Louisa County Virginia History and Genealogy

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Louisa County Virginia

Louisa County was established on 1 Dec. 1742 from the portion of Hanover County lying above the mouth of Little Rocky Creek on the North Anna River. The new county honored the Queen of Denmark, daughter of King George II. From Louisa's new land in 1761 came the northern half of the newly created Albemarle County, and at that time Louisa reached its present configuration. Louisa's records are complete, with the exception of the current court order book for the 1860s, which went to Richmond and was believed destroyed in the evacuation of the city. The county's deed book for the 1860s period was carried off as a souvenir by Federal troops, but was later recovered in a Baltimore hotel and bought back by the County Board of supervisors for $25!

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LOUISA COUNTY, VA 1810 "SUBSTITUTE CENSUS" [Abstracts from the 1810 Personal Property Tax List] by John Vogt, 2010, 5 1/2"x 8 1/2" format, viii, 14 pages, map.
Louisa is one of eighteen Virginia counties for which the 1810 census is lost. In August, 1814 British troops occupied Washington, DC and public buildings were put to the torch. In the destruction that followed, numerous early records of the government were lost, including all of Virginia's 1790 and 1800 census reports, as well as eighteen county lists for the state's most recent [1810] federal census. Although two "fair copies" of each county's census had been left in the counties for public display, these were ephemeral lists and not preserved, and by 1814 they too had been mislaid, lost, or destroyed. Hence, the closest document available we have to reconstruct a partial image of the missing county lists is the personal property tax list.
According to research notes by Minor T. Weisiger, Library of Virginia archivist: "Information recorded in Virginia personal property tax records changed gradually from 1782 to 1865. The early laws required the tax commissioner in each district to record in "a fair alphabetical list" the names of the person chargeable with the tax, the names of white male tithables over the age of twenty-one, the number of white male tithables between ages sixteen and twenty-one, the number of slaves both above and below age sixteen, various types of animals such as horses and cattle, carriage wheels, ordinary licenses, and even billiard tables. Free Negroes are listed by name and often denoted in the list as "free" or "FN."
The present abstract of Louisa's 1810 personal property tax list is NOT a transcript of the entire document; rather, it is a summary of three items important in delineating the 1810 "substitute" census for this county, i.e., number of male tithables 16 and older, number of slaves twelve years and older, and the number of horses. The original form of the census was in alphabetic order by date and letter. The substitute list presented here is in absolute alphabetic order for easy reference.

In the current volume, the data is recorded thus:
Armstrong, William 1 - -,
to indicate one tithable male, no slaves over 12, and no horses, mares or mules.
For genealogical researchers in this 1810 period, personal property tax records may provide additional important information. Oftentimes, juniors and seniors are listed adjacent to one another and recorded on the same day. When a taxpayer is noted as "exempt", it can be a clue to someone holding a particular position in government or being elderly, infirm, or for some other reason no longer required to pay the tithable tax. Women, both black and white, appear occasionally as heads of households when they own property in their own right or as the widow of a property owner.
Another valuable source for filling in information about an ancestor is the land tax record, and especially the one for 1815. In that year, the enumerators began to add the location of the property in relation to the county court house. Thus "Armstrong, William", who was living with only himself as a tithable in 1810, would appear in the land tax list as Armstrong, William, with four other Armstrongs living nearby (John Sr., John Jr., Lancelott, and William (Jr.), all residing on Cubb Creek west of the main east-west road through Louisa and halfway between the Louisa court house and the Hanover county line. Roger Ward has abstracted all of the 1815 land tax records, and they are available from this publisher below.
The 1810 substitute census list for Louisa County contains 1,113 households, 1,309 tithables, both white and free black, 3,486 slaves over the age of twelve, and 2,813 horses.

