Frederick County Virginia Records

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Frederick County Virginia

Frederick County was created from Orange County by an Act of the Virginia Burgesses in November, 1738. It was named for Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales and eldest son of George II. However, because the new county lacked sufficient tithables to support itself, the Governor and Council did not authorize the formal establishment of Frederick until November Court, 1743. In the interim, the first significant group of new settlers had arrived from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and other states north of Virginia. They followed the well-worn Indian trail along the Opequon Valley which became part of the later "Great Valley Road." Other settlers from the Piedmont and Tidewater areas of Virginia soon joined them In its original configuration, "Old" Frederick County encompassed the present counties of Frederick, Clarke, Berkeley (WV), Jefferson (WV), Morgan (WV), and portions of Warren, Hampshire (WV), and Hardy (WV). Frederick grew in size in 1754 when all of Augusta County's land within the boundaries of the Northern Neck were added to it. This brought most of Shenandoah and part of Page County within its jurisdiction. That same year Hampshire County was divided from Frederick. In 1772 Berkeley and Dunmore (later Shenandoah) counties were separated from Frederick. The final division of Frederick's lands came in 1836 with the creation of Clarke and Warren counties. This left Frederick in its present configuration (nine square miles of Frederick's land was annexed to the city of Winchester in 1970).

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Frederick County,Virginia Court Order Book One, 11 Nov. 1743 through 6 Dec, 1744
Charles and Virginia Hamrick, 2007, ii, 395 pp., index, 8½" x 11" format. The Hamricks have produced a careful transcription of the first legal volume for Frederick County. A full index of names is provided, as well as annotations and a glossary of arcane terms to explain the legal terminology. This is a most important work for those genealogists researching in this frontier area, for it transitions many of the early pionerrs out from their parent county records in Orange County, and it places them in space and time in the upper Shenandoah Valley. This will be a reference tool for many generations to come, as the original court hand is difficult to read and the original index with the manuscript copy in the archives is only a partial listing at best.
[Frc1 $39.95

Frederick County,Virginia 1810 Federal Census: A Transcription
John Vogt, 2007, viii, 55 pp., full name index, 8½" x 11" format, figures, map (1809). Census returns are some of the first records that a genealogist turns to when studying a new family line. Unfortunately for Frederick County, as well as Virginia as a whole, both the 1790 and 1800 census reports for that state are lost. While the reason for their loss is argued, they nevertheless no longer exist. While personal property tax and land tax lists (which date from 1782) can be used to give some information about individuals, they do not give the researcher a glimpse into family composition or a snapshot of the county as a whole Hence Frederick’s 1810 census is the first real window we have from the census records of this huge western county sitting astride the Shenandoah River and the Great Wagon Road west. With the advent of the computer age and the publication of most of these early censuses, one would expect that many of the genealogist’s problems would be resolved. Unfortunately, this has not happened. While many researchers rely completely upon online census records, these are often flawed by misread names and missing names altogether. The problem is the difficult reading of the documents, which often are written in a tight, cramped hand and with a myriad of possible readings. The close similarity between “S’ and “L,” “F” and “T”, and recognizing the secretarial s, which appears as “ss” in the middle of words but not as an ending, can lead to nightmares in translation. Oftentimes, there is no distinction between an “e”, an “o”, and an “a” unless the reader is familiar with the family names within the document. These are only a few visual issues facing the transcriber. The author has been fortunate to have a professional background in paleography and history, both medieval and modern. In transcribing the current volume, comparison was made with other documents, as well as carefully examining each questionable character under magnification to ascertain the true intent of the writer. In all, there were but four instances out of 2,696 names where the reading simply could not be made. In the process, it became apparent that sometimes the census recorder himself was not familiar with strange-sounding German names or heavy Scottish brogues. One spelling would appear in the first encounter with the family, and then later on in the document a different spelling would be given for the same family surname. In brief, computerized lists, while useful, do not give a total and accurate picture of the data. A second, and even more vexing problem, is the “bleed through” found on many pages of the document. The census was recorded in booklet form, consisting of twenty-five sheets of paper that were folded in the middle and written on in landscape fashion. So when the first half of the first page was filled with information and turned over, the back of that sheet became page two, with the upside-down writing of the first page often bleeding through to smear both names and data. In addition, the census enumerator conserved paper by writing in a very tiny hand, and herein lies the problem with “a”, “e” and “o” in the body of a name. Only by carefully examining the transitions between characters can an accurate reading be obtained. When a searched-for family name has been located in a county as large as Frederick, the first question which comes to mind is “In what part of the county did he or she live?” Was it a back-country mountain settlement, or did the ancestor reside near a huge plantation filled with slaves or industry? Did they live in one of the growing towns or in the countryside? Wills and deeds can give a good picture of the location, or you can use the census itself in conjunction with one other valuable source. This is the 1815 land tax. The early land tax laws required a tax commissioner in each district of a county to record a list of the names of persons owning land or town lots, the quantity of land owned and its value, and the amount of tax owed. By 1813, a brief geographic description (usually citing an adjacent stream, road, or other landmark) was required. In 1814, the distance and direction from the courthouse for each parcel were also added to the tax rolls. By checking with this land tax, which does not include all of the census names but does include the actual owners of property, a good idea of where an ancestor resided can often be obtained. The land tax lists for 1815 for every Virginia county existing at that time have been abstracted by Roger G. Ward and are available through New Papyrus Publishing Company. The current volume is a literal transcription of the original document with the following conventions. “Sr.” was substituted for “Senr”; line breaks were entered generally for every five records to give the reader better visual clarity; the secretarial s (ò) was replaced by “s”; and the document header which listed each category was entered on every page for easier identification. Finally, the pencilled number for each page (506-606) was inserted on every line for better reference. This number was selected over the printed number at the right corner of each sheet to better identify the source of the data. Where a name is clearly divergent from the accepted spelling, yet is as printed, a note of [sic] has been added to denote “thus”.

