Resources - Virginia Genealogical Society

“Researchers for Hire” (under the main Resources menu) provides a listing of VGS-society member genealogists available to conduct research for others. VGS does not endorse any of these researchers but provides the information as a member benefit.

“Online Resources” (under the main Resources menu) provides links to resources publicly available on the VGS website.

“Virginia Business Records Index” (under the main Resources menu) is a growing list of known surviving business records dating from the colonial period through 1865. Accessible to VGS members only.

“Surnames of Interest” (under the main Resources men) is our member surname exchange database. Accessible to VGS members only.

The resources below provide helpful links, articles, and information related to Virginia genealogy. Links open outside of the VGS website.

African-American Resources

African American Research at the Library of Virginia to 1870 (PDF guide available)
African American Resources for Virginia (FamilySearch wiki page including strategies for research before and after the Civil War and links to online resources.)
Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware (Paul Heinegg’s compilation of information from tax lists, registry lists, wills, deeds, and other records on free African Americans prior to the 1865 passage of the Thirteenth Amendment.)
Prince Anne County Minute Books: an index to enslaved and free African-Virginians (Digitized copy of the publication. Abstracts include information about slaves, slaveholders, and free African Americans listed in the Princess Anne County minute books. Contents: Book 1. 1691-1709 ; Book 2. 1709-1717 ; Book 3. 1717-1728 ; Book 4. 1728-1737 ; Book 5. 1737-1744.)
The Freedmen’s Bureau Online – Virginia (Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands)
Virginia Museum of History & Culture: Guide to African American Manuscripts
Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative (The Library of Virginia’s African American Narrative program aims to provide greater accessibility to pre-1865 African American history and genealogy found in the rich primary sources in its holdings. Tips sheets for searching the project, descriptions of the records available, and related resources and collections are on the website. Records in this project include bills of sale, certificates of importation, cohabitation registers, colonization records, deeds of emancipation/manumission, free Negro registrations, and many others.)
Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories (Library of Congress website that includes free audio files of interviews with former slaves from Albemarle, Essex, Westmoreland counties and the cities of Norfolk and Petersburg.)