SURNAMES included in the 1810 personal property list are:
Abraham (FN); Adams; Ailstock; Akew; Albright; Allen; Almond; Alvis; Ambler; Anderson; Anthony; Applebe; Armstrong; Arnett; Arnold; Astin; Atkins; Atkison; Austin

Bagby; Bagett; Bailey; Bain; Baker; Baley; Barbie; Barret; Barrett; Baughan; Beach; Beck; Beedles; Beeles; Bell; Belomy; Bibb; Bickley; Biggar; Bird; Blackwell; Boid; Bond; Borden; Bourn; Bourne; Bowles; Bowling; Bowls; Boxley; Boyers; Bradford; Bragg; Bramham; Branham; Brittain; Bronaugh; Brook; Brooks; Brown; Bullock; Bumpass; Bunch; Burnley; Burrus; Butler

Callis; Campbell; Captain; Carlton; Carpenter; Carroll; Carver; Cash; Cason; Chambers; Chapman; Chewning; Chick; Chiles; Chisholm; Chisler; Christmas; Christmus; Chuning; Clark; Clarke; Clayton; Cloughf; Coats; Cobb; Cock; Cocks; Coghill; Cole; Collins; Cook; Cooper; Corley; Cosby; Cowherd; Cranke; Crawford; Crenshaw; Cross; Cruse; Culp

Dabney; Dalton; Daniel; Dashper; Davis; Day; Dickenson; Dickinson; Diggs; Dobbs; Dobson; Dolton; Dowls; Downing; Draper; Dudley; Duggin; Duglass; Duke; Dunkins; Dunn; Dunnavant; Dunnavent

Edds; Edwards; Eggleston; Estis; Etan

Farguson; Faris; Farrer; Fielding; Flanagan; Flanagin; Fleeman; Fleming; Fletcher; Ford; Fortson; Fortune; Foster; Fox; Freeman; Freiman; Fulshar; Fuqua

Gardner; Garland; Garrett; Garrott; Gasney; Gentrey; Gentry; Gibson; Gilbert; Gilliam; Ginnings; Glasby; Glass; Glen; Going; Gooch; Goodman; Goodwin; Gordon; Grady; Graven; Graves; Gray; Grinstead; Grinsted; Groom; Grubbs; Grubs; Gunnel; Gunter; Gustin

Hackett; Haines; Hall; Halsall; Hambleton; Hancock; Hardin; Hardwood; Harlow; Harper; Harris; Hart; Hartsoak; Hawkins; Head; Henderson; Hendrake; Henley; Henson; Hester; Hinche; Hines; Hodges; Hogg; Hoggard; Holland; Holliday; Hollins; Hope; Hopkins; Hord; Houchins; Howchins; Hubbard; Hughson; Humphrey; Hunter; Hutcherson

Ingland; Isbel

Jackson; Jennings; Johnson; Jones; Jordone

Keen; Kenedy; Kennon; Kenny; Kent; Kersey; Kimbrough; King; Knighten; Kunl

Lacey; Landrum; Lanford; Lasley; Lawrence; Lea; Lee; Lefaunt; Lemay; Leneve; Lewis; Lindsay; Linny; Lipscomb; Locker; Loid; Long; Looring; Lowrey; Lowry; Loyl; Lucas; Luck; Lumsden

Madison; Mallory; Man; Mann; Mansfield; Mantloe; Markes; Martin; Massee; Matthew; Maury; May; McAllister; McDaniel; McGehee; Meade; Meed; Meeks; Melton; Meriwether; Merriwether; Michie; Mill; Mills; Minor; Mitchell; Morris; Morton; Mosby; Moss; Munday; Murphy

Napier; Nash; Nelson; Norman; Nuckolls

Osbourn; Overton

Padget; Painter; Parish; Parrott; Parsons; Patterson; Pears; Peay; Peers; Pendleton; Pennington; Perce; Perkins; Perry; Peter; Pettus; Philips; Plant; Pleasants; Poindexter; Porter; Pottee; Powers; Price; Pulleam; Pulliam

Quarles; Quisenbury

Ragland; Ratliff; Rayner; Reatherford; Red; Reddy; Rennolds; Reynolds; Rice; Richardson; Right; Rigsby; Rion; Roberts; Robertson; Rowe; Rowlins

