Henrico County was named for Henry, Prince of Wales, the oldest son of James I. It was one of the eight original shires established in 1634. Its area is 244.06 square miles, and the county seat is in the western part of the county near Richmond. According to the 2000 census, the population is 262,300. Henrico is one of the Commonwealth's Burned Records Counties. Court records prior to 1655 and almost all prior to 1677 are missing; additionally, many isolated records were destroyed during the Revolutionary War, and almost all Circuit Court records were destroyed by fire in Richmond on 3 April 1865. See Extended History for More information.
PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.
Henrico County Clerk of the Circuit Courthas Marriage Records from 1781 , Land Records from 1650 , Probate Records from 1650 and Court Records from 1650 and is located at the County Courthouse on 4301 E. Parham Road, P.O. Box 27032,
Richmond, VA 23228; (804) 501-5334.
Court records prior to 1655 and almost all prior to 1677 are missing; additionally, many isolated records were destroyed during the Revolutionary War, and almost all Circuit Court records were destroyed by fire in Richmond on 3 April 1865. The Clerk of the Circuit Court is a constitutional official that is elected by the voters of Henrico County.
The Clerk is charged with responsibilities that include judicial and non-judicial duties. The Clerk provides administrative support for Circuit Court by preparing, recording, and maintaining court orders, subpoenas, and pleadings.
The Clerk's Office also manages juries, disposal of evidence, collection of criminal fines and costs.
Inquiries concerning the Court's procedures and policies and the records should be directed to the Clerk's Office, which serves as a repository for
the Court's records. Non-judicial duties include the authority to probate wills, grant administration of estates, appoint guardians, issue marriage licenses.
The Clerk acts as the Register of Deeds by recording all deeds, deeds of trust, real estate liens, releases and powers of attorney. The Clerk acts as the county archivist by maintaining records of the Court, real estate, probate and numerous other county records.
Records management is an immense and critical responsibility of the Clerk's Office due to the volume and types of records.
Below is a list of online resources for Henrico County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Henrico County Court Records by clicking the link below:
Virginia Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.
Click Here to Search Virginia Birth, Marriage & Death Records! - Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.
Vital Statistics include the official recordation of marriages, births, and deaths. Bible records, cemetery records, and church records are private sources that may supplement the official records.
A law requiring the systematic statewide recording of births and deaths was passed by the General Assembly on April 11 1853. Every commissioner of revenue registered births and deaths in his district annually and forwarded the information to the clerk of court, who then supplied the information to the state Auditor of Public Accounts. This law continued in effect until 1896. The Auditor turned the lists over to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in 1918 and the registers were later transferred to the state archives.
The Library of Virginia has copies of surviving birth and death records for the period 1853 to 1896 and marriage records prior to 1936. Also you can order birth and death records online quickly and easily via VitalChek! Usually you recieve them in 2-5 days.
Virginia Department of Health, Office of Vital Records is located at The Shops at Willow Lawn,
1601 Willow Lawn Drive,
Suite 275,
Richmond, VA 23220;
Ph: (804) 662-6200. The mailing address is
VDH, Office of Vital Records,
and Health Statistics,
P.O. Box 1000,
Richmond, Virginia,
23218-1000. They have the following records:
Births and Deaths: 1853-1896 and June 1912 to present. Birth cards are no longer available. Only the cities of Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Richmond have records between 1896 and June 14, 1912. Click Here to Search the Social Security Death Index for FREE
Marriage Records: 1853 to the present. If the records are not available from the State office, they should be available from the Clerk of Court in county where the marriage license was issued.
Divorce Records: 1918 to the present. If the records are not available from the State office, they should be available from the Clerk of Court in county where the marriage license was issued.
Birth records are public information 100 years after the date of the event; death, marriage, and divorce records, 50 years after the event. Due to limited resources they are unable to conduct geneology searches. Contact the Library of Virginia for assistance at http://www.lva.lib.va.us/.
