Mr. Wilson, thank you for your suggestions, you listed items I had not
thought about researching.
Thanks for all your hard work.
Margie
-----Original Message-----
From: Wilson, Donald L
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 12:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] Amelia County VA - 1764 to 1768 Birth records
Amelia County during the period 1764-1768 included territory that is now
Amelia and Nottoway Counties. There were two Church of England parishes
within the county during that time: Raleigh Parish (the territory that
is now Amelia) and Nottoway Parish (the territory that is now Nottoway
County). Nottoway County and Parish were cut off in 1788. [Charles
Francis Cocke, Parish Lines Diocese of Southern Virginia (Richmond:
Virginia State Library, 1964), 204-205, 223-224, map on 255]
Neither parish has any surviving records for the time period in
question. Raleigh Parish has a vestry book with entries 1790,
1827-1895, but no vital records during the colonial period. Some
entries, 1794-1795, from the register of John Cameron, are all that
exist from Nottoway Parish. [A Guide to Church Records in the Library of
Virginia, 2nd ed. (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 2002), 66, 84]
You should see if the family might be registered occasionally in nearby
parishes. Unfortunately, almost all the surrounding parishes are also
missing registers for the colonial period. Bristol Parish (just east of
Raleigh Parish) has a register (births only), 1720-1789. [Churchill
Gibson Chamberlayne, The Vestry Book and Register of Bristol Parish,
Virginia, 1720-1789 (1898; repr. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1998)]
A register kept by Rev. William Douglas of St. James Northam Parish,
Goochland County, also contains entries from surrounding counties that
he visited. I can't say if it includes anyone from Amelia. It covers
the period 1750-1797 [W. Mac. Jones, The Douglas Register (Richmond:
1928; repr. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1973)]
The Society of Friends (Quakers) have records of Cedar Creek Monthly
Meeting, established 1739, which covered all or parts of thirteen
Virginia counties, including Amelia. Amelia or Johnson's Particular
Meeting was establshed in 1755. The Cedar Creek meeting house was
located in Hanover County. If your family were Quakers, they might
appear in those records. [William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of
American Quaker Genealogy, v. 6, Virginia (Ann Arbor: 1950; repr.
Baltimore, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1973): 223-282]
For most persons doing research in this time period (the whole colonial
period) you are very lucky if you find pertinent church registers.
Other possible sources of vital records for that time:
- Family Bible records and registers maintained by early family
historians.
- Notices in newspapers (marriages and deaths).
- Tombstones.
- Probate records (estimated date of death, stated and implied
relationships, evidence of daughters' marriages)
- Chancery lawsuits (stated and implied relationships, implied ages,
stated dates of events)
- Depositions in lawsuits (stated ages).
- Deeds (stated and implied relationships, implied ages)
- Guardianship cases (stated and implied relationships, implied ages)
- Indentures/apprenticeships (relationships, stated ages and
birthdates)
- Tax/tithable lists (evidence of deaths, implied and stated
relationships, implied ages)
Various documents may be used in tandem to arrive at reliable estimates
of the dates and places of events in a person's life.
Hope the above helps you in your search.
Donald L. Wilson, Virginiana Librarian,
Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center
for Genealogy and Local History (RELIC),
Prince William Public Library System,
Bull Run Regional Library,
8051 Ashton Avenue, Manassas, VA 20110-2892
703-792-4540 www.pwcgov.org/library/relic
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