Virginia Directories
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Online Resources
- Virginia Online Historical Directories - listed by county and independent city
- Virginia City Directories links
History
City and county directories are similar to present-day telephone books and are useful records for locating people. They were often published annually, listing heads of households, employed household members, and their occupations and addresses. They can be used with census records or as substitutes for them.
Directories have been published for various cities and counties since the mid 1800s, though they may not exist for every year. Some directories focus on the businesses or occupations of an area, while others include heads of households and landowners.
Resources for Virginia Directories
Libraries and Archives
Directories Online
Ancestry.com ($) has Virginia directories available online in its U.S. City Directories collection.
The FamilySearch Library
The FamilySearch Library has city directories for various years from throughout the state of Virginia including:
Richmond City
- 1819-1860 FS Library fiche 6044391-400
- 1866-1935 FS Library films 1377370-84 and 1605945-66
Norfolk City
- 1801, 1806, 1851, 1859, 1860 FS Library fiche 6044285-89
- 1866-1901 FS Library films 1377209-15
- 1902-1923 FS Library films 1844188-202
- 1924-1935 FS Library films 1844311-17
For prominent individuals of the colonial era, the FamilySearch Library has name directories such as:
- Stanard, William G. The Colonial Virginia Register 1902. Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1965. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library. Also at: Hathitrust; At various libraries (WorldCat). Gives position and sometimes birth and death information.
To find directories, consult the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:
- VIRGINIA, [COUNTY] — DIRECTORIES
- VIRGINIA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] — DIRECTORIES
Websites
- Norfolk, Virginia 1859 City Directory
- US City Directories This website identifies printed, microfilmed, and online directories and their repositories.
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