Iberian Publishing Company's On-Line Catalog:
Independent City of Williamsburg

VIRGINIA GAZETTE INDEX, 1736-1780 Cappon, Lester J. & Stella F. Duff. 2 volumes, 1314 pages, originally published by The Institute of Early American History and Culture (Williamsburg, Va, 1950) [Available only in electronic {pdf} format]

From the Introduction The historical value of the Virginia Gazette of Williamsburg, second oldest newspaper in the southern colonies, and of its successors and competitors, has long been recognized. ....Although it is hoped that many a scholar will read the files of the Virginia Gazette for more effective research on his particular subject, the peculiar nature of the newspaper as a historical source offers a wealth of detail on countless subjects, persons, and localities which in many instances are "lost" in the files because the time required for search is scarcely justified by the probable results. The Index will serve to estimate those results with considerable accuracy. It will also provide unexpected information on related subjects and a cursory scanning of its pages may suggest new subjects for research initiated through the colonial newspaper. Beside these services the Index will of course furnish direct answers to myriad specific questions of fact asked by a wide variety of investigators........

The newspapers indexed begin with the earliest known issue of William Parks' Virginia Gazette, no. 6, September 11, 1736, and terminate with the last issue of Clarkson & Davis printed in Williamsburg. When the capital of Virginia was moved to Richmond in 1780, printers were inclined to transfer their business to the new seat of government..

The material in the colonial newspaper may be classified roughly under two heads, news and advertisements; the editorial or anything comparable to it is seldom found. Since the ads in the Virginia Gazette are local in character and the source of much unique information especially on tidewater Virginia, they have been indexed in full by person, institution, place, and subject. Thus, for example, all items of merchandise listed for sale are included; but books for sale are indexed by list and by author, not by title and subject, because titles given are often inaccurate and do not indicate the actual subjects. The Virginia Gazette contains little local news . The printers derived some news of other colonies and countries from travelers and their letters but more was copied from other newspapers. This portion of the text is indexed for its value as "news, " especially of other colonies and the mother country, however belated and rumored, because some of it may not be found elsewhere and because what Virginians read from week to week is important in evaluating their actions and reactions. Therefore all personal names pertaining to the British colonies and the Empire have been indexed along with a wealth of subject matter. Subjects have been given precedence over geographical places as main headings, except in the case of activities or functions of official agencies of governments, which, we believe, will be most readily available under the geographical designation. Cross references from the name of the place to the subject will meet the needs of users with a geographical approach. Local news from Great Britain is indexed in less detail than imperial and colonial, and news from the rest of the world with most selectivity . . . .

The early files of the Virginia Gazette use Old Style dates during January, February, and March but they have been indexed New Style. These issues also carry a double date for the beginning and end of each week; only the latter date has been used in indexing. Thus the issue dated Jan. 5 to Jan. 12, 1738 is rendered as Jan. 12, 1739; the issue dated Mar. 14, 1750-1 as Mar. 14, 1751.

Since the Virginia Gazette printed before 1766 had no competitor, symbols for printers' names are not used in references prior to that year. A typical reference is translated as follows: PD15Oc72: 23 is Purdie & Dixon's Virginia Gazette, October 15, 1772, page 2, column 3. After 1765, identical ads in two or three papers are indicated by references connected by the hyphen, but only the first printing of the ad in each paper is indexed. Where the hyphen connects a reference to one paper with two references to another paper, two separate items are referred to, printed in the same column in one paper but in two different columns in the other paper .

This Index was compiled from all known copies of the newspapers reproduced by photostat.

The following abbreviations are used in the references:
Names of printers:
C- Clarkson & Davis D- Dixon & Hunter, Dixon & Nicolson
P- Purdie, 1775-79
PD- Purdie, 1766, succeeded by Purdie & Dixon
Pi- Pinckney
R- Rind
Names of months, etc.
Ja-January; F-February; Mr-March; Ap-April; My-May; Je-June; ll-July; Ag-August; S-September; Oc-October; N-November; l)-December;
b-broadside; p-postscript; s-supplement

BRUTON PARISH, VIRGINIA REGISTER, 1662-1797
transcribed & edited by John Vogt. 2004, 8x10, xiv, 119 pages, index. Paperback; printed on acid-free stock.

the parish register which survives covers the years 1662, twelve years before the formation of Bruton Parish (these records are those of the earlier Middleton Parish) up past the American Revolution to the mid 1790s. It records life events for both the great men of society as well as artisans, children, servants, slaves, bastard children, and reflects a cross-section of the Williamsburg community during its heyday when it served as the capital of the colony. More than 3,400 entries list either births, baptisms, deaths, or burials. There are no marriage records.

The editor has provided a meticulous transcription of the register, using his training in colonial paleography to correct many of the previous mis-readings. A full index is included as well as an extensive introduction. This will provide valuable information for anyone with family in the York/James City/Williamsburg area during the eighteenth century.

Dating from 1715, Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg is the third in a series of Anglican houses of worship that began in 1658. The first, which may have been at or near the 18th-century site, was built, probably of wood, in the Old Fields at Middle Plantation, Williamsburg's name until the 66-year-old community was incorporated in 1699.

Formed from Middletown and Marston Parishes in 1674, Bruton Parish was about 10 miles square. It is named for Bruton, Somersetshire, in England, the home of then-Governor William Berkeley and Virginia secretary Thomas Ludwell. As late as 1724, the parish contained only 110 families.

The church stood near the center of Williamsburg's original survey map drawn 15 years later. Its location suggested the church's importance to the colonial community's life. Virginia governors, from the time of Alexander Spotswood, were provided with a canopied chair on a platform inside the rail opposite the raised pulpit with its overhanging sounding board. Parishioners sat in boxed pews, their walls providing privacy and protection from drafts. In the early years the sexes sat apart. A vestry book entry for January 9, 1716, says: Ordered that the Men sitt on the North side of the church, and the women on the left.

Among the Williamsburg notables buried beneath the marble flagstones inside the church was Governor Francis Fauquier, one of the best loved of the colonial governors, who died in 1768. The same year an English organ was installed. Gaolkeeper Peter Pelham was hired to play it and he brought to church with him a prisoner from the Gaol, whose job it was to pump the instrument.

Among the men of the Revolution who attended Bruton Parish Church were Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, Patrick Henry, and George Mason.

• York County
• James City County
• Guide to Virginia Militia Units in the War of 1812
• Chart on the Formation of Virginia Counties
• Atlas of County Boundary Changes in Virginia, 1634-1895
• Index to the 1810 Virginia Census

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