Statistical Summary of population.
Total number of heads of households listed - 2,696
Free White Males, 0-9 2,642 (11.7%)
Free White Males, 10-15 1,298 (5.7%)
Free White Males, 16-24 1,490 (6.6%)
Free White Males, 24-45 1,407 (6.2%)
Free White Males, 45+ 1,030 (4.6%)
Free White Females, 0-9 2,483 (11%)
Free White Females, 10-15 1,267 (5.6%)
Free White Females, 16-24 1,604 (7.1%)
Free White Females, 25-44 1,431 (6.3%)
Free White Females, 45+ 892 (4%)
Other Free Persons 620 (2.7%)
Slaves 6,457 (28.5%)
22,621
811 heads of households (30%) reported owning slaves, with the top five being Nathaniel Burwell, Sr.(325), Thomas Knight (146), Matthew Page (146), John Page (143), and Isaac Hite (103). Just less than 25% of the slave households (197) reported owning only one slave.
[Fr10] $12.00

FREDERICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA NORTHERN NECK (LAND) WARRANTS & SURVEYS, 1747-1780 by Peggy Shomo Joyner. 1985, xxxvii, 205 pp. Published as the second volume in a series of Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys, this collection has become a standard reference work for researchers in the period of colonial Frederick County history.
[Frnn] $25.00

TWO GOOD TREES, THEIR NINE BRANCHES AND THEIR SCATTERED LEAVES: DESCENDANTS OF PETER ROYSTON & ANN ANDERSON (married Frederick Co., Va. 1801 by Donald R. Royston. three volumes [1-121 pp., 2-457 pp., 3-456 pp., 8x10,indices for each volume.The three volumes in this work represent a lifetime of research into this author's ancestor from Frederick Co., Va. The descendancy chart and reference citations cover the nine children from this union: Uriah, Joseph, Frances, Matthew, Hannah, Mary, Peter, Sarah, and Anna. The scholarship is impeccable, and the result is a comprehensive study of an early Frederick Co. family.
[Tgtr] $80.00 three-volume set

