Genealogical Databases

Volunteers at the Charles City County Center for Local History have created these databases to make the Center’s resources more widely accessible.  Check back regularly for updates and new features.

Enslaved Ancestor File

A common misconception holds that enslaved persons did not have surnames until after emancipation and that the names they took after the Civil War were those of their former owners.

Total records: 1,005
Last updated: Aug 2020

Free Negro & Mulatto Registrations

The registration of free Negroes and Mulattoes began in Virginia in 1793 with passage of a law that required free persons of color to register with the Clerk of Court in the county where they resided and to carry their “free papers” with them at all times.

Registration Years: 1823-1864

Marriage Database

This database includes marriages from a variety of sources. Most of the marriages come from the surviving Charles City Marriage bonds (1762-1849) and from Marriage Books 1, 2, and 3 and licenses on file in the Charles City Circuit Court Clerk’s Office (1850-1954).

Total records: 4,398

Last updated: Aug 2020

Revolutionary War Roster

Men from Charles City County played a part in America’s war for independence from its first days to its last. More than 250 soldiers, sailors and patriots are listed in this roster, but that number may be as little as half the total number of men who served.

Total records: 298
Last updated: Mar 2018

Union Service Members

Enlistment of African Americans into the Union Army began in earnest in January 1863.  Hundreds of Charles City slaves had left the county with Gen, McClellan’s Army when it retreated from Harrison’s landing in August 1862, and many of those men enlisted in the U.S. Colored Troop units organized in Hampton and Norfolk.

Total records: 119
Last updated: June 2018

Confederate Service Members

As the drums of the Civil War began to beat in 1861 men from Charles City County formed themselves into two companies.

Total records: 310
Last updated: June 2018

World War I Database

About 200 men from Charles City County served in WWI. Most of the men were drafted under three conscription acts, the first of which was passed in 1917 only one month after the United States entered the conflict.

Total records: 966
Last updated: Sept 2010