Researched Virginia Documents

New items 3/2006 are in blue)

The Virginia counties (and related parishes) just north of James' home in Caswell County, NC are listed below along with their formations.  None of the parish records in the area north of Caswell Co remain for birth, deaths or marriages.  The relationship of parishes to counties is very confusing.  Some parish records have been printed only recently.  It may be that others have not?  I have highlighted the parishes and counties I investigated:

• 1703: Prince George county (Bristol parish 1685-1798 with births and baptisms, a few deaths, but no marriages) formed from Charles City Co.
• 1720: Brunswick county formed from Prince George Co.
• 1746: Lunenburg county (Cumberland Parish 1747-1816) formed from Brunswick.  Initially Cumberland Parish embraced what is now the counties of Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Halifax, Charlotte, Pittsylvania, Henry, Patrick and Franklin.
• 1754: Bedford county formed from Lunenberg  (Russel Parish 1824-1881 includes vital stats data)
• 1782  Campbell County formed from Bedford
• 1765: Charlotte county (Cornwall Parish 1757) from Lunenburg
• 1765: Mecklenburg (St. James Parish 1761) from Lunenburg
• 1752: Halifax county (Antrim Parish 1752-1818) formed from Lunenburg
• 1766: Pittsylvania county (Camden Parish 1757-1852) from part of Halifax (Camden Parish 1757)
• 1777: Henry county (Patrick Parish 1778) too late to be of interest.
• 1778: Patrick county (Patrick Parish 1778) too late to be of interest.
• 1786: Franklin county (Patrick Parish 1778) too late to be of interest.

There were many Virginia parishes. I have researched the available parish minutes and many miscellaneous county records in the areas above Caswell Co, NC into VA looking for our James and did not find any reference that I could clearly link to him. The only parish "registers" (they list marriages, death, etc) which still exist are Bristol Parish and the parishes in coastal areas of Virginia.  In NC, none of the parish "registers" remain.

       Approximately two dozen Virginia counties have had extensive loss of records at various times, primarily in the period from 1700 to 1900. The loses are mainly due to the Civil War as Virginia was a major battle field. However, a significant number of records losses occurred as a result of fires and the Revolutionary War. Some counties experienced record destruction as many as three separate times. Virginia counties which have suffered the most severe losses include:

          Appomattox      Gloucester      Nansemond      Warwick

          Buchanan        Hanover         New Kent

          Buckingham      Henrico         Nottoway

          Caroline        James City      Prince George

          Charles City    King and Queen  Prince William

          Dinwiddie       King William    Rockingham

          Elizabeth City  Mathews         Stafford

Source:  http://freenet.vcu.edu/sigs/genealogy/burn-co.txt

County and Parish Records

For more information about parishes in Virginia, see http://www.virginiafamilyresearch.com/parish.html

For Virginia formation maps, see  http://www.segenealogy.com/virginia/va_maps/va_cf.htm

For Virginia county formation dates and "formed from" see http://www.rootsweb.com/~vagenweb/county2.htm

The following table is an inventory of the documents that I found available for research for the Virginia areas which seemed relevant. Most do not have a remaining "register" of vital data.  Those books that are bolded are those I have researched. 

Note 1. 

1.        6 Mar 1709 Humphrey Felps (Phelps?) and wife Helen Phelps, of Southwarke  Parish  [Surry co] to William Land of the same for 5000 lbs tobacco… 100 aces (bought from Thomas Busby by Capt Roger Potter who sold it to George Middleton on 16 Oct 1674. Land then descended to Tomas Middleton , son and heir of George Middleton, who sold it to Humphrey  Felps on 17 Sep 1688. Land is on east side of Sorthern Run adjoining John Lanier.

2.        14 Aug 1692 Humphrey Felps (Phelps?) named again relative to the Capt Potter buying land from Busby (above).

Note 2   A complete write-up on this Phillips family is at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~paday/dobbers/phillips_thomas.htm   The family moved to Craven Co, NC and his will of 1743 lists both Thomas and James.  Also recall that the will of Samuel Phelps (son of John of Halifax VA d 1794) names a John Phelps of Charles Co.   The writeup says “The first proven mention of our Thomas and Isabelle were the birth records of

some of their children located in Bristol Parish, Prince George's County, Va.”  Prince George formed from Charles City in 1703.  Both are Bristol Parish.

 From rootsweb.com  Phillips Family. Bristol Parish

1. Prince George County, VA. Bristol Parish.
   Phillips Family, living on Second Swamp 1711-1714-1726-1734 and beyond.   I am descended from Thomas Phillips and Isabella (maiden name may be Lanthrop/Lantrip or Pace) who had children in Bristol Parish 1726-1734.  They later went to Craven Co. NC, where Thomas Phillips died in 1743 and Isabella later married John Griffin, who may also be from Prince George Co. I have a lot of information on the Second Swamp farm of John Phillips and a lot about his descendants. Does anyone else have a connection to this family?  thank you. Mary Jane Phillips-Matz

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/rw/localities.northam.usa.states.virginia.counties.princegeorge/251

2. I am descended from Thomas and Isabella Phillips, who lived in Bristol Parish, Prince George County, in the 1720s and 1730s. John Phillips (Senior) owned land on Second Swamp before 1720, added to that land, and is probably the father of Thomas Phillips and John Phillips. Both of them had children baptized in Bristol Parish. These baptisms are in the Vestry Book of Bristol Parish. Is anyone else working on this line? Who is the father of John Phillips, who had a large farm on the N and S sides of Second Swamp and had a mill there? When and where was Thomas Phillips born? What was Isabella's maiden name? I believe that John (Jr) and Thomas are the sons of John Sr. who had that land on Second Swamp, because they are the only Phillips families in Bristol Parish from 1720 through about 1740s

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/rw/localities.northam.usa.states.virginia.counties.princegeorge/80

CCLIB = Craven Library parish books.  Remaining to be researched:

1.        St. George's Parish, Accomack County : vestry book, 1763- 1787\

2.        Powhaton Parish

3.        St Andrews parish

4.        Parishes for Bedford and Campbell Counties

5.        Southwark parish

6.        Prince George County, Virginia : records, 1733-1792 : abstracts of the remaining County record books for the above period plus miscellaneous wills  - cclb

7.        Halifax and other related counties

8.        Pittsylvania,  Charlotte, Meck cos.

Halifax 1785 James Philips w6 dwel 1 other bldg 2

Cumberland 1782  census  James Philips 5 white ,  2 black