Archives and Libraries

Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County
Alexandria Library
Arlington Public Library Center for Local History
Bassett Historical Center – Bassett (The Center currently houses over 20,000 genealogy books and items, over 10,000 genealogy family files including 995 genealogy files in the Pilson Collection, over 3000 local history files, over 1000 family photograph files, 131 personal computer genealogy collections and 300 different periodicals. Local company collections from DuPont, Tultex, Bassett-Walker, and Blue Ridge Hardware & Supply Co., are housed here. The collection of Mr. John B. Harris, African-American educator and historian, is also housed here. Mr. Richard Gravely is responsible for the “Bicentennial Collection”, a collection of county records and loose papers found in the Henry County Courthouse, being housed here. The information in the Historical Center focuses on, but is by no means limited to the 5 immediate counties in Virginia: Henry, Patrick, Floyd, Franklin, Pittsylvania; and 3 bordering counties in North Carolina: Rockingham, Surry, and Stokes.)
Bedford Museum and Genealogical Library
Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives – Richmond (The Beth Ahabah Museum & Archives collects, preserves and exhibits materials that relate to Jewish history and culture – with particular emphasis on Richmond, Virginia – so that Jewish history and culture may be documented, interpreted and passed on to future generations.)
Central Rappahannock Heritage Center – Fredericksburg (The Heritage Center archives and preserves historical documents and photographs pertaining to the history and people from the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford in Virginia.)
Danville Public Library
DAR Library
F.B. Kegley Library (The Kegley Library is a special collection of local history and family history housed in the Wytheville Community College Library. It is the result of a personal library that was bequeathed to WCC by noted historian Frederick Bittle Kegley in 1968.)
Fairfax Circuit Court Historic Records Center
Fairfax Public Library
FamilySearch Catalog (To search for available records in a particular county or city, use the place search box and enter “Virginia, ” followed by the county or city name.)
FamilySearch Family History Books (Digitized genealogy and family histories from the archives of numerous family history libraries.)
John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library
Jones Memorial Library
Josephine School Community Museum and Clarke County African American Cultural Center – Berryville (The mission of the Josephine School Community Museum is to create and manage a living museum dedicated to restoring our original 1882 school house and sharing the people, objects, and stories that form the continuing legacy of Clarke County’s African American history and heritage.)
Library of Congress
Library of Virginia
Loudon County Historic Records and Deeds (The Loudoun County’s Clerk of the Court Archives holds a wealth of information for researchers who may have had an ancestor live in the county. Indexes for many of the records found among the loose papers of the court are indexed and the records may be ordered from the clerk’s office.)
Massanutten Regional Library
Mount Vernon Genealogical Society Research Center
National Archives and Records Administration
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC is a national-level program operated by the Library of Congress. It provides cataloging for archives and historical societies around the country. The program began in 1959. Volumes printed before 1985 are not included in the online database, but may be found on microfilm or in print at major repositories. To get the most out of this online resource, be sure to read the “Searching Manuscripts” section.)
Newtown History Center of the Stone House Foundation – Stephens City (The Newtown History Center offers museum exhibits and tours focusing on the people and events of Stephens City, Virginia’s long history. In addition to the exhibits located in the main museum, there also are interpretive displays in other buildings that discuss the town’s wagon making industry and an early twentieth century general store. It is also a repository of documents and photographs relating to the history of the town, its inhabitants and their families.)
Norfolk County Historical Society Wallace Memorial History Room Chesapeake Central Library
Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center (RELIC) – Manassas (The Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center (RELIC) is a special collection devoted to genealogy and local history with a focus on Virginia and Prince William County. The American Revolution and the Civil War as they relate to Virginia are of special interest. RELIC houses a wide variety of materials related to its mission, including published and manuscript materials, indexes and research guides, photographs, maps, microforms, and computer (CD-ROM) databases.)
Sargeant Memorial Collection (Norfolk Public Library local history and genealogy special collection at Slover Library.)
Staunton Public Library
Stewart Bell Jr. Archives (The Stewart Bell Jr. Archives is a local history and genealogy center jointly operated by the Handley Regional Library and the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society. Their holdings include a variety of materials documenting the history of the Lower Shenandoah Valley from 1732 to the present, with an emphasis on the City of Winchester and Frederick County, Virginia.)
Swem Library at the College of William & Mary
The Augusta County Genealogical Society Library
The Heritage Museum – The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society
The Laura Virginia Hale Archives of the Warren Heritage Society
The Mariners’ Museum Library
The Mary Ball Washington Museum & Library
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture
Thomas Balch Library
University of Virginia
Virginia Beach Public Library Digital Collection on Internet Archive (Material for this collection is provided by Virginia Beach Public Library. A collection of postcards, photographs, documents and other materials from the Virginia Beach/Princess Anne County digital archival collections is available at http://www.vbgov.com/localhistory Collection includes published abstracts of court, marriage, and Bible records, city directories, a few newspapers, and school yearbooks. More than 1,200 items in this collection.)
Virginia Room – Roanoke Public Library
Washington County Public Library
Waynesboro Public Library

Booksellers and Publishers

Genealogical.com (VGS members partner discount available. Login to the VGS website, click “Membership”, then “Partner Discounts” to see the offer.)

Heritage Books (VGS members partner discount available. Login to the VGS website, click “Membership”, then “Partner Discounts” to see the offer.)

Iberian Publishing Co.

National Genealogical Society

The Virginia Shop at the Library of Virginia

Finding Aids

Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers on Microfilm

Genealogical Records at the Library of Virginia (PDF)

Library of Virginia Wills and Estate Records Index (Will Books and Order Books for 51 Virginia cities and counties have been examined by Library of Virginia staff members for administrations, inventories, wills, and other recorded documents relating to the estates of individuals. The database indexes those documents for the period generally to 1800. Please note that the documents referenced in the database entries are not available online. The database entries reflect the earlier work of Clayton Torrence (1884-1953), especially his Virginia Wills and Administrations, 1632-1800: An Index of Wills Recorded in Local Courts of Virginia, first published in 1931. The database also supplements Torrence’s Virginia Wills and Administrations by providing the location of the documents and by correcting errors where found. There are also entries for wills not originally listed by Torrence. These documents are not located in county records, but rather are found in other sources and include wills from a number of Virginia counties for which official records no longer exist.)

Library of Virginia – Research in Our Collections

Using County and City Court Records in the Archives at the Library of Virginia (PDF — Clay, Robert Y. and J. Christian Kolbe. Using County and City Court Records in the Archives at the Library of Virginia, Research Notes Number 6, Richmond, VA: Library of Virginia, revised December 2008.)

