Not an easy question to answer in a few words, however vestry records, minutes and registers are colonial church records, and perhaps more than anyplace else MUST be sought out for research of family lines from VA, MD, NC, SC, GA,  and DE.  I will attempt a summary and do not wish to quarrel about the details.  If any of you subscribers wish to add to these remarks, PLEASE do so.   

The Anglican Church (of England) was the legally designated religion of the Southern Colonies, and to a lesser degree early was active in all the original colonies.  Indeed for the 170 years from Jamestown to the Revolution the church dominated everyday life in the South, particularly VA.  

The church had many semi-governmental duties and activities, those including processioning of the land, care of the poor and widows, collection of taxes, and care of disabled and orphaned or bastard children.  It collected a tithe and assessments regularly from all who met the requirements to so pay and lived within the parish, those sums paying for the preacher and all the church activities and expenses, and attendance at services was required throughout the 17th and early 18th Centuries.  Go to church or be fined.

All the land within the colonies mentioned was divided into parishes which were NOT bounded the same as the counties. Each parish had a vestry, that was a group of elected men - usually 12 prominent and affluent citizens  - who governed that parish.   

Each parish was to keep a vestry "record" (minutes), which was a detailed (usually) running statement of the activities, expenditures, processions, and such as fines that were entered upon/levied upon the parishioners.  In addition, the parishes were to keep a "register", that record being more a day book of the minister/preacher and readers than anything else.  Therein were entered the births and baptisms, deaths, marriages, dates of significance to the congregation, and unusual or remarkable events that affected the parishioners.

With the coming of the Revolution (and Governor Thomas Jefferson), the Anglican church as a controlling entity ended, and though many congregations continued to serve parishioners, most were dissolved or simply abandoned. 

It is a pity that how-to book after book and seminar after seminar and lecture after lecture are written, given and sponsored by those who purport to be "experts" with next to nothing said about parish records, where those are, and how such should be used.  

As said, I feel that no researcher can write or say that he/she has diligently searched any family line unless and until he has exhausted all parish records that may yet be found for all the "wheres" of his family.  Here again is a list I have gathered, mostly from material in the VA Library, that may serve your efforts in learning which parishes hosted and served which counties and whether or not any records of those particular parishes remain. I have previously set out the parishes of GA, SC and NC for various websites.  Here again are those for VA.
http://webpages.charter.net/pdd50/VIRGINIAPARISHES.jpg

Good luck.  Paul


       

 may ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: KEITH G JOHNSON 
  To: [log in to unmask] 
  Sent: Monday, July 04, 2005 11:33 AM
  Subject: [VAROOTS] VA Vestry records
  Paul,  what exactly is included in Vestry records?  And, where are these located?
  Thanks,  Norma




  >> ----- Original Message ----- 
  >> From: "Paul Drake" <[log in to unmask]>
  >> To: <[log in to unmask]>
  >> Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 1:10 PM
  >> Subject: [VAROOTS] Fw: URL
  >>
  >>
  >>> For those who have again asked, here are the VA vestry records and 
  >>> registries as near as I can determine. Paul
  >>>
  >>>
  >>> http://webpages.charter.net/pdd50/VAvestries.doc
  >>>

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