Lost Records Localities: Counties and Cities with Missing Records

A distant cousin of mine, Gail Vass, pointed out a resource that I had never seen before. It is called the Lost Records Localities Database and it is housed at the Libray of Virginia. Per their description...

"This database consists of entries for a wide variety of court records found as part of chancery and other locality records-processing projects. The entries are for surviving records from localities, most of whose records are no longer extant. The original record is photocopied. The copies are filed together in an artificial collection—the Lost Records Localities Collection—and are readily accessed through the manuscript room at the Library of Virginia. Please check periodically as this is an ongoing project."

In short, any record that they find from a "burned" county gets added to this collection. For example, say someone bought land in Hanover County and later sold it to someone in Mecklenburg County. The purchaser in Mecklenburg may have been involved in a court case where the Hanover deed was presented and copied. That copy still exists and is therefore added to the Lost Records database. It is search-able online but the actual records have to be viewed at the Library.

In case your were wondering, the burned counties in question are:

• Albemarle
  
• Appomattox
• Buckingham
• Caroline
• Charles City
• Culpeper
  
• Dinwiddie
• Elizabeth City
• Gloucester
• Hanover
• Henrico
• Henrico / City of Richmond
• James City County / Williamsburg
• King and Queen
• King George
  
• King William
• Mathews
• Nansemond
• New Kent
• Nottoway
• Prince George
• Prince William
• Richmond City
  
• Richmond County
• Rockingham
  
• Stafford
• Warwick
  

For example, I checked for Brock documents in Hanover County and found the following:

Locality	Names	Record Type	Dates
Hanover County	King, Mary, etc. to John P. Brock	Deed	1799
Hanover County	Priddy, Robert and wife Nancy to John C. Brock	Deed	1823

I am very interested in the King-Brock deed as John P. Brock is my ancestor and his wife was rumored to be a King. This might be the proof that I need to make that connection. I plan on making a trip to the archives tomorrow so I will look up the actual document and let you know what I learn about the collection.

You can check out the online database here: Lost Records Localities Database

Query: Miles J. Kent b. c. 1813 in Virginia

A reader sent in a query that they would like for me to pass along. If you can help, either write them back or leave a comment here. Kevin

"Hi there

I was hoping you could help me a little bit. I stumbled across your blog in doing my research. My Kent family comes from Illinois and Virginia amongst others with the origins pointing towards Fluvanna County, Virginia.

Currently I’m stuck on verifying the siblings and/or the parents of Miles J. Kent born 1813 Virginia. Here’s what I have on him:

Miles J. Kent Born 1813 Virginia ---- Lived in Two and 1/2 District Augusta, in 1850. Lived in Liverpool, Fulton Illinois in 1860 ---Back from the Civil War in 1865 he lived in Fulton Co, Township of Buckheart, Illinois with cattle valued at $600 -- They moved to the Bernadotte Twp, Fulton County, Illinois in 1870 ---- Still alive in 1880 age 67, still in Bernadotte Twp, Fulton, Illinois. Married Mary Ann Wheelbarger (born 1817, Virginia) His Civil War prisoner notes state he resided in Independence, Nodaway, Missouri.

I have speculation that:

KENT, Robert, Sarah (Cocke), W27875, VA Line, sol was b 20 Jan 1762 in Albemarle Co VA & he lived in Fluvanna Co VA wid appl 17 May 1850

Fluvanna Co VA aged 87, children were mentioned but not named, sol was referred to as Robert Kent, Jr. when he & his wife were married, one Pleasant Cocke signed m bond with sol. (does sol mean soldier?)

Supposedly they had a child Robert Pierce Kent. He was married twice. This guy is supposed to be Mile’s father but he is not mentioned??

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Dale Kent
Vancouver Island, BC Canada

PS - I did not mention that I have the following:

Fulton Co, Illinois, Bernadotte Township Cemeteries Index shows Miles J. Kent died in 1888 and is buried in Providence Cemetery at the age of 75y 1m. Providence Chapel Cemetery is located in Farmington Township in Sec. 19, off of Cty. Hwy. 24 on 1800E."

New Genealogical and Historical Society Link Section

I have added a new section to the right-hand site of the site, toward the bottom. There is now a list of all the genealogical and historical societies that I know of for Virginia. There is one big catch...their website has to be current and maintained. There are other societies out there that have websites but they have not been updated since like 2001. I am only including sites that are well-maintained by the society or group. What good is a calendar of events from 2005 anyway? If they do not take the time to update, I am not going to take the time to include them here.

Below is the list as it stands today. If you would like to suggest another site for inclusion, please do as I would love to add them. I am sure there are other, great sites out there that I missed but this is a good start.

• Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society
• Carroll County Genealogy Club
• Central Virginia Genealogical Association
• Chesterfield Historical Society
• Clarke County Historical Association
• Culpeper Genealogical Society
• Fairfax Genealogical Society
• Farmville - Prince Edward Historical Society
• Franklin County Historical Society
• Great Falls Historical Society
• Hanover County Historical Society
• Harrisonburg - Rockingham Historical Society
• Highland Historical Society
• Historic Buckingham, Inc.
• Historic Dumfries Virginia, Inc.
• Historic Prince William
• Historical Society of Washington, County, Virginia
• History Museum of Western Virginia
• Jamestowne Society
• Lower Delmarva Genealogical Society
• Norfolf County (Chesapeake) Historical Society
• Shenandoah Valley Genealogical Society
• South Central Virginia Genealogical Society, Inc.
• Southside Virginia Genealogical Society
• Surry County, Virginia Historical Society
• Tidewater Genealogical Society
• Virginia Beach Genealogical Society
• Virginia Genealogical Society
• Virginia Historical Society
• Winchester - Frederick County Historical Society

Monticello Plantation Database of the Thomas Jefferson Slaves

Monticello, plantation of President Thomas Jefferson, included over six hundred slaves between 1774 and 1826. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation has made a searchable database of those slaves and can be found at the following link: Monticello Plantation Database

I have not played with it much but the database appears to create family groupings of the slaves and tells as much about their lives as possible. If you are searching for African-American genealogy sources in Virginia, this appears to be one of the most thorough.

I looked up Sally Hemings and the father of most of her children were actually given as "almost certainly Thomas Jefferson."

Miss Lelia T. Beal of Scottsville, Virginia d. 1896

Religious Herald, Richmond, Virginia September 10, 1896:

"Beal - On August 20, 1896, at her home near Scottsville, Va., passed from this life to a happy immortality. Miss LELIA T. BEAL. How precious the memory of a light so bright! For weeks she suffered, but not one murmuring word escaped her lips. She was only "so tired." Her life had early been consecrated to the service of the gentle Saviour, and so calm, so peaceful was her end that we can but believe he met her on the other shore, and tenderly led her home, where there is rest forevermore. "How happy those who live and die like her, loved with such love, and with such sorrow mourned!" ONE WHO LOVED HER."