Using Vital Statistics Records in the Archives at the Library of Virginia (PDF — Edwards, Conley L. Using Vital Statistics Records in the Archives at the Library of Virginia, Research Notes Number 2, Richmond, VA: Library of Virginia, revised June 2015.)

Geography and Maps

A Gazetteer of Virginia (PDF — Digitial copy of: Gannett, Henry. A Gazetteer of Virginia and West Virginia. 1904. Reprint (2 vols. in one). Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1975.)
A Gazetteer of West Virginia (PDF — Digital copy of: Gannett, Henry. A Gazetteer of Virginia and West Virginia. 1904. Reprint (2 vols. in one). Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1975.)
Atlas of Historical County Boundaries – Virginia (Located on The Newberry Library website, this resource includes maps and text as well as a bibliography of Virginia and West Virginia resources used to create it.)
Geographic and Cultural Names in Virginia (Digital copy of: Biggs, Thomas H. Geographic and Cultural Names in Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia: Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, 1974. Requires free FamilySearch account to view the digital version.)
Historical Maps of the United States (Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin: Includes some Virginia specific maps as well as maps of the Eastern US from the colonial period through the 20th century.)
US Geological Survey Database of Place Names (Query the database for place names in the US. Search results provide feature name, type, county, state, and the USGS map which includes the feature.)
US Geological Survey Topographic Maps (Search and download historical topographic maps.)
Virginia Places (Described as “an exploration of Virginia history and geography.” This website is a wealth of information on Virginia history and geography. It was created and is maintained by Charlie Grymes who taught the “Geography of Virginia” class at George Mason University as an adjunct instructor for about 15 years. Charlie says “There are places within the state that I have not visited in person…but very few of them.”)

History and Culture

Encyclopedia Virginia (Described as “an authoritative and user-friendly resource on the history and culture of Virginia,” this site is a project of Virginia Humanities in partnership with the Library of Virginia. From the website: “Encyclopedia Virginia anthologizes the best and most current scholarship that exists on a given topic. In particular, our sections on Virginia Indians and the African American experience in Virginia are of a depth and breadth that is unavailable elsewhere on the web. Many of our media objects are also unavailable elsewhere and are published courtesy of partnerships with museums and cultural institutions in Virginia, the United States, and Great Britain.”)

Origins of Colonial Chesapeake Indentured Servants (Provides information on all the record types that can be investigated for an indentured servant ancestor. British sources are enumerated and explored.)

Kids and Teens

Genealogy for Kids: Building a Family Tree Links to websites to help kids and teens get started building their family tree.

Land Records

“Virginia land grants, a study of conveyancing in relation to colonial politics” (Digital copy on Hathi Trust of: Harrison, Fairfax. Virginia Land Grants: A Survey of Conveyancing in Relation to Colonial Politics. 1925. Reprint New York: New York Times, Arno Press, 1979.)

Law

1819 Laws of Virginia, Volume 1 (Digital copy on Google Books of The Revised Code of the Laws of Virginia Being a Collection of All Such Acts of the General Assembly, of a Public and Permanent Nature as are Now in Force; with a General Index. To which are Prefixed, the Constitution of the United States; the Declaration of Rights; and the Constitution of Virginia · Volume 1)
1819 Laws of Virginia, Volume 2 (Digital copy on Google Books of The Revised Code of the Laws of Virginia Being a Collection of All Such Acts of the General Assembly, of a Public and Permanent Nature as are Now in Force; with a General Index. To which are Prefixed, the Constitution of the United States; the Declaration of Rights; and the Constitution of Virginia · Volume 2)
1849 Code of Virginia (Digital copy on Google Books.)
Avalon Project at Yale Law School (Under 18th century documents see the following: Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England: 1765‑1769; The Constitution of Virginia June 29, 1776; The Jefferson Papers; Statutes of the United States Concerning Slavery; Statutes of the United States Concerning Native Americans)
Black’s Law Dictionary 1st and 2nd Editions (PDF copies of the 1st and 2nd editions available for download. Various other editions are available online, in print, and on CD.)
Bouvier’s Law Dictionary (1856) (An online HTML version of the 1856 edition.)
History of Virginia Codification (Article written by William E. Ross and published in The Virginia Law Register, June 1905.)
Legislative Petitions Digital Collection 1776-1865 (Allows for search by keyword, locality, and subject. A subject search for divorce will list all divorce petitions.)
Personal Names in Hening’s Statutes at Large of Virginia, and Shepherd’s Continuation (Digital, searchable copy located on the Internet Archive. This is an index to the personal names in 13 volumes of Hening’s Statutes as well as Shepherd’s continuation of Hening’s statutes. It includes the name, volume, and page number.)
The New Virginia Justice 1795 Edition (The New Virginia Justice, Comprising the Office and Authority of a Justice of the Peace in the Commonwealth of Virginia by William Waller Hening. 1795 was the first edition of this handbook for magistrates that incorporated Virginia laws.)
The New Virginia Justice 1810 Edition (The New Virginia Justice, Comprising the Office and Authority of a Justice of the Peace in the Commonwealth of Virginia by William Waller Hening. This is a handbook for magistrates that incorporated Virginia laws.)
“What Genealogists should know about 18th Century Virginia Law” (Textual presentation by John P. Alcock, President, Friends of the Virginia State Archive, present 17 November 1999.)

