Genealogy
The Clerk's Office has genealogy section located in the Deed Room on the first floor of the Courthouse. Please see our Online Records Information for options to search records online without a visit to our office.
Our staff in the Genealogy division come across a lot of stories in the historical records as they preserve and digitize them so they are easily accessible for current and future generations. Click on Clerk's Corner below to see the articles that have been published in partnership with the Daily News Record and click on True Crime in the Shenandoah Valley to see the stories that have they have written based on criminal cases and are posted on our Facebook page:
Click on a title below to expand:
Years Available on Secure Remote Access:
Birth Records/Certificates: 1862-1894, 1912-1917
Death Records/Certificates: 1870-1894, 1912-1917
Images of birth records/certificates and death records/certificates are free to view without subscription on our Secure Remote Access.
After accepting the disclaimer, click on Document Search - Web, scroll to Genealogy and click to start a search. An account is not required to view free images. Best practice is to search by name or by a last name alone or with a portion of the first name vs. a date as the birth/death records in registers have numerous records per a page and are indexed only by the year.
Virginia Department of Health Public Records - Index Only
Virginia birth and death records from 1912 on are now available in an index form by Virginia Department of Health in partnership with ancestry.com. In Virginia, death data becomes “public” information 25 years after the event; birth data is “public” after 100 years.
Included Data Collections:
Virginia, U.S., Birth Registers, 1853-1911
Virginia, U.S., Birth Records, 1912-2015, Delayed Birth Records, 1721-1920
Virginia, U.S., Death Registers, 1853-1911
Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014
Images of burnt deed books and indexes are free to view without subscription on our Secure Remote Access.
Indexes
The indexes for the Burnt Deed Books are available under Historical Index Search on our Secure Remote Access. The indexes are also available on this site: Grantors and Grantees
Burnt Deed Books
To view the images from the books on our Secure Remote Access, after accepting the disclaimer, click on Document Search - Web, scroll to Genealogy and click to start a search. An account is not required to view free images. If searching books 0, 00, 000 or 0000, you will receive all 4 books in the results as the program is not able to filter due to the zeros. You will need to check the book number in the results for the record that you were looking for.
History of Burnt Books
A day or two before the General Sheridan’s first campaign against General Early up the Valley, Dr. A.M. Newman had his Negro Teamster to load the records with the intention of taking them east of the Blue Ridge. On the road leading from Port Republic to Mt. Vernon Forge and the Brown’s Gap Road, a tire came off the hind wheel and the wheel broke down. The Teamster unhitched his horses from the wagon, leaving it in the road when a squad of Sheridan’s cavalry came along and set fire to it. Only for the persistence of Dr. A.M. Newman and a County Official, who wanted to make expenses for refuging his four horses and Newtown Wagon, and the poor judgment of Judge Allen, who ordered the records be taken away, they would have been safe in the Courthouse with other papers and records that were not moved.
Mrs. Mary Nicholas Keezle, Mother of Charles M. Keezle, and Stephen Harnsberger, Grandfather of Charles D. Harnsberger, put the fire out so that it did not completely burn all the books by covering the fire with new mown clover and carrying water from the well.
Deed Book Images
Images of Deed Books 1-124 are free to view without subscription on our Secure Remote Access. This covers 7/18/1864-1/22/1923. An account with a subscription is required to view document images after 1/22/1923 but the indexes are always free to view/search.
Click on Document Search - Web, click on Real Estate - Land Records and click to start a search by book/page only. An account is not required to view free images. See below for how to access the indexes to locate records. You can also enter book/page in the Historical Index Search to locate the documents.
Indexes
The indexes 1864-1923 for the Deed Books are available under Historical Index Search on our Secure Remote Access.
The indexes are also available on this site:
Histories along the Blue Ridge
Histories along the Blue Ridge (HBR) is the new name for the Exploring Rockingham’s Past project, which was launched in 2017-2018 to make selected historic records from the Rockingham County Circuit Court digitally available to the public. Keeping with the original project mission, each year, graduate students of James Madison University partner with local Circuit Court Clerk, Chaz Haywood, to make select collections digitally available. Since 2018, the project has grown rapidly beyond Rockingham County through collaborations with interested community actors and courthouses in neighboring counties along the Blue Ridge Mountain Range in Virginia. Future initiatives will also add select, non-court records to the HBR collection as well.
