Research Guide

Links to Local History and Genealogy: A Researcher's Guide

By Debbie Robison

A curated collection of online links to primary sources, databases, and finding aids for researching local history and genealogy in Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties.

Table of Contents

African-American Research

Northern Virginia Slavery Database

1818 List of Free Blacks of Truro Parish, Fairfax County

Free African Americans from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Deleware

Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records for Virginia Search

Freedmen's Bureau Marriages

Fairfax County Historic Records - Black History

Loudoun County Circuit Court - Black History

List of Robert "King" Carter's slaves

Registration of Free Negroes, Farifax County, 1822-1861

Slave and Free Negro Records, Prince William County, 1752-1865 pdf

Enslaved Marriages in Northern Virginia

Unknown No Longer - A Database of Virginia Slave Names

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Books

Google Books

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Birth, Death, and Marriage Records

Fairfax County Circuit Court Online Marriage Index, 1853-1957

Freedmen's Bureau Marriages, 1815-1869

Loudoun County Birth and Death Records Online

Loudoun County Marriage Records Online

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Cemeteries

Fairfax County Cemetery Survey

Find-A-Grave

Loudoun County Cemetery Database

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Census

Stafford County Rent Roll, 1723 pdf

Prince William County People, 1701-1800 pdf

Poll List for the election of Burgesses for Prince William County, 1741

Poll list for the election of Burgesses for Fairfax County, 1744

1782 Heads of Families, Fairfax County

1790 Heads of families at the first census

1818 List of Free Blacks of Truro Parish, Fairfax County

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Church Records

Frying Pan Baptist Meeting House (From Family Search - Requires Free Account) Click on camera icon.

Truro Parish Vestry Book

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Court Records

Fairfax County Circuit Court Archives Finding Aids

Fredericksburg Superior Court of Chancery (Includes Fairfax)

Loudoun County Circuit Court Archives Finding Aids

Prince William County British Mercantile Claims, 1775-1803 pdf

Virginia Chancery Cases Online

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Diaries, Letterbooks, and Correspondence

Robert "King" Carter Diary, Correspondence, Papers 1701-1732

Thomas Jefferson Papers

James Madison Papers

George Washington Papers

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Economy

Economic Cycles Timeline

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Immigration

Immigrant Servant Database

Registers of Servants Sent to Foreign Plantations, 1654 - 1686

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Land Grants, Deeds, and Wills

If you are researching a property, start by determining who owned the land by searching the deeds. A how-to guide on researching deeds is available online that explains how to prepare a Chain of Title.

Learn how to plot old surveys that are noted in the deeds. Over the years the boundaries of a property may have changed. You can find out the boundaries of a parcel in 1860 by checking the Fairfax County 1860 Land Ownership Maps

Virginia Colonial Charters

Fairfax County Online Deed Book Indexes Microfilm available in VA Room

Fairfax County Online Will Book Indexes Microfilm available in VA Room

Land Grants and Patents

Loudoun County Online Deed Book Indexes Available in VA Room (1757-1799) and Thomas Balch Library

Loudoun County Online Will Book Indexes Available in VA Room (1757-1799) and Thomas Balch Library

Land Causes - Microfilm only - Available in VA Room

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Hening's Statutes, 1619-1792

Statutes at Large of Virginia, Shepherd, Vol I, 1792 - 1795

Statutes at Large of Virginia, Shepherd, Vol II, 1796-1802

Statutes at Large of Virginia, Shepherd, Vol III, 1803-1808

Virginia General Assembly Acts, 1802 - 1812

Acts Passed and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1816

Acts Passed and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1817

Acts Passed and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1818-1820

Acts Passed and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1821

Acts Passed and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1822

Library of Virginia Legislative Petitions

Virginia Constitution, published 1876

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Library Finding Aids

Archival Resources of the Virginias

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Licenses

Merchant licenses, Truro Parish, Fairfax County

Ordinary, Tavern, and House of Entertainment licenses, Truro Parish, Fairfax County

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Maps

1624: Virginia / discovered and discribed by Captayn John Smith, 1606

1747: A survey of the northern neck of Virginia, being the lands belonging to the Rt. Honourable Thomas Lord Fairfax Baron Cameron

1755: A map of the most inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole province of Maryland with part of Pensilvania, New Jersey and North Carolina. Drawn by Joshua Fry & Peter Jefferson in 1751.