For all birth records, please allow 10 business days. All marriage records, death records, divorce records, non-automated birth records and documents requiring amendments, please allow a delivery time of 4 to 6 weeks. Marriage and divorce records are available at the Circuit Court in which the event took place. Recent death records are available at the local health department where the death certificate was filed. You can also order Order Electronically and get the certificates within 2-5 days by ordering HERE
The fee to search for a birth, Marriage or Death certificate is $12.00, which includes one certified copy of the certificate or a "Certificate of Failure to Find." Make checks and money orders should be made payable to "State Health Department ". Please do not send cash. Credit Cards may be uses by using VitalChek services. Fees are non refundable. Additional fees are required for expedited service. Mail all Applications to:Vital Records,
VDH, Office of Vital Records, and Health Statistics, P.O. Box 1000, Richmond, Virginia, 23218-1000 . You can download an application online for Birth, Death, Marriage or Divorce Certificates. You can also order Order Electronically and get the certificates within 2-5 days by ordering HERE
Below is a list of online resources for Henrico County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Henrico County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
Death Records Indexing Project - partially completed cooperative project with the Virginia Genealogical Society; goal is to create a statewide index to the 1853-1896 locality death registers.
Click Here to Search Virginia Voter Lists & Census Records! - Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do government census records. Substitute records can be used when the official census is unavailable.
Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Henrico County, Virginia are 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 (fragment, see below), 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your family tree in Henrico County, Virginia are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. Slave Schedules exist for 1850 & 1860. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880.
Below is a list of online resources for Henrico County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Henrico County Census Records by clicking the link below:
Virginia Antique Maps & Atlases has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for Virginia and other states.
You can view rotating animated maps for Virginia showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps
You can view rotating animated maps for Virginia showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries . You can view a list of maps for other states and State Department of Transportation Maps at County Maps.
Below is a list of online resources for Henrico County Maps. Email us with websites containing Henrico County Maps by clicking the link below:
Click Here to Search Virginia Military Records! - Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.
The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design. A list of Wars fought on American. Read more detailed information on Virginia Military Records and the various wars.
Below is a list of online resources for Henrico County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Henrico County Military Records by clicking the link below:
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 from the State of Virginia (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
Southern Claims Commission from the State of Virginia (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
Virginia's
tax records are a rich—and largely untapped—resource.
During the Colonial period, there were three basic forms of
taxation: the quitrent, the parish levy, and the poll tax.
The quitrent was a land tax that had its roots in English
manorial society where “the land obligations due the manor,
such as plowing and haying the lord's land, were computed to
an annual money payment. Upon payment, the obligations were
`quit' for the year.” Those living south of the Rappahannock
River paid a quitrent to the Crown. An original, incomplete
list of land owners for the region in 1704 is in the Public
Record Office in London and has been published several times,
not always reliably. Residents of the Northern Neck, between
the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, paid quitrents to the agents
of Lord Fairfax. Many original rent rolls of the Fairfax proprietary
are housed at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.
Extant original rent rolls and facsimiles for Virginia are available
at The
Library of Virginia.
The parish levy was an annual tax paid by all tithables
for support of their ministers, maintenance of the
parishes' glebe lands (the parsonage and lands producing income
for the parish), and support of the poor of the parish.
The poll tax, except for a brief period from 1645 to
1648, was the main source of revenue for the colony of Virginia.
The annual poll tax was computed by dividing the total expenses
of the colony and individual counties by the total number of
tithables. The result was levied on each tithable.
Tithables were variously defined during the colonial
period. The first definition, in 1624, was “every male
head above sixteen years of age.” All agricultural workers
were added in 1629. In 1643 all males and black females aged
sixteen or over were tithables. Imported male servants of any
age were added in 1649.
The definition of “tithable” was rewritten
in 1658. Tithables included free males aged sixteen or over,
imported blacks of either sex, imported white male servants,
and Indian servants of either sex; white women employed in agriculture
were added in 1662. Complaints from planters with increasing
numbers of indentured servants and slaves led to a revision
in 1680 that declared Virginia-born male slaves taxable at age
twelve and imported male servants taxable at age fourteen; nonwhite
women and free males remained taxable at age sixteen.
