If you are looking for a continous record of a person, I would suggest the Land Tax books. They are not completely accurate as to the year the event happened, but you do get a lot of interesting data which in conjunction with the census and the personal property taxes gives you a great deal of info. Many people do not know that they even exist. I believe that VA was the only state to have two sets of tax books. These books are on microfilm in Richmond. Some of the books are already missing from the courthouse in case you go there to research.