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1815 DIRECTORY OF VIRGINIA LANDOWNERS & GAZETTEER, vol. 3 Eastern Region
(Includes the counties of Accomack, Caroline, Elizabeth City, Essex, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, King and Queen, King George, King William, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Nansemond, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland, Princess Anne, Richmond, Surry, Warwick, Westmoreland, York, and the independent city of Norfolk. ) abstracted by Roger G. Ward. 1997, vi, 252 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.)
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MATHEWS COUNTY, VIRGINIA DEATH REGISTER 1853-1896
by Jane B. Goodsell. 2001, 8.5" x 11" format iv, 146 pp., fully indexed. Residents who died in Mathews County, Virginia between 1866 and 1874 are transcribed along with the name of the decedent, date of death and the name of the Slave Owner, when applicable.
There are a few missing years in the beginning of the death records and also during the years of the Civil War. The years, 1866-1874, are missing from the Mathews County Death Records, Virginia State Library reel from which this book was transcribed.
Unfortunately, there were no instances where parents were listed. This is why the "parents category" is omitted until 1864. However, all individuals are listed together as either (white) or (colored) to indicate race. In the back of this book. The book also contains an index of causes of deaths, and their definitions from these early death records.
A Researcher who is seeking out earlier death records, should see Ms. Goodsell's first Mathews County book (see above), Mathews County Records, 1795-1890 where one will find, Executors Bonds, 1795-1825, Guardians Bonds, 1806-1822, Marriages 1827-1850 performed by Reverend William A. Billups, and Mathews County Marriages 1817-1870 and Mathews County Deaths 1807-1890. However, the names have been copied just as the county clerk wrote them to the best of the transcriber's ability. In some cases, the transcriber refered to the Mathews County Census Records, 1850-1860. Other times she refered to the book, Tombstones of Mathews County, Virginia, published by the Mathews County Historical Society, 1988. Slave names and their owners are listed together at the start of each new year.
Be sure to try variant spellings when searching the book and the index. The book contains a complete every-name index. The surnames only have been taken from the index to help shoppers decide if this book contains their ancestors.
To view a digital copy (pdf) of the index to this book, visit Index-Mtdr
(Close the pdf file with the left arrow to return to Iberian's catalog)
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SOME WILLS FROM THE BURNED COUNTIES OF VIRGINIA
compiled by William Lindsay Hopkins. 6x9 format. Wills from circa 1670-1830 for the counties of Brunswick, Buckingham, Caroline, Charles City, Dinwiddie, Elizabeth City,
Gloucester, Hanover, Henrico, James City, King George, King and Queen, King William, Mathews,
Nansemond, New Kent, Prince George, Prince William, Stafford, and Warwick Counties, Va.
To view a digital copy of the index to this book, visit Index-Swbc
(Use your back arrow to return to Iberian's catalog)
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Mathews County was formed in 1791 from the eastern portion of Gloucester County. It was named for Colonel Thomas Mathews, a Revolutionary soldier and the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates when the county was formed. Mathews's boundaries have remained stable since its creation.
The earliest settlements in the county's area date from the first half of the seventeenth century, and it was the growth of population which spurred the General Assembly to divide Gloucester County into two more "convenient" counties for the inhabitants. Unfortunately, most of Mathews early records were lost during the April, 1865 fire in the Confederate evacuation of Richmond.
MATHEWS CO., VA 1810 CENSUS
transcribed by John Vogt & Elizabeth Vogt. 2009,8 x 10, x, 13 pages, illustrations, maps, full name index.