The laws of Virginia were revised in 1705. From then
until 1782, all males and nonwhite females aged sixteen or over
were tithables. Wives of free nonwhite males were added in 1723.
Virginia's tax system changed after the Revolutionary
War to include taxing land and personal property in 1782, with
further revision in 1787. The bulk of those tax lists prior
to 1850 survive and are available on microfilm at The
Library of Virginia.
Below is a list of online resources for Henrico County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Henrico County Tax Records by clicking the link below:
The Repositories
in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical
and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical
Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly,
quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies
should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are
usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived
materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be
more generalized and over look the smaller details that local
societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to
look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy
section and may have some resources that are not located at
archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums
in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years
gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All
these places are vitally important to the family genealogist
and must not be passed over.
Below is a list of online resources for Henrico County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Henrico County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
East Henrico Health Department, Glen Echo Building, 3810 Nine Mile Road, Richmond, VA 23223,
(804) 652-3190, Fax: (804) 652-3188
West Henrico Health Dept, P.O. Box 27032, 8600 Dixon Powers Drive, Richmond, VA 23273, (804) 501-4522
Virginia
Genealogical Society, 5001
West Broad Street, Suite 115,
Richmond, Virginia 23230-3023;
Telephone (804) 285-8954 Please note that because of our close proximity to the
Library of Virginia and the Virginia Historical Society,
the Virginia Genealogical Society does not maintain a research
facility or surname material.
Virginia Historical Society, 428 North Boulevard, Richmond, Virginia 23220, Phone: 804.358.4901 Mail: P.O.Box 7311, 23221-0311;Hours: Monday-Saturday 10-5 / Sunday 1-5 (galleries only)
Virginia Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Click Here to Search Virginia Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.
Unlike New England, colonial Virginia left few early church records. The first Virginians were members of the Church of England, or Anglican church, which became the Episcopal Church in 1786. Early parish registers are incomplete and challenging to use. Parish boundaries changed rapidly and are hard to pinpoint.
Since colonial times, many religious groups have established congregations in Virginia, including Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Quaker or Friends, to name a few. Except for the Quakers, few of these groups kept records containing such genealogical information as birth, marriage, and death dates. A number of church vestry books and registers have been published and are available at The Library of Virginia and the FHL.
The list of published tombstone inscriptions for Virginia, if a comprehensive list existed, would be lengthy. The DAR has compiled an extensive collection of Virginia tombstone inscriptions. The collection, along with other cemetery record publications, can be found at the DAR Library in Washington, D.C., The Library of Virginia, the Virginia Historical Society, and the FHL.
Cemetery interment registers and gravestone inscriptions may often be sources of useful information for Virginia researchers. The state government does not have a long, uninterrupted, centralized file of birth and death records that are readily accessible to researchers. Wars, floods, and fires have destroyed the vital record of many of Virginia's counties. Oftentimes, information found in cemetery records and on gravestones cannot be found anywhere else. When looking for a specific cemetery in Virginia, you may wish to start with the following comprehensive resource.
Below is a list of online resources for Henrico County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Henrico County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:
J. Henry Brown Monuments Inc., Order Book - a searchable database indexing tombstone inscriptions covering the period 1899-1907. Many of the individuals listed were born before Virginia began keeping vital statistics in 1853.
Click Here to Search Virginia Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.
When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Henrico County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information . Email us with websites containing Henrico County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
Virginia Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
One of the oldest political subdivisions in Virginia, Henrico was the scene of the second settlement in the colony and was established in 1634 as one of the eight original shires or counties. Its first boundaries incorporated an area from which 10 Virginia counties were later formed in whole or in part, as well as the cities of Richmond, Charlottesville, and Colonial Heights. The county was named for Henry, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King James I of England
The Quest Begins In the spring of 1607, a small band of adventurers led by Captain Christopher Newport left Jamestown on a voyage up Powhatan's River, now called the James River. Newport's company included Captain John Smith, George Percy, Esq., Captain Gabriel Archer, and about 20 others. The Virginia Company of London, a private organization chartered by the crown to settle Virginia, had authorized the exploration.