IN AND AROUND GERRARDSTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA (Southern Berkeley County, West Virginia and Northern Frederick County, Virginia) 1870's - 1905 by James V. Hutton, Jr. The compilation of the material contained in In and Around Gerrardstown began initially as a project to learn more about family connections, branches of whom resided there and in the adjacent areas of Arden, Jones Spring, the Virginia Line Road and at locations in Frederick County, Va. including DeHaven, Frog Hollow, Grimes (Bragtown), White Hall (The Loop) and the Apple Pie Ridge vicinity. The discovery and perusal some years ago of The Gerardstown Times (one "R") published in the latter 1800's and early 1900's by James Brainerd Morgan on microfilm loaned by West Virginia University at Morgantown was an exhilarating and productive experience, provoking attention sometime in the future. Upon completion of other projects, including In and Around the Loop, Northern Frederick County, Va., the overwhelming desire to compile the local newsbits of The Times and its contemporary newspaper, The West Virginia Good Templar, by the same editor, was given attention. In order to gain background and perspective prior to undertaking this work, a review of existing information was deemed necessary and included familiarity with the following: The History of the Presbyterian Church and Other Sketches of Gerrardstown, W.V. by Sarah Morgan Groff Gordon, 1939; The History of Gerrardstown and Historic Homes in Surrounding Area by Marshall J. Beverly, 1982; the Martinsburg Evening Journal Supplement by the Gerrardstown Men's Club, 1987; The Berkeley Journal - History of Gerrardstown, 1991 and the unpublished diary of Sarah Morgan McKown. After this exposure, innumerable visits were made to the Martinsburg, W.V. Public Library and the Berkeley County Historical Society to review, copy and record information from every issue of The Times and Good Templar known to exist, at least on microfilm - in an undertaking that took well over a year. Researchers will find this primary research to be as interesting and as helpful in understanding more about the life and times of the folk living at the time in Southern Berkeley County, W.V. and Northern Frederick County, Va
[Gerr] $44.95

FREDERICK COUNTY MARRIAGES, 1738-1850 John Vogt & T. William Kethley, Jr. 1984, ix, 461 pages, indices, appendices, figure, map. Although Frederick County was created in 1738, it did not begin to function as a political entity until about 1745. Frederick County and its seat at Winchester lay on a vital crossroads of colonial migration routes into the Ohio Valley and down the Shenandoah Valley into Kentucky and Tennessee. The current volume contains 8,093 marriages, consisting primarily of ministers' returns (with an occasional bond), compiled from a county register in the Virginia State Library, Archives Division. About 1,000 of the records are marriage bonds for which no corresponding minister returns have been found.
[Fred] $30.00

THE FEDERAL CENSUS OF 1850 FOR FREDERICK CO., VA. James V. Hutton, Jr. 1987, xii, introduction, index, 369 pages. The volume contains all of the data originally found in the federal census sheets, plus a section on the 1860 slaveholders for the county.
[Frdc] $19.95

TELL ME OF A LAND THAT'S FAIR James V. Hutton, Jr. 1987, 52 pages, appendix. The author has written an essay on the occasion of the 250th celebration of Frederick County's formation (1738-1988). He covers the broad panoply of the county's development, and his anecdotes at times include the gamut of life and customs of the county's population through the centuries.
[Frdp] $5.00

Introducing a new historical study of
Northern Frederick County, Virginia:
In and Around the Loop
by: JAMES V. HUTTON, Jr.

8 1/2" x 11" format, 188 pages, index, charts, maps and many photographs including over 200 school portraits, © 1998.
The Loop was an early name for White Hall, Virginia. Initially, Court records indicate that the village was called Guadaloupe, translated over the years to Got-A-Loop, God's Loop and The Loop. It became White Hall when the post office was established in 1818.
This text includes notes and stories collected and recorded from church, school and newspaper reportings, as well as oral accounts. The project has been ongoing for many years. As a matter of fact, some stories, articles and research extend backward to childhood.
From histories of various institutions in the northern area of Frederick County, Virginia to previously unpublished material and lists, as well as more personal and entertaining stories related to people, places and things in and around White Hall, Virginia from the early days to the 1940's.
With its complete index of names, Jim Hutton's creative and historically accurate account will prove both entertaining and an indespensible resource for those reasearching genealogies in Frederick County, Virginia and/or the life and times around Brucetown, Cedar Grove, The Ridge, Green Spring, Grimes, Welltown, Rest, Woodbine and White Hall.
[LOOP] $24.95

Frederick Co. 1815 Directory of Landowners by Roger G. Ward. 2005. 44 pages, map, 5 1/2X8 1/2.
For a full description of the 1815 LAND DIRECTORY Records and a listing of available counties, see: Individual County Booklets, 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners
[Vd29] $8.00

Frederick Co. Revolutionary Public Claims transcribed by Janice L. Abercrombie and Richard Slatten.. 2005. 45 pages, 5 1/2X8 1/2.
For a full description of the Virginia Revolutionary Public Claims and a listing of available counties, see: Revolutionary "Publick" Claims series
[Pc24] $6.25

For more records pertaining to FREDERICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA see also:

Augusta County
Clarke County
Orange County
Rockingham County
Shenandoah County

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New Papyrus Publishing Company's On-Line Catalog: Frederick County Virginia

New Papyrus Publishing Company's On-Line Catalog:
Frederick County Virginia