The Basics of Virginia Research

Taking your Virginia research to the next level may seem like a daunting task. Particularly when dealing with minorities or non-English settlers. In this presentation learn about unusual research sources which could break down your brick walls.

The Old Dominion state has many hidden gems for your research needs. Learn about a few of them and how they can aid in your ancestral quest.

The Library of Virginia is an amazing resource for researches. Learn how to use the website, what it contains, and strategies for success.

Researching early families in Kentucky and Virginia can be particularly challenging. Every location has multiple people of the same name making even surviving records difficult to sort. There are few available birth and death records and other records may be difficult to locate or non-existent. Learn effective strategies for researching that difficult early Kentucky or Virginia family.

Kentucky and Virginia have some of the most complete tax lists in the United States. Their value in research often goes unrecognized by even the experienced researcher. Tax lists can be a primary tool for solving difficult research problems and are invaluable when used with other records. Learn how to access original records, to best organize them for study, and to interpret their meaning. The lecture will use case studies to show their use in tracking individuals across time, estimating birth dates and death dates, separating individuals of the same name, determining the identity of other family members, and using them as substitutes for deeds, court records, and estate records in burned counties.

Family lore tells a different story than the records for the paternity of a southwest Virginia great-grandfather. Learn how DNA helps solve the mystery!

This lecture illustrates the joys and pitfalls of Virginia research as well as a employing a problem-solving approach utilizing social history, female research, and family analysis to identify the parents of Elizabeth Stith, the ancestor "from nowhere." One need not have Virginia ancestors to see the Genealogical Proof Standard at work!

The establishment and maintenance of public roads in Virginia was one of the most important functions of the early colonial courts.

Let’s discover what’s is available and where for this important Commonwealth. Record types, finding aids, locations, and examples will be discussed and presented.