Louisa County, Virginia Genealogical Records Information

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Louisa County History and Information

Louisa County Facts

Louisa County was named for Louisa, a daughter of George II. It was formed from Hanover County in 1742. Its area is 514 square miles, and the county seat is Louisa. According to the 2000 census, its population is 25,627. Lost one order book in Richmond in 1865. See Extended History for More information.

The Official County Website is located at http://www.louisa-county.com/ . Cities, Towns and Communities include Louisa, Mineral amd Bumpass

Microfilm available for Louisa County at The Library of Virginia
Louisa County, Virginia USgenweb (has lots of searchable data)
Louisa County, Virginia History Books at Amazon.com
Family History Library - The largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world.

There are free downloadable and printable forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms, U.K. Census Extraction Forms, Research Calendar, Ancestral Chart, Research Extract, Correspondence Record , Family Group Sheet , Source Summary Form.

Louisa County Court Records

See Also Virginia Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

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.

   Louisa County Clerk of the Circuit Court has Marriage Records from 1763 , Land Records from 1742 , Probate Records from 1742 and Court Records from 1742 and is located at the County Courthouse on Box 37, 100 W. Main Street, Louisa, VA 23093-0037; 540/967-5312 . Lost one order book in Richmond in 1865.
   The Clerk of the Circuit Court is a constitutional official that is elected by the voters of Louisa 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.

There are a few online databases for Court, Land and Probate Records which include: Virginia Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850, Virginia County Records, Volume VI, Volume VII and Volume IX

Click Here to Search Virginia Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Louisa County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Louisa County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Louisa County, Virginia Court Books at Amazon.com
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.

Louisa County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

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 Louisa County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Louisa County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Louisa County, Virginia Tax Books at Amazon.com

Louisa County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Virginia Genealogical Addresses

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 Louisa County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Louisa County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Louisa County Historical Society and Museum, P.O. Box 1172, Louisa, VA 23093
Local Virginia Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
The Library of Virginia, 800 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000; 804-692-3500
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.
Virginia Genealogical Society Books at Amazon.com

Louisa County Church & Cemeteries

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.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Louisa County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Louisa County Tombstone Transcription Project.

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 Louisa County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Louisa County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Virginia Old Churches, Vol. 1
Virginia Old Churches, Vol. 2
Virginia Early Quaker Records
The Virginia Baptist Historical Society
L. T. Christian Funeral Home Records Database - indexes the client files contained in the forty-one cubic feet of records covering the period 1912-1986.
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.
Louisa County, Virginia Cemetery Books at Amazon.com
Louisa County, Virginia Church Books at Amazon.com

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

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 Louisa County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information . Email us with websites containing Louisa County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Sites on USGenweb: [ Louisa County ] [ Virginia ] [ Main Page ]
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Genealogical Document Search and Retrieval Service
Louisa County, Virginia Family Books at Amazon.com

Extended History

By 1700, the elk, wolves, bear and Indians (Monasiccapanoe/Monacan) had left what was to become Louisa County to make way for its settlement. The reason for the late colonization of Louisa County was because it was an interior landlocked area of the Piedmont in Virginia which was difficult to reach.

The county was created when the population became large enough to support a courthouse. The county separated from Hanover County and was named after Princess Louisa, the youngest daughter of King George II of England, in 1742.

The local government slowly advanced as it was needed by the people. The Anglican Church, Virginia's established religion, created a new parish to accommodate Louisa. It was named Fredericksville Parish and had lines similar to the county. The new parish was taken from St. Martin's Parish of Hanover and Goochland. The people were governed by twelve vestrymen of the parish and 14 men selected as Justices of the Peace. These two groups ran the county at the behest of the King of England.

Because of its insularity Louisa was made up of small wooden homes due to the difficulty of getting materials to the interior. Mills and merchants took care of the peoples' needs so that they would not have to travel far for goods.

The Revolution was fully supported in Louisa by local heroes. Patrick Henry represented Louisa in the House from 1765 to 1768. Dabney Carr represented Louisa County in the House of Burgesses from 1772-73. Mr. Carr presented a resolution for the creation of a Committee of Correspondence which was a first step in uniting the Colonies before the Revolution.

During the war, Jack Jouett, Jr. rode a distance of 38 miles from Louisa to Charlottesville to warn Thomas Jefferson and members of the Virginia General Assembly that the British were coming after Richmond had fallen.

After the Revolution Louisa settled down to the business of creating a new government free from British influence. By 1818 a new courthouse and jail had been built. Because of the condition of roads, travel was difficult. Citizens had difficulties getting to their own courthouse. The greatest change for the county was the coming of the railroad.

In 1838 the Virginia Central Railroad reached Louisa Courthouse and by 1840 it afforded travel through the county. With the advent of the railroad, materials and people traveled more easily.

During the War Between the States the Central Virginia railroad was vital to the supply lines of the Confederate troops. It was for this reason that Louisa County endured Stoneman's and Dahlgren's raids. The railroad was also the cause for the clash of cavalry at Trevilians in 1864. Despite many efforts, the North never made it through Louisa to the hub of railroad activity in Gordonsville.

The era of Reconstruction in Louisa County brought forth many changes and resentments which lasted a long time. The military occupation by Major General Alvin Coe Voris was not oppressive but the mere fact of occupation offended the local populace. One positive result of the new Virginia government was the new public school system. Littleberry Haley, as first Superintendent of Schools, brought education to the county. It was about this time that the Town of Louisa was incorporated, in 1873.

Before the turn of the century the town of Mineral was developed by mining interests in the county. Mining had been an everpresent business in Louisa County, as the county is rich in many minerals. Even gold mining existed at one time on a small scale.

From the turn of the century through World War I to the end of the 1920's Louisa County saw many changes. With the help of the Department of Agriculture, farming was improved in Louisa to become more progressive. These years were a time of great change in the quality of life for the inhabitants. A new Courthouse was built, roads were improved to accommodate cars and with the introduction of the telephone, communication was improved. Schools were built throughout the county for black and white.

The "Great Depression" which resulted from the stock market crash of 1929 brought many federal services to Louisa County. The Rural Electrification Administration brought electricity to the far flung farms. The closing of the banks was hard on the local farmers but most managed to survive.

World War II involved many residents in all the theaters of war: Europe, Asia, and Africa. At home, rationing and inflated prices were dealt with and endured.

Green Springs, one area of Louisa County, was established as the Green Springs National Historic Landmark District in 1973. The area contains an "assemblage of rural architecture that is unique in Virginia."

When Virginia Power built the North Anna Nuclear Power Station in 1970, Lake Anna was created. Lake Anna is a 13,000 acre man-made lake which affords the residents and vacationers many recreational outlets.

Louisa County is also home to Twin Oaks Commune which is one of the country's oldest communes still in existence. The commune was established by eight members in 1967.

Louisa County is made up of 514 square miles with 23,250 people. It is still considered an agricultural and rural residential county but it is one of the more rapidly growing counties in Virginia.

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