1757: Carte de la Virginie et du Maryland

1770: A new and accurate map of Virginia wherein most of the counties are laid down from actual surveys

1787: A map of the country between Albemarle Sound, and Lake Erie, comprehending the whole of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pensylvania, with parts of several other of the United States of America.

1795: The state of Virginia from the best authorities

1796: A map of the United States exhibiting post roads & distances

1802: Map of Northern Virginia Showing Little River Turnpike

1804: Map of the United States : exhibiting the post-roads, the situations, connexions & distances of the post-offices, stage roads, counties & principal rivers

1818: Plan and profile of an unfinished survey and level for a proposed canal from Goose Creek in Loudoun county to Hunting Creek near Alexandria

1820: Map of Potomack River from Harpers Ferry to Alexandria, VA

1820: Survey of Bull Run and Occoquon (Shows Colchester, Occoquan, ferry, mills)

1820: Prince William County

1820: Survey of the Stage Road from Alexandria to Fredericksburg

1825: Map of the United States : intended chiefly to exhibit the Post Roads & distances.

1826: Map of the state of Virginia, Herman Boye

1832: Map exhibiting the shores of the River Potomac at the place where the Alexandria aqueduct is proposed to be located

1832: Potomac aqueduct. Hydrographic survey of the Potomac River near Georgetown, shewing the position of the aqueduct, its connection with the Ch. & Ohio Canal on the north bank, and with the Alexandria Canal on the south bank of the river

1836: Profiles for the proposed Falmouth & Alexandria Rail-Road, (shows buildings, mills, & mill races)

1839: The American atlas, exhibiting the post offices, post roads, rail roads, canals, and the physical & political divisions of the United States of North America

1839: Map of the United States of North America with parts of the adjacent countries

1848: Map of the Internal Improvements of Virginia

1849 ca: Orange and Alexandria Railroad

1850 ca: Orange and Alexandria Railroad

1851: Plan and profile of the [Man]assas Gap Rail Road from its junction with the [O]range and Alexandria Rail Road to the Town of Strausburg

1853: Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Rail-road, 16 miles

1855: Loudoun Branch Railroad

1855: Map of the Internal Improvements of Virginia

1858: Map of the Rail Roads of Virginia

1859: Map of the state of Virginia, corrected 1859, Herman Boye,

1860: Fairfax County Land Ownership

186-: Military reconnaissance of Virginia / made under the orders of Brigr. Genl Irvin McDowell by Capt. A.W. Whipple

186-: Fords on Occoquan and Bull Run : [Northern Virginia]

186-: [Map of Loudoun County, Va., and parts of Fairfax County, Va., Jefferson County, W.Va., and Washington and Frederick counties, Md.]

186-: [Detailed map of part of Virginia from Alexandria to the Potomac River above Washington, D.C. 186-].

1861: [Map of part of Fairfax County, Virginia, south of the city of Alexandria and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad] / F. F. Mead, Lt. Co. I, 16th N.Y.V. Del., Aug. 30th 1861.

1861: Lloyd's official map of the State of Virginia from actual surveys by order of the Executive, 1828 & 1859 Corrected and revised by J. T. Lloyd to 1862, from surveys made by Capt. W. Angelo Powell, of the U.S. Topographical Engineers.

1862: Map of the battle fields of Manassas and the surrounding region : showing the various actions of the 21st July, 1861, between the armies of the Confederate States and the United States / surveyed and drawn by W.G. Atkinson, Acting 1st Lieut. Engineer.

1862: Map of n. eastern Virginia and vicinity of Washington

1863: Map of a part of eastern Virginia

1864: Johnson's Virginia, Delaware, Maryland & West Virginia.

