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Prince George County, Virginia, Research
PRINCE GEORGE CO. VA, AHGP PAGE

Find your family in Prince George County, Virginia

First you may need to determine that the individuals for whom you are searching actually lived in Prince George County, Virginia. (There is a Prince George's County in Maryland.) Here are some publications and links that can be helpful.
  • Virginia land patent abstracts, with seven volumes published so far, begin with Nell Marion Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants 1623-1666, Vol. 1 (Baltimore, 1969) and continue through Volume Seven:1762-1776, ed. Dennis Ray Hudgins (Richmond, 1999). A searchable Database for Virginia Land Patents and Grants is now on line at the Library of Virginia. From the Database, you can go to an image of the patent book page and read the complete patent.
  • Clayton Torrence, Virginia Wills and Administrations 1632-1800 (Baltimore, 1972) lists names and counties where their wills or administrations were found. This list is now on line at the Library of Virginia! Index to Virginia Wills and Administrations at LVA.
  • Annie Laurie Wright Smith, The Quit Rents of Virginia, 1704 (Baltimore, 1977) is a list of landowners in Virginia in 1704. A version of this list is on line. Alphabetical List of 1704 Virginia Land Owners who paid quit rents.
  • Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790 Records of the State Enumerations: 1782 to 1785 Virginia (Baltimore, 1986)
  • Augusta B. Fothergill and John Mark Naugle, Virginia Tax Payers 1782-87 Other Than Those Published by the United States Census Bureau (Baltimore, 1986)
  • Steve & Bunny Binns's WONDERFUL web site with digital images of Virginia County and City Tax Lists for 1790, 1799 and 1800 has returned to the web, and it's HERE! Scroll down and click on your county or city of interest.
  • S-K Publications now has a surname index on line for the 1810 Prince George County Census.
  • Elizabeth Petty Bentley, Index to the 1810 Census of Virginia (Baltimore, 1980)
  • Roger G. Ward, 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer) in four volumes (Athens, GA, 1997-1999)
  • Jeanne Robey Felldin, Index to the 1820 Census of Virginia (Baltimore, 1981)
  • S & K Publications Online Index to the 1850 Census of Prince George Co., Virginia. Check for names!
  • Some early census entries are on line here. The USGenWeb Archives Census Project VIRGINIA Federal Census Index
  • Search the Library of Virginia web site for Prince George County.
  • The entire 1880 U. S. Census is transcribed and on line at the LDS Family Search web site. You can search it there.
There are other sources of Prince George County information at this web site. Don't forget to explore them before following links to other places. And remember the "Back" button on your browser. For more helpful links Click HERE!

Many of Prince George County's old court records have survived the ravages of war. Surviving early records are at the Library of Virginia. An on line index to Prince George County records on microfilm at LVA is HERE. A list of Prince George County records at LVA has been published in A Preliminary Guide to Pre-1904 County Records in the Archives Branch Virginia State Library and Archives (Richmond, 1987) by Suzanne Smith Ray, Lyndon H. Hart III, J. Christian Kolbe.

A list of published abstracts of early Prince George County records is on the Bibliography page.

Both Colonial Heights and Hopewell were incorporated as cities after 1900. Petersburg was incorporated as a town in 1784 and as a city in 1850. Petersburg records at the Library of Virginia are listed in Lyndon H. Hart III and J. Christian Kolbe, A Preliminary Guide to Pre-1904 Municipal Records in the Archives Branch Virginia State Library and Archives (Richmond, n.d.). Petersburg records on microfilm at LVA are listed HERE.

Prince George County was formed in 1703 from that part of Charles City County south of James River. For earlier information about this area, Charles City County records should be consulted.
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