Greensville County, VirginiaEdit This Page

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Greensville County, Virginia
Map
Location in the state of Virginia
Location of Virginia in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	1780
County Seat	Emporia
Courthouse

United States   Virginia   Greensville County

County Courthouse

Greensville County Courthouse, Emporia, Va.

Greensville County Courthouse
P.O. Box 631
337 South Main Street
Emporia, VA 23847-0631
434-348-4215

History

Sir Richard Grenville (1542-1591)

The county is believed to have been named after English explorer Sir Richard Grenville (1542-1591).

Parent County

1780--Greensville County was created 16 October 1780 from Brunswick and Sussex Counties.
County seat: Emporia ^[1]

Boundary Changes

Variant Spellings

• Greenville^[2]

Record Loss

• Lost censuses: 1790, 1800, 1890

Places/Localities

Populated Places

Neighboring Counties

Resources

Research Guides

• "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Greensville County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1968):107-108. FHL; digital version at American Ancestors ($).

African American

Freedmen's Bureau Letters or Correspondence, 1865-18721

• Heinegg, Paul. "Greensville County Personal Property Tax List, 1782-1830," Free African Americans.com. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]

Bible Records

Images of the Virginia Historical Society's family Bible collection have been digitized:

• Virginia Historical Society Papers, 1607-2007 - browse collection at FamilySearch; free.

Additional Bible records include:

Biography

• Brown, Douglas Summers. Historical and Biographical Sketches of Greensville County, Virginia, 1650-1967. Emporia, Va.: The Riparian Woman's Club, 1968. FHL Book 975.5572 H2h.

Cemeteries

Census

For tips on accessing Greensville County, Virginia census records online, see: Virginia Census.

1783 Enumeration

• Greensville County Heads of Families - 1783 at U.S. Census Bureau - free. County begins on page 54.

1890 Union Veterans

• Turner, Ronald Ray. Virginia's Union Veterans: Eleventh Census of the United States 1890. Available online, courtesy: Prince William County Virginia website. [Includes residents of this county.]

Church

Baptist

Early Baptist churches (with years constituted):

1. Fountain's Creek (1787)^[3]
2. Zion (1806)^[3]

Greensville County fell within the bounds of the Meherrin Association.

Church of England

See also Meherrin Parish
See also St. Andrew's Parish

Court

County Court

• Goodwyn, Dora Hedges. "Notes from the Records of Greensville County," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jul., 1913):31-38. FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($). [Partial abstracts of Greensville County Court Order Book 1.]
• Goodwyn, W. Samuel. "Officers Recommended and Qualified for the Militia of Greensville County, Virginia, 1782-1815,"
  The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Oct., 1918):96-103; Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jan., 1919):176-184 . FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($). [Abstracted from Greensville County Court Order Books.]

Genealogy

More than a dozen genealogies have been published about Greensville County families. To view a list, visit Greensville County, Virginia Genealogy.

Immigration

• Ljungstedt, Milnor. "Items from Southern Records" [Showing Family and Trade Connections with Northern Colonies and the Home Countries], The American Genealogist, Vol. 15 (1938):95-104. Digital version at American Ancestors. [Greensville Co., VA surname: Harris.]

Land

Grants and Patents

• Hudgins. 694 patents dated 1715-1800 in what is now Greensville County, Virginia placed on a map. DeedMapper, 2000. [Names of those who received land patents, dates, land descriptions, and references may be viewed free of charge (click "Index" next to the county listing); however, in order to view the maps, it is necessary to purchase Direct Line Software's DeedMapper product.]

Local Histories

• Brown, Douglas Summers, Virginia Lee Baker, Eleanor Little Eanes, and L. Ralph Slagle eds. Historical and Biographical Sketches of Greensville County, Virginia, 1650-1967. Emporia, Va.: The Riparian Woman's Club, 1968. Free Lookups Available! Reviewed by Herbert C. Bradsham in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 77, No. 4 (Oct., 1969):506-507. Review available at FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($).
• Sketches of Greensville County, Virginia, Second Edition, 1968-2000. Free Lookups Available!

Maps

Migration

• Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1976):199-208. FHL; digital version at American Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Greensville County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on pp. 127-128.]
• Elliott, Katherine B. Emigration to Other States from Southside Virginia. 2 vols. South Hill, Virginia: K.B. Elliott, 1966. Vol. 1 of original edition at FHL; 1983 reprints (both volumes) at FHL; 1990-1992 reprints (both volumes) also at FHL. [Includes individuals who migrated out of Greensville County to other parts of the country.]

