Research Guides

Method-first guidance for Virginia genealogy—jurisdiction, record types, and specialized research paths. Start with Start Here if you are new.

Start here

• Start Here: Researching Virginia Ancestors featured
  A practical path from “I have a name and a place” to records that actually exist in Virginia.

Jurisdictions & places

• Counties, Independent Cities & Formation featured
  Why your ancestor is “missing” from a county that did not exist yet—and how cities differ from counties.

Record types

• Census Research in Virginia featured
  Federal schedules, gaps, and how to use census evidence with Virginia jurisdictions.
• Vital Records (Birth, Marriage, Death) featured
  Statewide registration is uneven—here is how to prove life events in Virginia.
• Land & Property Records featured
  Patents, grants, plats, deeds, and boundary language that place families on the ground.
• Probate, Estates & Guardianship featured
  Wills, administrations, inventories, and guardian bonds that name heirs and property.
• Military Records (Revolution through 20th Century) featured
  Virginia paths for Revolutionary service, Civil War, and later conflicts.
• Church & Parish Records
  Baptisms, marriages, burials, and membership lists when civil vitals are thin.
• Newspapers & Obituaries
  Marriages, obituaries, court notes, and community news across Virginia titles.
• Cemeteries & Burial Research
  Markers, surveys, churchyards, and why absence of a stone is not absence of burial.

Specialized research

• African American Research in Virginia featured
  Strategies for enslaved and free Black ancestors across Tidewater, Piedmont, and the mountains.
• Indigenous Research in Virginia featured
  Respectful starting points for Virginia Indian nations and multi-state kin networks.
• DNA & Genetic Genealogy for Virginia Families
  How DNA helps—and how endogamy and migration corridors complicate matches.
• Immigration & Migration Paths
  Great Wagon Road, Tidewater ports, and corridors into and out of Virginia.

Repositories

• Virginia Archives & Repositories (quick start) featured
  Quick orientation to LVA, local clerks, and digital portals.
• Major Repositories & Libraries featured
  Where the big collections live—state, university, and national.