I have debated on giving further explanation but decided that I should clarify one last time. Any further questions, especially regarding where I am finding my information should be directed to me directly in hopes of freeing up the mailing list. Death registers are available through inter-library loan through the Library of Virginia. These cover the years 1853-1896 (or somewhere thereabouts). These are the registers that contain handwritten entries that were maintained by each county. There are also marriage and birth registers available for most counties, although marriage registers can extend for longer time periods. You can have these sent to your local library (if they have microfilm readers) for a small postage fee and usually can keep them for several weeks. http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/vital/BMDregisters/index.htm The information I have posted the last few days come from actual death certificates that span the years 1912-1939 for which there are no registers and are not available online nor through interlibrary loan, according the Library of Virginia. There are nearly 850,000 death certificates on over 300 reels for this time period (1912-1939) so scanning all 305 reels in a day trip is impossible. I have found this venue to be invaluable as I obtained two g-g-g-grandmother's maiden names that I had been unable to find through any other avenues of researching. Again the link is below: http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/vital/death-certificates/index.htm If you know your ancestor's death date (1912 - ) you can mail the Virginia Department of Vital Statistics for a copy of the certificate although they charge you $12.00 per certificate and that is IF they have a copy on file (versus 75 cents at the Library - used to be 50 cents but they increased the price per copy) Just sending a request for a death certificate for grandpa John Doe who died in 1949 will have it returned to you, usually with nothing. You will need to provide identification also. http://www.vdh.state.va.us/vitalrec/mail_it.asp I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact me privately if you have any further questions.