Sandidge; Sargent; Saunders; Scott; Seay; Self; Sexton; Sharp; Sharpe; Shealds; Shelbourn; Shelton; Shepherd; Shepherdson; Shirley; Sims; Slayden; Sled; Smith; Sneed; Snelson; Southworth; Spicer; Sprouce; Stephen; Steward; Stone; Stovers; Strong; Stubbs; Swift

Talley; Tally; Tate; Taylor; Terrell; Terrill; Terry; Thacker; Thomas; Thomason; Thompson; Thomson; Tiler; Timberlake; Tisdale; Toler; Tolloh; Trainum; Tranham; Travilian; Trice; Trower; Trueheart; Turner; Tyler; Tyre

Uleyat; Underwood

Vest

Waddy; Wade; Waldrope; Waldroup; Walker; Waller; Wallis; Walton; Ward; Ware; Warren; Wash; Watkins; Watson; Webb; Webster; Wesley; Wharton; Whealer; White; Whitlock; Whitten; Williams; Willis; Willoughby; Wilshire; Winkefield; Winston; Wood; Woodger; Wright; Wyatt

Yancey; Yancy; Young

[LSPP] $4.50 (printed version)

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[ELSPP] $3.00 (electronic version)

THE DOUGLAS REGISTER, Being a detailed record of Births, Marriages and Deaths together with other interesting notes, as kept by the Reverend William Douglas, from 1750 to 1797 [With an Index of Goochland Wills and Notes on the French Huguenot Refugees who Lived in Manakin-Town].
Richmond, Va., 1928 edition, vi, 408 pages AVAILABLE IN ELECTRONIC (PDF) FORMAT ONLY

The celebrated Douglas Register is an indispensable compilation of births, marriages, and deaths covering the period from about 1750 to 1797, with some miscellaneous records going back to 1705. The registers are for the parishes of St. James Northam (Dover Church) and King William, but they concern individuals who were residents of the Virginia counties of Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa, Orange, and Spotsylvania. Entries under the headings of births, marriages, and deaths are arranged alphabetically, with marriages divided into separate lists for husbands and wives. The entries exceed several thousand in number. The book also includeslists of Huguenot settlers at Manakin-Town (King William Parish) and an index of Goochland County wills, 1728-1840, containing about 1,000 names with references to dates and locations.

[EDREG] $18.00 (electronic version only

LOUISA COUNTY, VA DEATH RECORDS, 1853-1896 by Janice Abercrombie, 1997, 5"x8" format, 380 pages, index, taken from a film of the original register maintained by the county clerk. They are presented as they appear on the film with one exception: the clerk at some times wrote them surname, given names and at other times given name, surname. Obviously, people do not die in alphabetical order, so these records must have been copied from some other entry book or certificates. It contains the records of the Woodward Funeral Home from 1907-1911, a supplement to the clerk's record. Begun in the 1880s, the earliest extant book dates from 1907.
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[Lsdr] $29.50

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[ELSDR] $18.00 (electronic version)

COHABITATION LISTS OF FORMER SLAVES IN GOOCHLAND, HANOVER, AND LOUISA COUNTIES, VIRGINIA, AS RECORDED BY THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU Transcribed by Janice Abercrombie, 2002, 8"x11" format, 140 pages, index.In February, 1866 the General Assembly passed an act that called for the registration of marriages of former slaves who wished to have their unions recorded This fell under the jurisdiction of the Freedmen's Bureau. These lists provide an unparalleled window into the patterns of slave marriages. For example, in the Hanover list, in addition to the ages and full names of husband and wife, it records the date and place of marriage, the couple's places of birth and residence, marital status (single or widowed), and husband's occupation. The Goochland and Louisa lists record similar date in most cases.
To view a digital copy of the index to this book, visit Index-Gchl
(Use your back arrow to return to Iberian's catalog) [Gchl] $26.95

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[EGCHL] $15.00 (electronic version)

