Arlington County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Arlington County

History


Known as Alexandria County until 1920, when it was renamed Arlington County. The county was named after Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington (1618-1685), an English statesman.

Parent County
1847--Arlington County was created 13 March 1847 from Fairfax County. County seat: Arlington

Neighboring Counties

 * Fairfax
 * Loudoun
 * Montgomery County, Maryland
 * Prince George's County, Maryland
 * Prince William

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

The following is a list of cemeteries in Arlington County:


 * Decker, K. and Angus McSween. Historic Arlington: A History of the National Cemetery from Its Establishment to the Present Time, with Sketches of the Historic Personages Who Occupied the Estate Previous to Its Seizure by the National Government... Decker and McSween Pub. Co., 1892. Digital version at Google Books (full-view).
 * Smith, F.H. Memorial Ceremonies at the National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Under the Auspices of the Grand Army of the Republic, May 30, 1868. Washington, D.C.: McGill &amp; Witherow, Printers and Stereotypers, 1868. Digital version at Google Books (full-view).

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Arlington

Court
Indexed images of Arlington County, Virginia Chancery Records 1790-1842 are available online through Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index. These records, often concerned with inheritance disputes, contain a wealth of genealogical information.

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.

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Alexandria County [Arlington County]," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1959). Available at New England Ancestors ($).
 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Arlington County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1960):80. Available at New England Ancestors ($).
 * Ray, Suzanne Smith. *"Genealogical Research in the Records of Alexandria City and Arlington County," The Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Jul.-Aug. 1984):1. Available at FHL; digital version at Virginia Genealogical Society website.

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.


 * [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. Alexandria County is included in Vol. 4.]
 * [1829] A List of Tithables for the Town Part of the County of Alexandria, 1829. Original records, Arlington County Courthouse in Arlington, Virginia; also available on microfilm at FHL.

Websites

 * Arlington County VAGenWeb Project, a part of The VAGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project
 * Family History Library Catalog