Hi Paul, Not to be contrary, but most? of the early deeds and wills--depending upon the county--have been microfilmed. You can check out the holdings at the Library of Virginia. http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/local/local_rec/county_city/index.htm The LDS has a search engine for their microfilm holdings, but I find it very frustrating to use. http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp If you do visit the Staunton, keep in mind that there are two courthouses there--the Augusta County Courthouse is located at 6 East Johnson St. (540)-245-5321. The Staunton City Courthouse is located at 113 East Beverly St. (540)-332-3874. Deb Wake Richmond, VA At 09:37 PM 7/7/2005, Paul Redden wrote: >Hi Janice, > >For basic genealogy information on the Valley, Handley Library in downtown >Winchester is probably your best bet. It is also a short walk from both >the Frederick County Courthouse and the Winchester Courthouse where you >can look up old deeds and wills in those jurisdictions (part of Shenandoah >county was originally Frederick County, the other part was Augusta to the >south. The Shenandoah County Library in Edinburg also has some material >also, however it is not as large and not close to the County >Courthouse. I am not familiar with the southern "upper" valley but >imagine that Augusta would probably have a good library and may be worth a >trip if your ancestors were from the southern part of Shenandoah County. > >If you don't mind going just outside the Valley, the John Gott Memorial >library just off interstate 66 in Markham (Fauquier County) is full of >books donated by John Gott relating to genealogy and local history and >Loudoun County has a large public genealogical library just outside of >Leesburg. >Farther east, Fairfax is pretty good and there is always the DAR and the >Library of Congress in Washington itself. > >Your best bet with limited time is to visit the courthouses first and >trace the deeds back or find the wills. These usually aren't available >anywhere else except occationally as abstracts or indexes. > >>From: JANICE B PATTERSON <jlpatterson@juno.com> >>To: SHENANDOAH-L@rootsweb.com >>Subject: "Best" Library to VIsit >>Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2005 12:14:16 -0400 >> >>I may have a good chance to get to the Shenandoah Valley for some library >>research time this summer -- but I will probably only >>be able to dropped off at ONE library -- which one would have best >>collection for early material -- 1750s -1800? >> >>I'm tracing several lines -- one is a group of early Shenandoah Valley >>settlers from PA & the other is early Scots-Irish into >>Beverley Manor/Patent. >> >>Also, where do I locate early land/probate/marriage records for people >>who were in Harrison/Hardy counties around >>1780-1810 before these counties were in WV? >> >>FROM: >>Janice B. Patterson >>30967 Sassafras Lane >>Westlake OH 44145-5171 >>phone 440-835-9171 >> >> >>==== SHENANDOAH Mailing List ==== >> SHENANDOAH Families Mail List Archives: >> courtesy of Rootsweb, our gracious host! >>http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl >> Just type in the mail list's name: SHENANDOAH > > > >==== SHENANDOAH Mailing List ==== >Your support of RootsWeb helps make SHENANDOAH-L possible. >RootsWeb Gen. Data Coop. Box 6798 Frazier Park, CA 93222 > http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html