Military Records

A guide to Virginia military organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1787 (Sanchez-Saavedra, E.M., comp. A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution 1774- 1787. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library, 1978.)
A Guide to Virginia Militia Units in the War of 1812 (Butler, Stuart Lee. A Guide to Virginia Militia Units in the War of 1812. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Company, 1988.)
Historical register of Virginians in the revolution: soldiers, sailors, marines, 1775-1783 (Gwathmey, John H. Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution: Soldiers, Sailors, Marines 1775-1783. Richmond, Virginia: Deitz Press, 1938.)
List of the colonial soldiers of Virginia. Special report of the Department of Archives and History for 1913.
Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern Claims Commission (Mills, Gary B. Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern Claims Commission. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994.)
Virginia Colonial Militia, 1651-1776 (Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Colonial Militia, 1651-1776. 1905. Reprint Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1965.)
Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary War (McAllister, J. T. Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary War. Hot Springs, Virginia: McAllister Publishing Company, 1913.)
Virginia Revolutionary pension applications, abstracted (Virginia Genealogical Society. Virginia Revolutionary War State Pensions. U.S.A: n.p., 1980.)
Virginia Revolutionary pension applications, abstracted (Dorman, John Frederick. Virginia Revolutionary Pension Applications. (50 volumes: A-Gwin and index to all 50 volumes) Washington, D.C., n.p., 1958-1994.)
Virginia soldiers of 1776 – compiled from documents on file in the Virginia land office (Burgess, Louis A. Virginia Soldiers of 1776. Three volumes. Richmond, Virginia: Richmond Press, 1927-1929.)
Virginia soldiers of the American Revolution (Eckenrode, Hamilton J. Virginia Soldiers of the American Revolution. 1912. Two volumes Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library and Archives, 1989.)
Virginia’s Colonial soldiers (Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1990.)

Newspapers and Periodicals

Library of Virginia Newspaper Project
Magazine of Virginia Genealogy Table of Contents (PDF file of the Table of Contents pages of the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy published by the Virginia Genealogical Society (VGS) from volume 1 to the present. All back issues of the Magazine are available to VGS members in the Members Only section of this website.)
Periodical Source Index (PERSI) (Created and maintained by the Allen County Public Library, this is the largest SUBJECT index to genealogy and local history periodical articles in the world. Link is to the FamilySearch Wiki, which also has a link to the Allen County Public Library website. Direct link to ACPL.)
The Virginia Genealogist ($$ Available through a paid subscription to AmericanAncestors.org. The Virginia Genealogist (50 volumes in total) includes the Virginia personal property tax lists for 1800 for all cities and counties that were part of Virginia from Albemarle through Princess Anne County except Mathews, which is available in Stephen E. Bradley’s Mathews County, Virginia, Land and Personal Tax Lists, 1791-1800 (Keysville, Virginia: the compiler, 1992), as well as a wealth of information on researching in Virginia and record transcriptions and abstracts.)
Virginia Gazette (The Virginia Gazette was published from 1736 -1780 in Williamsburg. These newspapers cover all of Virginia, as well as Scotland, England, etc. The digital images are not transcriptions but the actual newspapers. It is possible to ‘Browse by date’ or to ‘Search the Virginia Gazette Index’. The Search option is alphabetical and includes topics, (such as occupations, ship names, Runaway slaves etc.), as well as Surnames that appeared in the Gazette within the 44 years of publication that this website covers.)
Virginia Gazette Index 1736-1780 Volume I (Digital image on Internet Archive of: Cappon, Lester J., and Stella F. Duff. Virginia Gazette Index. Two volumes. Williamsburg, Virginia: Institute of Early American Culture, 1950.)
Virginia Gazette Index 1736-1780 Volume II (Digital image on Internet Archive of: Cappon, Lester J., and Stella F. Duff. Virginia Gazette Index. Two volumes. Williamsburg, Virginia: Institute of Early American Culture, 1950.)
Virginia historical index: in two volumes (Vol 1 digitally available online at given link. For libraries with both volumes, see the entry at WorldCat.)
Virginia Memory – Virginia Newspapers (Information on accessing Virginia newspapers and a map of those digitized by the Virginia Newspaper Project.)