On the site, you will find information about their most recent digital collections and general updates about the project. To explore all digitized collections visit the "Browse Digital Collections" on the site.
In addition, HBR does provide information on collections housed by the Rockingham County courthouse that are not digitized. If the record group has not been digitized a note has been made at the top of the finding aid. For further information about all collections visit our "Finding Aids" page.
Featured Exhibits
In Colonial Virginia and early Rockingham County, land grants and treasury warrants were essential for acquiring land. Land grants, issued by the colonial and Virginian government gave individuals the right to claim and settle on specific parcels. These grants were often rewards for military service, incentives for immigration, or tools for economic development.
Treasury warrants, issued by the treasurer, could be exchanged for land and were used as payment for various public services. Both warrants played a crucial role in expanding and developing the Shenandoah Valley.
The American Revolution introduced changes in Virginia, notably the establishment of a new state government. Therefore, grants were not issued from 1775 to 1779, until legislation creating the Land Office was enacted.
Local Resources
Bridgewater Historical Society
EMU's Menno Simons Historical Library
Massanutten Regional Library - Genealogy & Local History
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District
Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project - Learn Share Illuminate
State Resources
Department of Historic Resources
Virginia Chronicle - Library of Virginia
Virginia Memory - Library of Virginia
Virginia Untold - Library of Virginia
Secure Remote Access
Images of our marriage records from 1778-1923 are free to view without subscription on our Secure Remote Access. An account with a subscription is required to view marriage licenses after 1923 but the index is always free to search.
After accepting the disclaimer, click on Document Search - Web, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Marriage Search and Certified Copy Request to start a search. An account is not required to view free images but an account and subscription is required to view images for marriage licenses after 1923.
Virginia Department of Health Public Records - Index Only
Divorce records since 1918 and marriage records since 1936 are now available in an index form by Virginia Department of Health in partnership with ancestry.com. In Virginia, marriage and divorce data becomes “public” information 25 years after the event.
Included Data Collections:
Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935
WWI
WWI Memorial and WWI Returned Servicemen records are available online via our Secure Remote Access website under the Genealogy filter. Images are free to view.
OTHER RECORDS
PAY ROLL VIRGINIA MILITIA 1813-1814
Minute Books were used to record all matters brought before the court on a daily basis when it was in session including but not limited to: civil and criminal suits, appointments of county officers, appointments of guardians and administrators, deed recordings, free negro registrations, naturalization registrations, and court fees. Clerks would transfer information from minute books to appropriate order book, deed book, fiduciary book, free negro register, etc. Some years may be spread over several books, some years may be missing.
Miscellaneous Items
Formation of Virginia Counties from 1634
Overseers of the Poor (1787-1862) - Also available on Histories along the Blue Ridge
1939 Atlas of Rockingham County
Rockingham's records that are part of the Library of Virginia's Collections:
Library of Virginia - Digital Collections Discovery contains records from across Virginia. Below are some of the Rockingham County records that are available online through their Digital Collections Discovery:
- Map of Villa lot portion of Shendun: Rockingham and Augusta Counties, VA: allotment of stockholders, May 27, 1891
- Rockingham County Poll Book, 1st District, Colored Voters
- Rockingham County Poll Book, 2nd District, Colored Voters
- Rockingham County Poll Book, 3rd District, Colored Voters
- Rockingham County Poll Book, 4th District, Colored Voters
- Rockingham County Poll Book, 5th District, Colored Voters
- Rockingham County Poll Book, 6th District, Colored Voters
- Rockingham County Poll Book, 7th District, Colored Voters
- Rockingham County Poll Book, 8th District, Colored Voters
- Rockingham County Public Buildings and Grounds, Plan of Courthouse
- Rockingham County: Record of Slaves that have escaped to the enemy during the war [1861-1863]
- Rockingham County Register of Free Negroes, 1807-1859
More Info on Library of Virginia Genealogy Workshops
Helpful Information
Library of Virginia's - Reading Old Handwriting video
Secure Remote Access
Images of probate records from 1774-1923 are free to view without subscription on our Secure Remote Access. An account with a subscription is required to view probate records after 1923 but the index is always free to search.
After accepting the disclaimer, click on Document Search - Web, scroll to Wills/Probate/Estate Records and click to start a search. An account is not required to view free images.
Contact Us
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Historic Archives and Law Librarian
Megan Pullen
(540) 564-3379