Chesterfield County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Chesterfield County



History


The county was named after Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773), a British statesman.

Parent County
1749--Chesterfield County was created 1 May 1749 from Henrico County. County seat: Chesterfield

Neighboring Counties

 * Amelia
 * Charles City
 * Dinwiddie
 * Goochland
 * Henrico
 * Powhatan
 * Prince George

African American

 * Heinegg, Paul. "Chesterfield County Tithables, 1747-1821," Free African Americans.com, available online. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]
 * Kegley, Mary B. Free People of Colour: Free Negroes, Indians, Portuguese and Freed Slaves. Wytheville, Virginia: Kegley Books, 2003. Available at FHL; digital version at BYU Family History Archives. [Includes information from Chesterfield County.]

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.]

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


 * [Buck] Ewers, Dorothy Wood. "Cornelius Buck of Chesterfield County, Virginia: An Unhappy Story," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1966):99-108. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).
 * [Rhodes] Farnham, Charles W. "Holden Rhodes (1797-1857) A Vermonter Who Became a Southerner," The American Genealogist, Vol. 36 (1960):84-47. Available at New England Ancestors.

Immigration

 * Ljungstedt, Milnor. "Items from Southern Records" [Showing Family and Trade Connections with Northern Colonies and the Home Countries], The American Genealogist, Vol. 15 (1938):95-104. Available at New England Ancestors. [Chesterfield Co., VA: Branch.]
 * [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=Chesterfield&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 Chesterfield County, Virginia (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Bannister. 604 patents dated 1638-1790 in what is now Chesterfield County, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper, 2002. [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

 * Cox, T. Bransford, John B. Watkins, and Chesterfield County (Va.). Board of Supervisors. Chesterfield County, Virginia, Its History and Present Condition: Prepared Under the Supervision of John B. Watkins, as Authorized by the Board of Supervisors of the County, August, 1906. Richmond, Va.: Williams Printing Co., 1907. Available at FHL; digital version at Google Books (full-view).

Migration

 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1977):167-171. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records often identify migrants who left the county and their intended destinations. Chesterfield County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on pp. 115-116.]

Military
French and Indian War


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Chesterfield County militia officers, soldier enlistments, 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 Chesterfield County, see pp. 70, 107.]
 * Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Colonial Militia 1651-1776. Baltimore: Southern Book Co., 1954. Available at FHL; digital book at Ancestry ($). [Identifies some Chesterfield County militia officers; see place name index.]

War of 1812


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

Private Papers

 * King, George Harrison Sanford. "Bass Family Bible, Chesterfield County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1965):81-83. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virignia: Chesterfield County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1963):174-176. 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.


 * [1747-1821] Chesterfield County, Virginia Lists of Tithables and Insolvents, 1747-1821. Original records, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia; also available on microfilm at FHL.
 * [1747-1821] Heinegg, Paul. "Chesterfield County Tithables, 1747-1821," Free African Americans.com, available online. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]
 * [1747-1778] Chesterfield County - the Colonial Tithe Lists 1747-1778, CD, available for purchase at Binns Genealogy.
 * [1756] Pritchett, John W. Southside Virginia Genealogies. CD. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007. Available at FHL; digital version at Virginians - The Family History of John W. Pritchett. [Includes annotated 1756 tithe list of Chesterfield County.]
 * [1786, 1788] 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. [Sources for this publication are the 1786 personal property tax list and a partial reading of the 1788 personal property tax list (only published names that do not appear on 1786 list). Chesterfield County is included in Vol. 2.]
 * [1788] Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1977):167-171. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records often identify migrants who left the county and their intended destinations. Chesterfield County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on pp. 115-116.]
 * [1790, 1801] Indexed images of the 1790 and 1801 Personal Property Tax Lists of Chesterfield County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1791, 1802] Indexed images of the 1791 and 1802 Land Tax Lists of Chesterfield County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1800] "Chesterfield County, Virginia, 1800 Tax List," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1971):254-258; Vol. 16, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1972):23-28; Vol. 16, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1972):89-95. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($).
 * [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 the 1815 land tax. Chesterfield County is included in Vol. 1.]

Vital Records
Marriage


 * Knorr, Catherine Lindsay. Marriage Bonds and Ministers' Returns of Chesterfield County. Pine Bluff, Ark., 1958. Reviewed in The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1959):91-92. 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