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The Virginia Colonial Records Project at the [[Library of Virginia|Library of Virginia]] can help Americans trace their European immigrant origins. Scholars visited United Kingdom and other European archives searching for references to colonial-era Virginians. Their 14,704 records survey reports contain half a million names of persons and ships which are searchable at the Library's web site. They also microfilmed about two-thirds of the records they located. The 963 reels of microfilm are held at the Library of Virginia and are available for interlibrary loan. The Library's [http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/opac/vcrpabout.htm About the Virginia Colonial Records Project] provides more information. See also: *Riley, Edward M. "The Virginia Colonial Records Project," ''National Genealogical Society Quarterly'', Vol. 51, No. 2 (June 1963):81-89. {{FHL|39597|item|disp=FHL Book 973 B2ng v. 51}}. | The Virginia Colonial Records Project at the [[Library of Virginia|Library of Virginia]] can help Americans trace their European immigrant origins. Scholars visited United Kingdom and other European archives searching for references to colonial-era Virginians. Their 14,704 records survey reports contain half a million names of persons and ships which are searchable at the Library's web site. They also microfilmed about two-thirds of the records they located. The 963 reels of microfilm are held at the Library of Virginia and are available for interlibrary loan. The Library's [http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/opac/vcrpabout.htm About the Virginia Colonial Records Project] provides more information. See also: *Riley, Edward M. "The Virginia Colonial Records Project," ''National Genealogical Society Quarterly'', Vol. 51, No. 2 (June 1963):81-89. {{FHL|39597|item|disp=FHL Book 973 B2ng v. 51}}. | ||
==Finding Town of Origin== | |||
Records in the countries emigrated from are kept on the local level. You must first identify the '''name of the town''' where your ancestors lived to access those records. If you do not yet know the name of the town of your ancestor's birth, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt for it. | |||
*[[U. S. Immigration Records: Finding the Town of Origin|'''U. S. Immigration Records: Finding the Town of Origin''']] | |||
== Background == | |||
The original European settlers came in the early 17th century from the midland and southern counties of [[England Genealogy|England]].<ref>David Hackett Fischer, ''Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). {{FHL|593285|item|disp=FHL Book 973 H2fis}}.</ref> They first settled in [[Virginia, United States Genealogy|Virginia]]'s tidewater (coastal plain). Many colonists had connections to [[Barbados Genealogy|Barbados]].<ref>David L. Kent, ''Barbados and America'' (Arlington, Va.: C.M. Kent, 1980). {{FHL|316574|item|disp=FHL Book 972.981 X2b}}.</ref> The earliest Africans to Barbados was in 1619. Starting in 1680, large numbers of Africans were captured and brought as slaves to Barbados. It has been estimated that 75% of white colonists arrived in bondage as indentured servants or transported convicts.<ref>Wesley Frank Craven, ''White, Red, and Black: The Seventeenth-Century Virginian'' (Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1971).</ref> Small landholders moved westward to the Piedmont, where they were joined by a new wave of English and [[Scotland|Scottish]] immigrants. | |||
In the early 1700s, [[France|French]] Huguenots arrived, followed by [[Germany|German]] workers imported between 1714 and 1717 to work iron furnaces in the Piedmont area. During the 1730s and 1740s, a large number of settlers of [[Northern Ireland|Ulster Scot]] and German descent moved southward from [[Pennsylvania Genealogy|Pennsylvania]] down the Allegheny Ridges into the Shenandoah Valley. | |||
Beginning in the late 18th century, Virginia lost many residents as families moved westward to new states and territories. There was very little foreign immigration to Virginia after 1800. | |||
==== German Immigrants ==== | |||
A group of Germans created a settlement called Germanna in early eighteenth-century Virginia. Several books have been published about the history and genealogy of these families, such as:<br> | |||
'''[[Germanna Foundation]]''' maintains a visitor's center with genealogical library. They work to promote historic preservation as well as family history information and research. | |||
== Overseas Immigration == | == Overseas Immigration == | ||