Our Virginia genealogists are available to research on location. They will find and analyze the best records available to further your family history research. They can search the archives and libraries in Virginia, as well as help you with other special requests.
Our researchers are available to visit local archives and libraries to access unique record collections to help with your research. Below is a list of a few of the archives and libraries our Virginia researchers have access to.
The Library of Virginia Archives Division has vital records dating nearly 200 years back. These include birth and death records from 1853 to 1896 and marriage records from 1936. Marriage bonds from before 1853 are located here as well. Their genealogical collection contains family bibles, divorce records, biographies, and newspapers.
Most of the Virginia Historical Society’s archives have not been digitized and are only available by visitation. Our local genealogists are best suited for research here. The archives hold an extensive amount of county records such as marriages, county court records, wills, and land records. The collection as a whole has records that date back to the 1600s. A card index to 10 million documents of the Old Dominion (Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky) is located here.
The Virginia Theological Seminary has archived records from the original Church of England’s parish registers, vestry books, and manuscripts. They also serve as the official repository for the Virginia Theological Seminary and the former Bishop Payne Divinity School. The archives are also home to the African American Episcopal Historical Collection. Said collection is a joint project with the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church and documents the experience of African Americans in the Episcopal Church.
Bristol Public Library (Bristol, Virginia)
Library of Virginia (Richmond, Virginia)
The Library of Virginia has many genealogical records including:
County and city records
Newspapers for many areas throughout the United States
Virginia city directories
Military records
Personal papers
Business papers
County histories
Family genealogies
Bible records
Tax lists for most counties from 1782
Virginia Historical Society (Richmond, Virginia)
The Virginia Historical Society has many genealogical records including family papers and genealogies.
Alexandria Library (Alexandria, Virginia)
The collections include:
Alexandria Gazette obituary index 1784-1915
Vital records for Alexandria residents
Tombstone inscriptions and cemetery records for Alexandria area
Church and synagogue histories
Church congregation records
Civil War records especially Confederacy service records and pension records
Local private school records including students
20th century high school yearbooks
Census records for all Virginia counties and DC
Periodical Source Index for 5000 periodicals from 1847-1996
Though the Bristol Public Library has a rather small family folder collection, they are an important resource for descendants of early colonists. Specifically, the library has collected information on settlers coming from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and northern Virginia into Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee along the Great Valley Road. Their collections also include information on local cemeteries, local histories, regional history books, and county courthouse records.
The Handley Regional Library is home to over 600 linear feet of manuscripts, over 4,000 books, and a collection of newspapers from 1787 to the present. A large part of their archives is devoted to German and Scots-Irish immigrants that traveled the Great Valley Road. Said road stretched from Pennsylvania through Maryland to Virginia. Items in these archives include manuscripts, biographies, histories and newspapers devoted to this topic. Information on the people of the Lower Shenandoah Valley since 1732 is another main subject.
The John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library’s records are focused on colonial America, the American Revolution, and the time period of early United States. Their collection of rare books includes over 12,000 volumes. Additionally, their manuscript collection contains 160 documents from the 17th to the early 19th centuries. The most unique aspect of this library is the research they contain on buildings, people, trades, and material culture of Williamsburg in the 1700s.
The emphasis of the Jones Memorial Library is genealogy and local history. While they mainly focus on the central Virginia region, their archives contain a wide range of materials from all over the state. They also have records from neighboring states. The library holds over 300 manuscript collections including family papers, businesses records, and records of clubs and organizations. Their family folders and genealogies are of people who migrated from the tidelands over the Blue Ridge Mountains into Virginia’s Great Valley, many through Lynchburg. This archive focuses on central Virginia and contains:
County histories and court records
Family histories and genealogies
General works on the Civil War
County land tax and personal property tax records
Lynchburg newspapers
Funeral home burial files
City directories
Marriage and death notices
Church records
300 manuscript collections
Jones Memorial Library