Probate Records

Index to Virginia Estates, 1800-1865 (Pippenger, Wesley E. Index to Virginia Estates, 1800-1865. Ten volumes. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Genealogical Society, 2001-2010.)
Index to West Virginia Estates Before 1866 (Pippenger, Wesley E. Index to West Virginia Estates Before 1866. Two volumes. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Genealogical Society, 2013-2014. [Although West Virginia county will books have been scanned and indexed on FamilySearch.org, the indexing only included the testator for wills. These two volumes include indexes for all estate related records and index estate related records in sources beyond the will books.])
Index to Wills and Administrations
Some Wills from the Burned Counties of Virginia and Other Wills Not Listed in Virginia Wills and Administrations, 1632-1800
Virginia wills and administrations, 1632-1800; an index of wills recorded in local courts of Virginia
Virginia’s Lost Wills: An Index (Pippenger, Wesley E. Virginia’s Lost Wills: An Index. Tappahannock, Virginia: privately published by the author, 2013.)

Religious Records

Parish lines, Diocese of Southern Virginia (The second in the trilogy by Charles Francis Cocke, this book is available from The Library Shop at the Library of Virginia, Amazon and numerous used book sellers. This link is to a digital copy on Hathi Trust that allows only limited searching and no viewing of the pages unless you have a partner login on Hathi Trust.)
Parish lines, Diocese of Southwestern Virginia (Digital copy on Hathi Trust of the publication written by Charles Francis Cocke and published by the Virginia State Library in 1960. This is the first in a trilogy written by Charles Francis Cocke. From the Prefatory Note: “The early histories of counties and parishes are interwoven, and in tracing the development of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, it has been necessary to review in some detail the formation of new counties from old counties and new parishes from old parishes. Such lines of descent make illuminating commentaries on the westward movement of population and are of considerable importance.” A paperback copy of this publication as well as Parish Lines Diocese of Southern Virginia is available from The Virginia Shop at the Library of Virginia https://www.thevirginiashop.org/. The third book in the trilogy, Parish Lines Diocese of Virginia, is available for purchase on Amazon and from numerous used book sellers.)
Parish lines, Diocese of Virginia (The last in the trilogy by Charles Francis Cocke, this book is available from Amazon and numerous used book sellers. A digital copy of this publication is not available online. This publication roughly covers the geographic area north of the James River and east and north of the Nelson and Augusta County lines excluding the lower Peninsula and the Eastern Shore.)
Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives: A Guide to Resources in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia (Link to a guide compiled by Cheryl Adams and Art Emerson, Humanities and Social Sciences Division, Library of Congress, January 1998.)
Virginia Church History – FamilySearch Wiki

