

The Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library has a number of Bath County, Virginia cemetery databases on-line.

Census
1785


 * Burton, Charles T. Botetourt County, Va., 1785 Enumeration. Troutville, Va.: Burton?, 1972. Available at and, links to digital version included. [All or part of present-day county of Bath is included.]

1790 - Lost

1800 - Lost, but a substitute is available, see Taxation

1810


 * Crickard, Madeline W. 1810 Census of Bath County, Virginia. Beverly, W. Va.: Crickard, 1968?. Available at ; collection with index and images available at Ancestry ($).

1840


 * Douthat, James L. 1840 Bath County, Virginia Census. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 2004. Free online surname index and purchase details at Mountain Press website.

1890 Union Veterans


 * "Virginia's Union Veterans: Eleventh Census of the United States 1890." Prince William County Virginia, by Ronald Ray Turner.

Genealogy
More than a dozen genealogies have been published about Bath County, Virginia families. For a list, see Bath County, Virginia Compiled Genealogies.

Land and Property
Grants and Patents


 * Sims, Edgar Barr. Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia. [Springfield, Virginia]: Genealogical Books in Print, c1992. Available at . [Includes Bath County, Virginia.]

Local Histories

 * McAllister, Jean Graham. A Brief History of Bath County, Virginia. Staunton, Va.: McClure Co., 1920. Available at ; digital version at Google Books (full-view); collection with index and images at Ancestry ($).
 * McAllister, Joseph Thompson. Historical Sketches of Virginia Hot Springs, Warm Sulphur Springs and Bath County, Virginia. Salem, Va.: Salem Printing and Publishing Company, 1908. Digital version at Google Books (full-view).
 * Morton, Oren Frederic. Annals of Bath County, Virginia. Staunton, Va.: McClure Co., 1917. Available at and ; digital versions at Google Books (full-view); and Archive.org ($); collection with index and images at Ancestry ($).

Revolutionary War

 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census]. 1841. Digital versions at U.S. Census Bureau and Google Books et. al. 1967 reprint: 973 X2pc 1840. [See Virginia, Western District, Bath County on page 134.]

War of 1812
Bath County men served in the 81st Regiment.


 * List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883; Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Why Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance... Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883. 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. [See Vol. 5, Virginia, Bath County, p. 63.]

Civil War

 * - 11th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry. Company F (The Bath Grays) and Company G (The Bath Guards).
 * - 18th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate). Company G.
 * - 25th Regiment, Virginia Infantry (Heck's) (Confederate). Company B (Bath Grays).
 * - 26th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate). Company E.
 * - 47th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate). Companies A and B.
 * - 52nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry (Confederate). Company K (Bath Rifles).

Records and histories are available, including:


 * 1861-1865 - Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865
 * 1861-1865 - Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers 1861-1865
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry index ($)
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry index ($)

Miscellaneous Records

 * 1607-2007 - at FamilySearch  index and images

Naturalization
Virginia Naturalization Petitions, 1906-1929

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.
 * Bath County News-Outlook - full text of more than 100 issues freely available via Google Newspaper Archive

Petitions

 * Eckenrode, H.J. Virginia State Library: A Calendar of Legislative Petitions Arranged by Counties Accomac - Bedford. Richmond, Va.: Davis Bottom, Superintendent of Public Printing, 1908. Digital version at Google Books. [Bath County petitions (1777-1863) are described on pp. 194-210.]

Probate Records

 * Bruns, Jean R. Abstracts of the Wills and Inventories of Bath County, Virginia, 1791-1842. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995. Available at ; digital version at Ancestry ($); and World Vital Records ($).

Online Probate Records
 * 1639 – 1850 Virginia Land, Marriage and Probate Records 1639-1850 at Ancestry.com index to transcribed records, $
 * 1791-1813; 1813-1822; 1822-1830 Virginia Pioneers - Images of Wills, Estates, Inventories, Bonds, Deeds  ($)

Taxation
How can Virginia tax lists help me?

Bibliography


 * 1782 - 1782 Tithables online at Genealogy Trails - free.
 * 1783 - 1783 Tithables online at Genealogy Trails - free.
 * 1791 - 1791 Heads of Families online at Genealogy Trails - free.
 * 1791 - 1791 Bath County, Virginia Personal Property Tax List; index online at New River Notes - free.
 * 1793 - Tax List, Delinquent, 1793, Bath County Heritage Newsletter, Issue 15 (Fall 1987).
 * 1800 - "Bath County, Virginia, 1800 Tax List," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1963):21-28. ; digital version at American Ancestors ($).
 * 1815 - Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. [The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Bath County is included in Vol. 5.]

Birth

 * 1853-1896 - Fridley, Beth, comp. Bath County, Virginia Births: 1853-96 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * 1853-1870 - Bath County Birth Index 1853-1870. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1912-1913 - at FamilySearch  index and images

Marriage

 * 1660-1800 - Virginia Marriages 1660-1800 (Ancestry) ($).
 * 1660-1800 - Virginia Marriages 1660-1800 (Ancestry) ($).
 * 1740-1850 - Virginia Marriages 1740-1850 (Ancestry) ($).
 * 1790-1889 - Bath County Marriage Index. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1936-1988 - at FamilySearch  index and images

Divorce

 * 1918-1988 - at FamilySearch index and images

Death

 * 1853-1870 - Bath County Death Index 1853-1870. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1912-1987 - at FamilySearch  index and images

Bath County Virginia Genealogy Societies and Libraries
Bath County Historical Society

Bath County Virginia Genealogy Websites

 * Bath County, Virginia USGENWEB
 * Bath County, VA History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Familytree101)
 * Cyndi's List
 * Cyndi's List