1864: [A map of Fairfax County, and parts of Loudoun and Prince William Counties, Va., and the District of Columbia] / copied by J. Paul Hoffmann, Top'l. Office, A.N.Va. ; approved S. Howell Brown, 1st Lt. Engs. Troops, in chg. Topl. Dept. A.N.V., March 29th 1864.

1864: [Map of Fairfax and Alexandria counties, Virginia, and parts of adjoining counties] / fm. Capt. Michler.

1866: Topographical map of the Estate of Great Falls Manufacturing Company, Fairfax Co., Va.

1878: G. M. Hopkins Maps

1894: The vicinity of Washington, D.C. (Hopkins)

1896: Post route map of the state of Virginia and West Virginia

1901: Prince William County, William Brown 1901 Map

1904: Maneuver grounds, Prince Willliam and Fairfax counties, Va.

1906: Post route map of the states of Virginia and West Virginia (Annotated with Civil War Sites)

1910: USGS maps starting in 1910

Multiple Years: USGS Historical Map Collection

1912: Rural Delivery Routes, Fairfax County

1915: Virginia, Fairfax-Alexandria counties sheet, soil map

Current: Fairfax County Real Estate Maps (GIS)

Current: Fairfax County Digital Map Viewer

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Military

  • Multiple Wars

Database of Virginia Military Dead, Library of Virginia

Pensioners on the Rolls as of January 1, 1883, by Genealogy Trails

  • Civil War

Official Records

Soldiers and Sailors Database

They Died in Centreville, by Gailey, Gallagher, and Hon. Pdf

  • Revolutionary War

Register & Description of Noncommissioned Officers & Privates in Virginia (pdf)

Revolutionary War Pensioners in 1813, by Genealogy Trails

  • War of 1812

War of 1812 Virginia Pay Rolls Search

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National Register

Virginia Landmark and National Register Listings

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Newspapers

Fairfax County Public Library

Library of Congress Chronicling America

Richmond Daily Dispatch (Civil War)

Virginia Gazette

Virginia Online Newspapers

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Photos

  • Aerial Photos

Historic Aerial Photos, Typically begins in 1949

Fairfax Aerial Imagery, begins in 1937

Loudoun County Aerial Archive, begins in 1937

Prince William County Aerial Viewer, Includes 1937

  • Online Images

Fairfax County Photographs at Library of Virginia

Historic American Building Survey (HABS)

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Matthew Brady Civil War Photos at National Archives

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Post Offices

Post Office Department Reports of Site Locations 1837-1950 - Microfilm only - Available in VA Room

Record of Appointment of Postmasters 1832-1971 - Microfilm only - Available in VA Room

Appointment of U.S. Postmasters 1832-1971, By Ancestry ($)

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Roads

Board of Public Works Inventory, Virginia

Fairfax County Road Orders 1749-1800 [pdf]

Fairfax Road Petitions 1840-

Loudoun County Road Orders 1757-1783 [pdf]

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Schools

Fairfax County School Board Minutes

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Taxes

How Buildings Were Assessed Taxes in 1820

Land Taxes - Microfilm only - Available in VA Room

Personal Property Taxes - Microfilm only - Available in VA Room

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Travel Journals

Search Travel Journals on Library of Congress Site: American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920

New travels in the United States of America. Performed in 1788. By J. P. Brissot de Warville.

Burnaby's travels through North America: Travels through the middle settlements in North America, in the years 1759 and 1760

Travels of four years and a half in the United States of America; during 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802 ... by John Davis.

Philip Vickers Fithian, journal and letters, 1767-1774, student at Princeton college, 1770-72, tutor at Nomini Hall in Virginia, 1773-74

Cuthbert Potter's journal of a journey from Virginia to New England, 1690.--In Travels in the American colonies, ed.

Journal of William Loughton Smith, 1790-1791

Travels in America 100 years ago. Being notes and reminiscences by Thomas Twining

Travels through the states of North America : and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 / by Isaac Weld, Jun. (Volume 1)

Travels through the states of North America : and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 / by Isaac Weld, Jun. (Volume 2)

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