On the third day, they sailed to a place occupied by the Arrohattoc Indians, one of the tribes ruled by the Indian chief Powhatan. The explorers became the first Englishmen to set foot on the soil that was to become Henrico County.
Having been fed and entertained by the Indians, the adventurers departed the next morning. They explored the area, and Newport erected a cross, claiming the river and the country for God and England.
Henrico Is Settled In 1611, four years after Newport's early explorations, Sir Thomas Dale left Jamestown to establish a settlement upriver. Relations with the Indians had steadily deteriorated since 1607, and Dale's company suffered constant attacks. The party finally came to a peninsula on the north side of the river, now Farrar's Island, where Dale established the colony's second settlement, "Henricus," known also as the "city" or "town" of "Henrico." In just four months the town grew to a fortified settlement. Frame houses lined three streets, and the men had built a wooden church, a brick foundation for a permanent church, storehouses, watchtowers, and huts.
Life in the New World was hard, but the English had high hopes that their settlements would add valuable minerals and raw materials to their economy, in addition to providing strategic military outposts. They also saw this land as a new frontier for spreading Christianity.
Virginia's economy was sharply transformed by the introduction in 1612 of new strains of mild tobacco by colonist John Rolfe. Rolfe's tobacco was shipped to England, and Virginia's economy soon began to prosper.
In 1614, peace with the Indians was temporarily established, following Rolfe's marriage to Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas, who had converted to Christianity and been baptized "Rebecca."
A Representative Government In 1619, the Virginia Company instituted reforms in the colony that led to the establishment of a representative form of government. The colony was divided into settlements or "plantations," one being the City of Henrico. Each plantation sent representatives to Jamestown to the General Assembly of 1619, the first representative legislature in a British colony.
Henrico's settlement included a parcel of 10,000 acres for what was intended to become the University of Henricus, the first English university in America. One of the schools within the university was to be for the Indians.
A Town Under Attack An Indian uprising on March 22, 1622, abruptly halted plans to develop Henrico and its university. The Indians regarded the colony's rapid development as a threat.
On Good Friday morning, Indians attacked settlements throughout the colony. Houses were burned. Men, women, and children were murdered. Henricus was almost completely demolished. Most survivors retreated to Jamestown or other nearby settlements. The city called Henrico was abandoned. The site of Henrico's first settlement was part of a large land grant made to William Farrar, Sr., and came to be known as Farrar's Island.
In the years following the Indian uprising of 1622, the colonists engaged in regular attacks against the Indians, pushing them farther and farther westward.
Henrico Becomes A Shire As the Indians became less of a threat to the colonists, more settlers came to Virginia. In 1624, England assumed control of the colonies.
In 1634, Virginia was divided into eight shires, or counties, one being Henrico. By 1640, the Henrico court was held at Varina. By 1752, the courthouse was moved to Richmond.
Bacon's Rebellion By 1676, many colonists had become angry over grievances against Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia at that time. Opposing the governor's authority, some colonists waged a campaign against the Indians, with Henrico planter Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., as one of the principal leaders. English authorities viewed his acts as rebellious and soon found themselves in combat with Bacon's men. However, Bacon died of a fever in October 1676, and, without his leadership, the colonists' revolt dissipated. England regained control. Even so, Bacon's Rebellion made an important statement about Virginians' willingness to fight what they saw as an unfair government policy.
The American Revolution In 1776, Henrico representatives Richard Adams and Nathaniel Wilkenson participated in the Fifth Virginia Convention, which voted to send delegates to the Continental Congress to propose separation from the British. That proposal led to the Declaration of Independence.
During the Revolutionary War, when Benedict Arnold's invading army occupied Richmond in January 1781, the Henrico militia was called to active duty. During the brief British occupation of Richmond, many Henrico court records were destroyed.
Three months later when Arnold's men, now part of British forces led by General William Phillips, approached Richmond for a second time, the British were stopped by the sight of local militiamen and American Continental troops led by a young Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette. Outnumbered, Lafayette abandoned Richmond when General Charles Cornwallis occupied the town in June 1781. Cornwallis then retired to Williamsburg and later to Yorktown. After being surrounded there by General George Washington and his French allies, Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending the American Revolution.
