As I help people with their genealogical research, I get the opportunity to do research in countries all around the world. But not surprisingly, most of the research that I do is in the United States. There is a direct relationship between the difficulty of finding information and the time depth involved. Most of the sticky research problems end up being with ancestors who lived in the earliest part of the 1800s or back into the 1700s or even earlier. I was recently asked about doing research in Virginia in the 1600s. Rather than looking for the person myself, I was asked to provide a list of resources and places to look. I spent some time compiling the list and I thought I would pass those along.
Here is my list of Virginia resources. By no means is this complete but it is a good place to get started. You might notice that the list includes a lot of university special collections libraries.
Here are some websites for starters:
See the list on
Here are some libraries and archives;
Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
University of Virginia
Alderman Library
160 McCormick Road
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Albert and Shirley Small
Special Collections Library
Virginia Military Institute
319 Letcher Avenue
Lexington, Virginia 24450
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia 23284
(804) 828-0100
University Libraries (0434)
Carol M. Newman Library, Virginia Tech
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24061
(540) 231-9232
Special Collections,
University Libraries (0434)
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Arlington Public Library
Center for Local History Community Archives
Central Library - Main Floor
1015 N. Quincy St.
Arlington, VA 22201
Phone: (703) 228-5956
Albermarle Charlottesville Historical Society
McIntire Building
200 Second St., NE
Charlottesville, VA 22902-5245
College of William and Mary Library
Earl Gregg Swem Library
The College of William & Mary
400 Landrum Drive
Williamsburg, VA 23185
John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library
313 First Street
Williamsburg, VA 23185
The Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center
Purdue University Library
Stewart Center, 4th floor of HSSE library
504 W. State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Old Dominion University
3023 Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library
Norfolk, VA 23529
757-683-5350 (phone)
Virginia State University Special Collections and Archives
Johnston Memorial Library
1 Hayden Drive
Petersburg, Virginia 23806
(804) 524-5040
James Madison University
Libraries and Educational Technologies
Special Collections
800 South Main Street
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
Virginia Union University
Archives and Special Collections
1500 N. Lombardy Street
Richmond, VA 23220
Hampton Public Library
Special Collections
4207 Victoria Blvd.
Hampton, VA 23669
Norfolk Public Library
Sargeant Memorial Collection
Norfolk’s Local History and Genealogy Collection
235 E. Plume Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 664-7323
Here are a few books on Virginia genealogical research
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Family and Church History Department. United States and Canada Reference Unit. Virginia Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1988.
———. West Virginia Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1988.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Family History Library. Research Outline: Virginia. Salt Lake City, UT: Family History Library, 1988.
Clay, Robert Young. Virginia Genealogical Resources. Detroit, Mich. (c/o Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library, 5201 Woodward Ave., Detroit 48202): Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, 1980.
Curtis, Oscar F. Research File: Teague--Farr and Allied Families. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1989.
Dodd, Jordan R, and Inc Liahona Research. Virginia Marriages, Early to 1800. North Salt Lake, Utah: Heritage Quest, 2001.
Elliott, Wendy L. Research in Virginia. Bountiful, Utah: American Genealogical Lending Library, 1987.
Grundset, Eric, Barbara Vines Little, and National Genealogical Society. Research in Virginia, 2014.
Humling, Virginia. U.S. Catholic Sources: A Diocesan Research Guide. Salt Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1995.
Library of Virginia. Genealogical Research at the Library of Virginia: A Guide to Resources. Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1997.
———. Genealogical Research at the Library of Virginia: An Informational Pamphlet. Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1994.
Lowder, Dott Virginia. Lowder Genealogy. Place of publication not identified: s.n.
McGinnis, Carol. Virginia Genealogy Research, 2012.
Roberts, Virginia P. Virginia Porter Roberts Genealogical Research Records/documents. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 2000.
Rodes, Adeline Virginia, and Karl Frederick Steinhauer. A Guide to Research on Rodes Genealogy,. Kansas City, Mo.: Steinhauer Press, 1933.
Rose, Ben Lacy. Report of Research on the Lea Family in Virginia & North Carolina before 1800. Decorah, Iowa: Anundsen Pub. Co., 1995.
Schweitzer, George Keene. Virginia Genealogical Research. Knoxville, TN (407 Ascot Court, Knoxville 37923): G.K. Schweitzer, 2005.
Southern California Genealogical Society. Genealogical Research in West Virginia. Burbank, CA: Southern California Genealogical Society, 1986.
Virginia Genealogical Society. Virginia Genealogical Society. Richmond Va.: Virginia Genealogical Society, 1997. http://www.vgs.org/.
———. Virginia Marriages in Rev. John Cameron’s Register and Bath Parish Register. Richmond, Va.: Virginia Genealogical Society, 1963.
Virginia, General Assembly, and Joint Committee on the State Library. Colonial Records of Virginia. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1977.
Virginia State Library. Genealogical Research in the Virginia State Library. Richmond, 1973.
———. Genealogical Research in the Virginia State Library. Richmond: The Library, 1980.
———. Provisional List of Works on Genealogy and Works Helpful in Genealogical Research in the Virginia State Library ... Richmond, Va., 1908.
If you're interested at all in doing genealogical research in Virginia, this list should get you started.
You might notice that the large online database websites for genealogy are conspicuously missing. I assume that if you've done any genealogical research at all, you would start by looking at the major genealogical database websites and many of the online digital book websites.
Thank you, that is quite an extensive collection. I am hoping to find some things on my sister in law's family who lived in central WV.
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