Rockingham County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Rockingham County



History


The county is named after Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730-1782), who served two terms as Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Parent County
1777--Rockingham County was created 20 October 1777 from Augusta County. County seat: Harrisonburg

Neighboring Counties

 * Albemarle
 * Augusta
 * Greene
 * Hardy County, West Virginia
 * Page
 * Pendleton County, West Virginia
 * Shenandoah

African American

 * Free negroes list, 1815, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. Richmond VA: Feb 2007. Vol. 45 Iss. 1.

Census
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.]

1900


 * United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Rockingham County, Virginia, Census, 1900. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1900. Digital version at Ancestry ($).

Family Histories
Bibliography


 * [Detrick] See Miller.
 * [Harrison] 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 (full-view). [Includes a chapter titled "Harrison Family of Augusta and Rockingham Counties, Virginia," see pp.373-379.]
 * [Miller] Smith, Elizabeth Virginia. The Descendants of Samuel Miller, John Detrick, John and Mary Snell of Rockingham County, Virginia: 1777-1943. Kingston, Pa.: n.p., 1943. Digital version at Ancestry ($).
 * [Newman] Boogher, William F. Gleanings of Virginia History: An Historical and Genealogical Collection, Largely from Original Sources. Washington: n.p., 1903. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books (full-view). [Includes a chapter titled "Genealogy of the Newman Family, 1618-1900," see Table of Contents; discusses Newmans of Rockingham County.]
 * [Rodeffer] Power, Carrie Rodeffer. The Rodeffer Family of Rockingham County, Virginia: A Record of the Descendants of Conrad and Nancy Showalter Rodeffer, 1805-1948. Virginia: C.R. Power, Printed by Shenandoah Press, 1948. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($).
 * [Smith] 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 (full-view). [Includes a chapter titled "Smith Family of Augusta and Rockingham Counties, Virginia," see pp.330-372.]
 * [Snell] See Miller.

Immigration

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

Local Histories

 * Wayland, John Walter. A History of Rockingham County, Virginia. Dayton, Va.: Ruebush-Elkins Co., 1912. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($).
 * Wayland, John Walter. Men of Mark and Representative Citizens of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, Virginia: Portraits and Biographies of Men and Women. Staunton, Va.: McClure Co., 1943. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($).
 * Wayland, John Walter. Virginia Valley Records: Genealogical and Historical Materials of Rockingham County, Virginia, and Related Regions (with Map). Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, 1930. Available at FHL (original edition and 1978 reprint); digital version at Ancestry ($).

Migration

 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1976):269-274. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Rockingham County's 1787 Delinquent List appears on pp. 273-274.]

Military
French and Indian War


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Rockingham County veterans; see place name index.]

Revolutionary War


 * "A Page from Court Orders of Rockingham County, VA" [Showing Public Claims Enabling Descendants to Join Revolutionary Societies], The American Genealogist, Vol. 11 (1934):4. Available at New England Ancestors ($).
 * Revolutionary Soldiers, Rockingham County, Virginia. Harrisonburg, Va.: The Historical Society?, 1976. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($).

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.

Occupations

 * Cutten, George Barton. The Silversmiths of Virginia (together with Watchmakers and Jewelers) from 1694 to 1850. Richmond, Va.: The Dietz Press, Incorporated, 1952. Available at FHL. [Includes a section on Harrisonburg silversmiths.]

Private Papers

 * [Hite] Major, Nettie Leitch. "Hite Family Bible, Rockingham County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1977):119-121. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Rockingham County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1981):54-57. 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.


 * [1777] Augusta tithables from area now in Rockingham and Page counties, 1777, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. Richmond VA: Nov 2004. Vol. 42 Iss. 4.
 * [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. Rockingham County is included in Vol. 1.]
 * [1787] Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1976):269-274. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records often identify migrants who left the county and their intended destinations. Rockingham County's 1787 Delinquent List appears on pp. 273-274.]
 * [1788] Tax-militia lists, 1788, Rockingham Recorder. Dayton VA: Apr 1982. Vol. 3 Iss. 2.
 * [1789, 1801] Images of the 1789 and 1801 Personal Property Tax Lists of Rockingham County, Virginia are available to browse online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1792] Strickler, Harry M. Tenth Legion Tithables (Rockingham Division) Rockingham County, Virginia Tithables for 1792: A List of All the White Males Above 16 Years of Age in the County and All the Slaves Above 12 in the County in 1792. Luray, Virginia: H.M. Strickler, 1930. Available at FHL; digital version at Ancestry ($).
 * [1798] Tax list of house owners, 1798, Rockingham Recorder. Dayton VA: Apr 1945. Vol. 1 Iss. 1.
 * [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 1815 land tax. Rockingham County is included in Vol. 4.]
 * [1815] County Tax list, 1815, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. Richmond VA: May 2002. Vol. 40 Iss. 2; Aug 2002. Vol. 40 Iss. 3; Nov 2002. Vol. 40 Iss. 4; Feb 2003. Vol. 41 Iss. 1; May 2003. Vol. 41 Iss. 2; May 2004. Vol. 42 Iss. 2; Feb 2005. Vol. 43 Iss. 1.
 * [1815] Free negroes list, 1815, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. Richmond VA: Feb 2007. Vol. 45 Iss. 1.
 * [1816] County tax list, 1816, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. Richmond VA: Aug 2004. Vol. 42 Iss. 3; Nov 2004. Vol. 42 Iss. 4; May 2005. Vol. 43 Iss. 2.

Vital Records
Birth

Beth Fridley has published the following abstracts of Rockingham County, Virginia birth records online at Ancestry:


 * Rockingham County, Virginia Births, 1853-56 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Births, 1857-59 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Births, 1860-65 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Births, 1866-84 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Births, 1885-87 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Births, 1888-90 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Births, 1891-93 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Births, 1894-96 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).

Death

Beth Fridley has published the following abstracts of Rockingham County, Virginia death records online at Ancestry:


 * Rockingham County, Virginia Deaths, 1853-61 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Deaths, 1862-77 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Deaths, 1878-85 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Rockingham County, Virginia Deaths, 1886-95 [database on-line]. Available at Ancestry ($).

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