Research Guides

A guide to Bible records in the Archives Branch, Virginia State Library (Hart III, Lyndon H., compiler. A Guide to Bible Records in the Archives Branch, Virginia State Library. Two volumes. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library and Archives, 1999.)
A Guide to Church Records in the Archives Branch (Clark, Jewell T. and Elizabeth Terry Long, compilers. A Guide to Church Records in the Archives Branch, Virginia State Library and Archives. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library and Archives, 1988.)
A preliminary guide to pre-1904 county records in the Virginia State Library and Archives (Ray, Suzanne Smith, Lyndon H. Hart III, and J. Christian Kolbe, A Preliminary Guide to Pre-1904 County Records in the Virginia State Library and Archives. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library and Archives, 1994.)
Annual Reports of Archival Accessions (Published annually by The Library of Virginia by fiscal year since 1 July 1970. Link is for 1993; search Google books for other years.)
Blackstone’s Commentaries: with notes of reference… (Tucker, St. George. Blackstone’s Commentaries: with Notes of Reference, to The Constitution of the United States; and of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Five volumes. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: William Young Birch, Abraham Small, 1803.)
Circuit Court Records Preservation Program Newsletter (The Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP) is a part of the Library of Virginia’s Local Records Services Branch. Funded through a $3.50 of the clerk’s recordation fee, the CCRP provides resources to help preserve and make accessible permanent circuit court records. The program awards grants to the commonwealth’s circuit court clerks to help them address the needs of the records housed in their localities. The CCRP also provides resources needed to process and house the circuit court records that are transferred to the State Archives for safekeeping and increased access; as well as track, duplicate and maintain circuit court microfilm stored in the Library’s media vault. The CCRP newsletter, published twice a year, contains helpful articles on preservation projects, historical courthouse information, and Virginia record sources.)
Commentaries on the Laws of England; in four books (Blackstone, Sir William. Commentaries on the Laws of England; in four books. Four volumes. Chicago, Illinois: Callaghan and Company, 1872.)
Index to the Virginia Genealogist (Dorman, John Frederick. Index to the Virginia Genealogist, Volumes 1-50 (in 3 volumes), 1957-2006. Falmouth, Virginia, 2007.)
Index to the Virginia genealogist, Volumes 1-20, 1957-1976 (Dorman, John Frederick. Index to the Virginia Genealogist, Volumes 1-20, 1957-1976. Springfield, Virginia: Genealogical Books-in-Print, 1981.)
The Statutes at Large of Virginia, from October 1792, to December session 1806, Inclusive… (Shepherd, Samuel, editor. The Statutes at Large of Virginia, from October 1792, to December session 1806, Inclusive, in three volumes (new series) Being a Continuation of Hening. Three volumes. Richmond, Virginia, 1835-6. New York, 1968.)
The Statutes at Large, Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, 1619-1792 (Hening, William Waller. The Statutes at Large, Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, 1619-1792. Thirteen volumes. Reprint Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 1969.)
Using the Virginia Historical Index (Swem) at the Library of Virginia
Virginia County Court Records (Heritage Books. Abstracted pre-1800 wills and deeds from Albemarle, Caroline, Culpeper, Essex, Fairfax, Fredricksburg City, King George, Lancaster, Loudoun, Madison, Middlesex, Northumberland, Orange, Petersburg City, Prince William, (Old) Rappahannock, Richmond, Spotsylvania, and Stafford Counties. There are cumulative indexes for everything published before 1993.)
Virginia Historical Index (Swem, E.G. Virginia Historical Index. 1936. Reprint (2 volumes). Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith, 1965. Indexes the following: The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volumes 1-38 (1893-1930). William and Mary Quarterly Historical Magazine, First Series, Volumes 1-27 (1892-1919); Second Series, Volumes 1-10 (1921-1930). Tyler’s Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Volumes 1-10 (1919-1929). Virginia Historical Register and Literary Advertiser, Volumes 1-6 (1848-53). Lower Norfolk County Virginia Antiquary, Volumes 1-4 (1895-1906). Hening’s Statutes at Large,…a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, 1619-1792. 13 volumes. Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts Preserved in the Capitol at Richmond, 1652-1869, Volumes 1-11. [Index has been digitized and is available to search using public computers at the Earl Gregg Swem library at the College of William and Mary.)
Virtual Jamestown (This site provides transcribed examples of indentured servant contracts, a copy of a letter home to England from an indentured servant, examples of runaway ads, as well as many of the laws enacted in Virginia pertaining to indentured servitude. Court records from Tidewater counties such as Accomack, York, Essex and Richmond and interestingly enough from Augusta County, recount cases involving indentured servants both as plaintiffs and defendants. York County records are available on the main section, while the other county records are found in the Geography of Slavery section. There are also four databases of individuals sent to the New World from the ports of Bristol, Middlesex and London, covering 1654-1759.)

Societies

Vital Records

Library of Virginia Vital Records

West Virginia

West Virginia Archives and History