LOUISA COUNTY, VA JUDGMENTS, 1770-1790 by Janice Abercrombie, 1998, 8"x11" format, 205 pages, index, taken from a film of the original register maintained by the county clerk. They consisted originally of loose papers in no particular order except in a generalchronological order. The reel and reel frame is given so a researcher can go to each case. The compiler has also made an index citing name, reel, frame and date for just about everyone mentioned in all of the suits on these rolls of film. There are about 21,000 separate entries in this index. Of course, some names are mentioned several times.
To view a digital copy of the index to this book, visit Index-Lsjd
(Close the pdf file with the left arrow to return to Iberian's catalog) [Lsjd] $32.00

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WARTIME LETTERS OF LOUISA COUNTY, VIRGINIA: THE COOKE FAMILY PAPERS, 1859-1866 transcribed and annotated by Pattie Cooke. 1997, 158 pages, photos.
The Cooke family legacy consists of the letters and family papers of Arthur Bledsoe Cooke, which begin with his mother's teenage years in 1859, prior to the Civil War, and end with his death in 1947.
This book includes a set of letters written at the time of the Civil War. The war letters were written to Sallie Farrar Anderson Cooke before her marriage, between 1859 and 1866. Arthur Cooke was born into a home which was part of a large community of cousins, aunts and uncles. The earliest letters delve into that world.
Beginning in 1859 the correspondence to Sallie Farrar Anderson introduces the many people who made up her world, most of whom were also important in her son's life. There are no letters from Sallie during the 1859-1866 period. The only letters from Sallie started when Arthur was at The University in 1894 and continued until her death in 1899. This book contains only the Civil War letters. They concern Sallie's family and friends, who later became the adult models of Arthur's childhood and formative years. It is from this family and rural community that he found the strength to excel.
The families represented in the letters consist of small farmers and artisans. Sallie's Uncle William Carter was the only one who professed a desire for a higher status, striving for the "plantation" life.
The letters are not the only sources of information. Sallie's first cousin, Pattie Carter Dettor wrote a "diary" later in life about her youth. Sallie's brother Carter S. Anderson wrote articles about his service on the Central Virginia Railroad during the war. These articles were later made into a book called Trains running for the Confederacy. Her uncle William Scott Carter wrote long letters to the editor in the Gordonsville Gazette in the 1870s. It is rare to find such a large amount of corroborating information concerning the life of a small farm family. Also Arthur Cooke wrote a book for his children about life in postwar Virginia. He best and most eloquently captured the spirit of the community.
The topics broached in the letters are consistent with any generation of young single and married people. They write about everyday life, their dreams and feelings. The young men joined the army because of their loyalty to independence and because it provided jobs. Through the letters the reader comes to know three communities, two in Louisa; Melton's and Gum Springs, and one in Albemarle county, Ivy Depot. The two newest communities, Melton's and Ivy Depot were dependent on the railroad for jobs and transportation. The railroad was also a factor in their day to day life. All the writers made very clear their reliance on religion to sustain them through the tragedies in their life and the extra burden of war. The letters reveal the co-dependency of men and women and the communities reliance on their family and neighbors. The result was an interlocking network that blurred the lines of possession between one family and another. Members felt as wealthy as their wealthiest neighbor.
The Anderson family letters capture the intangible quality and intensity of rural Community feeling and religion in a time of strife. Throughout the letters are examples of families sharing losses, goods, labor and love. It was this mutual support that made the war bearable, and, with the help of God, they survived the war with remarkably few scars.
[Cook] $24.50

FREE BLACKS OF LOUISA COUNTY, VA: BONDS, WILLS & OTHER RECORDS transcribed by Janice Luck Abercrombie. 1993, vi, 193 pages, index. Ms. Abercrombie pulls together in this volume records on free blacks in Louisa, drawing from a number of sources as early as wills in the 1780s and records of free blacks during the Civil War. An important volume for black researchers and social historians interested in this aspect of Virginia's rich cultural history.
[Fblc] $26.95