The Virginia Convention Of 1788 In 1788, the General Assembly called a special convention to consider the ratification of the proposed United States Constitution. Henrico sent Governor Edmund Randolph, who presided over the convention, and John Marshall, future chief justice, as delegates. After 25 days of heated debate, Virginia voted 89-79 in favor of ratification. Counted among the aye votes were Randolph and Marshall.
Gabriel's Rebellion In the early 19th century, most Henricoans made their living by farming and related industries, such as milling. Coal mining was also important, especially in northern and western Henrico. The principal source of labor for these industries was slavery.
In 1800, a slave named Gabriel, owned by Thomas Henry Prosser of Brookfield plantation in Henrico County, conceived and organized a widespread slave uprising. Involving several Virginia localities, it was possibly the most far-reaching slave uprising planned in the history of the South.
The plan might have succeeded had it not been for a sudden, severe downpour and the disclosure of the plot by several slaves, including Tom and Pharoah, who belonged to Mosby Sheppard of Meadow Farm, in Henrico. The alarm went out and the rebellion was thwarted. The effects of the conspiracy were profound and as a result, county and state leaders instituted legislation to regulate the movement of slaves and free blacks.
The Civil War Many important Civil War battles were fought on Henrico soil, including the battles of Seven Pines, Savage's Station, Glendale, Malvern Hill, Yellow Tavern, New Market Heights, and others in defense of Richmond. The National Park Service's Richmond National Battlefield Park Web site is an excellent resource for details on these battles and other topics related to the Civil War in Henrico and the Richmond metropolitan region.
In the northern part of the county at Brook Hill plantation, an earthen fort was constructed at the recommendation of General Robert E. Lee to guard Brook Turnpike (now U.S. Route 1), a major route into Richmond. To the east on Nine Mile Road, Lee made his headquarters at Dabbs House. This historic structure is now the eastern precinct for the Henrico Division of Police.
At New Market Heights on September 29, 1864, Union black infantry troops dislodged Confederate defenders in a heroic action for which fourteen men received Medals of Honor. Two hundred more received a special medal commissioned by their general. Click this National Park Service link to read more about these troops and the battle they fought.
Reconstruction Education was an important part of Henrico's reconstruction after the Civil War. Notable in this effort was Virginia Estelle Randolph, a pioneer educator and humanitarian who lived from 1874 to 1958. She opened the old Mountain Road School in 1892 and was named the first Jeanes Supervisor Industrial Teacher in Henrico County Schools in 1908. She conducted the first Arbor Day program in Virginia. The Virginia Randolph Home Economics Cottage was dedicated as a museum in memory of Ms. Randolph and is a National and State Historic Landmark. Use this link for more information about Elizabeth Holladay Elementary School is named for Miss Elizabeth Jane Holladay, a pioneer teacher who started the first public school in the Glen Allen area of Henrico at her home in 1886. In 1899 the original one-room Glen Allen School was built. "Miss Lizzie" continued to teach until 1901 and tutored for much of the remainder of her life.
Henrico County Today
Bordering the city of Richmond on the west, north, and east, the county of Henrico lies between the James and Chickahominy rivers, and constitutes approximately a third of the Richmond metropolitan area. To see a map of Henrico, click this link to our page on historical points of interest. To return here, click on your browser's "back" button.
T oday, Henrico's 260,000 residents live in a well-planned community of 244.06 square miles (635 square kilometers) consisting of beautiful residential communities, large expanses of fertile farm land, and carefully developed office, retail, and diversified industrial areas.
In 1974, a new courthouse was built as part of the Henrico Government Center at Parham and Hungary Spring Roads. In 1986, Henrico opened the Eastern Government Center near Dabbs House on Nine Mile Road.
The following companies are currently offering free trials on their subscriptions from 7 to 14 days. You can receive more information by clicking the links below:
Virginia 