Military

Revolutionary War

• Douthat, James L. 1782 Greensville County, Virginia Property Valuation Impressed During Revolutionary War. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 2010. Free online surname index and purchase details at Mountain Press website.
• A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census]. 1841. Digital version at Google Books. 1967 reprint: FHL Book 973 X2pc 1840. [See Virginia, Eastern District, Greensville County on page 130.]
• Rejected or Suspended Applications for Revolutionary War Pensions. Washington, D.C., 1852. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1969, and 1991. Reprints include "an Added Index to States." FHL Book 973 M24ur; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes veterans from this county; Virginia section begins on page 238.]

Militia

• Goodwyn, W. Samuel. "Officers Recommended and Qualified for the Militia of Greensville County, Virginia, 1782-1815," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Oct., 1918):96-103; Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jan., 1919):176-184 . FHL; digital version at JSTOR ($). [Abstracted from Greensville County Court Order Books.]

War of 1812

Greensville County men served in the 50th Regiment.^[4]

• Douthat, James L. Roster of War of 1812, Southside, Virginia. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 2007. Free online surname index and purchase details at Mountain Press website. FHL Book 975.5 M2djL. [Includes Greensville County.]
• List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883; Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Why Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance... Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883. FHL Book 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. [See Vol. 5, Virginia, Greenville County [sic], p. 82. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.]

Civil War

• Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865

• Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers 1861-1865

Naturalization

Virginia Naturalization Petitions, 1906-1929

Newspapers

Professor Tom Costa and The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia have created a database of all runaway advertisements for slaves, indentured servants, transported convicts, and ship deserters listed in the Virginia Gazette and other Virginia newspapers (1736-1803), see: The Geography of Slavery in Virginia.

Probate

A free index to Greensville County, Virginia wills and administrations (1781-1800) is available at the <a href="http://lva1.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/F/?func=file&file_name=find-b-clas08&local_base=CLAS08">Library of Virginia</a> website.

Digital Images of Greensville County Wills 1781 to 1816. See names of Testators. Virginia Pioneers

Private Papers

Virginia, Historical Society Papers, 1607-2007

Taxation

 How can Virginia tax lists help me?

• [1782-1830] Heinegg, Paul. "Greensville County Personal Property Tax List, 1782-1830," Free African Americans.com. [Heinegg abstracted free blacks listed in these records.]
• [1787] Schreiner-Yantis, Netti and Florene Speakman Love. The 1787 Census of Virginia: An Accounting of the Name of Every White Male Tithable Over 21 Years, the Number of White Males Between 16 & 21 Years, the Number of Slaves over 16 & Those Under 16 Years, Together with a Listing of Their Horses, Cattle & Carriages, and Also the Names of All Persons to Whom Ordinary Licenses and Physician's Licenses Were Issued. 3 vols. Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987. FHL. [The source of this publication is the 1787 personal property tax list. Greensville County is included in Vol. 1.]
• [1788] Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1976):199-208. FHL; digital version at American Ancestors ($). [These records identify migrants who left the county and often their intended destinations. Greensville County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on pp. 127-128.]
• [1789, 1798] Indexed images of the 1789 and 1798 Personal Property Tax Lists of Greensville County, Virginia are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
• [1800] Tax List, 1800, The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Apr. 1982); Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul. 1982). FHL.
• [1815] Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Ga.: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. FHL. [The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Greensville County is included in Vol. 2.]

Vital Records

Indexes to Greensville County, Virginia births, marriages, and deaths are available online. These collections are incomplete, but are easy to search. Courtesy: FamilySearch - free.

Vital Record Substitutes

The Virginia Historical Society's Marriage and Obituary Index, 1736-1820 (newspaper abstracts) is available for free online. Images of the original index cards are browseable, arranged alphabetically by surname.

Societies and Libraries

Family History Centers

• Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Websites

• Greensville Co., VAGenWeb. Part of the USGenWeb Project. Maps, name indexes, history.
• Family History Library Catalog
• Cyndi's List

LearningHow to Edit our Wiki Sites

• Virginia Pioneers ($). This is a pay website, however, you can see names of testators (wills) for free.

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References

1. ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).
2. ↑ List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883; Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Why Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance... (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883), Vol. 5, p. 82. FHL Book 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Robert Baylor Semple and George William Beale, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia (Pitt and Dickinson, 1894), 287. Digital version at Google Books.
4. ↑ Stuart Lee Butler, A Guide to Virginia Militia Units in the War of 1812 (Athens, Ga.: Iberian Pub. Co., 1988), 97. FHL Book 975.5 M2bs.