Colonial Caroline: A History of Caroline County, Virginia

By: Thomas Elliott Campbell, Pub. 1954, Reprinted 2018, 578 pages, Index, ISBN # 0-89308-905-2.

Caroline County was created from Essex, King & Queen and King William Counties in 1728. Settlers began showing up around 1655 and many of her early sttlers were Huguenots. During the Revolution, Caroline was the third most populous county within Virginia. This book is a well documentd and detailed history of the county. But what the genealogists will savor are all of the records he included that cover such items as: land/crown grants covering St. Mary’s, Drysdale, St. Margaret’s Parishes, Headrighters, Indentured Servants, Slaves being registered and crimes by slaves, lists of office holders, lists of jurors, lists of persons exempt from taxes, lists of persons in the Militia as well as those seving as soldiers & sailors in the Revolutionary War, lists of persons petitioning for hardship allotments, Tobacco planters and their role, list & descriptions of merchants from the three parishes, list and description of Grist Mills and their involvement, lists of tavern owners & location of the tavern, Cases involving adultry & seperations along with bastardy children, Churches and their involvement with the community including those charged with persection and those receiving welfare, various criminal cases from felony all the way down assult & batteries, Apprenticeships, briefs of Wills 1732-1778, Guardians and their wards 1740-1781 and many, many useful items to help find and document that elusive ancestor. This index to this book has approximately 12,000 enties.