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LOUISA COUNTY, VIRGINIA 1850 FEDERAL CENSUS Transcribed by Marty Hiatt & Craig Roberts Scott. 1995, 201 pages, index. A faithful transcription of the first census which included all family members and not merely heads of households. Includes age, sex, race, occupation, place of birth, and valuable fiscal data.
To view a digital copy of the index to this book, visit Index-Lo50
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Louisa Co. 1815 Directory of Landowners by Roger G. Ward. 2005. 34 pages, map, 5 1/2X8 1/2.
For a full description of the 1815 LAND DIRECTORY Records and a listing of available counties, see combined volume below

[Vd60] $8.00

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[EVd60] $6.00 (electronic version)

1815 DIRECTORY OF VIRGINIA LANDOWNERS & GAZETTEER, vol. 1 Central Region (Includes the counties of Albemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Buckingham, Charles City, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Fluvanna, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, independent city of Petersburg, independent city of Richmond, Louisa, Nelson, New Kent, Nottoway, Powhatan, and Prince George.) abstracted by Roger G. Ward. 1997, vi, 239 pages, indices, maps.
In 1782 the General Assembly of Virginia enacted new tax laws which created within each county an enumeration of land and certain personal property. These 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 was also added to the tax rolls.
The present work is an alphabetical listing of all 1815 landowners found in each county, as well as the accompanying description of the location of the said property. We have not included the number of acres, taxes assessed, or any transactions between landowners which may have been noted on the tax rolls; also, in many cases the geographic location was provided as "adjacent to John Smith", etc. and, while useful many times to a genealogist, was considered to be beyond the objectives of this project. The reader is encouraged to consider the information here-in as an "outline" of early landowners in Virginia rather than a "text" due to the year-to-year variation in information provided to the clerk (or recorded by the clerk), omissions, lack of "identifiers" to determine if "same name" was also "same person" within a district or across districts, marginal quality/clarity (in a few cases) of the microfilm copy, and, not least, errors on the part of either the original clerks or the current author while transcribing.
Some of the approaches to utilizing the 1815 landowner information include:
observe distinct clusters of the same surname within a county in order to clarify the common surnames such as "Smith", "Anderson", etc;
identify non-resident landowners and their county (or state) of residence (these people often being former residents of the current county);
determine neighbors with different surnames (often being relatives);
use the 1815 information as a "bridge" from the 18th and 19th century deed/will books to the 17th and 18th century land grants/patents in the county;
evaluate the 1810 to 1840 census information which generally grouped neighbors;
substitute this information for missing deed/will books in the "burned" counties; and, clarify/enhance vague deed/will information in the counties with more complete records.
FORMAT OF PRESENTATION: Each entry is listed as: Surname, name, personal identifiers (if any); location/place-name of land; miles/direction from the 1815 courthouse. If multiple owners are listed for a property, the listing is duplicated under each of the owner's surnames (i.e "Smith and Brown" is also listed as "Brown, --see Smith"); when multiple owners share a common surname, the property is only listed once. When a landowner had land at more than one location/place-name, the miles/direction listing for each parcel is in the same sequence as the location listing (i.e. James RV, Slate CK; 12N, 5SW.). In the few cases where a landowner had "many" parcels, the miles/direction notation is attached to the location listing (i.e. Sandy RV- 5NE, Willow CK-7S, etc.)

[Vdl1] $32.00 (paper version)

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[EVDL-1] $20.00 (electronic version)

Louisa Co. Revolutionary Public Claims transcribed by Janice L. Abercrombie and Richard Slatten.. 2005. 73 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

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[Pc41] $8.75 (printed version)

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[EPc41] $6.00 (electronic version)

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

COHABITATION LISTS OF FORMER SLAVES FOR GOOCHLAND, HANOVER & LOUISA COUNTIES, VIRGINIA, AS RECORDED BY THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU
MEN IN GRAY INTERMENTS series
York 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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Iberian Publishing Company's On-Line Catalog: Louisa County Virginia

Iberian Publishing Company's On-Line Catalog:
Louisa County Virginia