Families of Nelson County
Nelson County, Virginia & Surrounding Counties
Their Families and Local History — a preserved record of the people, places, and generations of the Virginia Piedmont.
About the Genealogist
Thirty years spent listening to the records.
Deborah Harvey is a board-certified genealogist who has traced families across the United States for more than three decades, with her heart and her research firmly rooted in Virginia and the states that border it.
This site gathers what those years of work uncovered: the families of Nelson County and its neighbors, the courthouse records that name them, and the local history that gives their lives context. Every entry is documented, every source cited — because a family’s story deserves to be told correctly.
From the Archive
Featured Articles & Family Histories
Deeply researched accounts of the people who built Nelson County and the counties around it — drawn from deeds, wills, church books, and the memory of the land itself.
Family Lines
The Rockfish Valley Settlers
Following the first families up the Rockfish River, from colonial land grants to the households named in the 1810 census.
Local History
BackRoads Index
Lynn Coffey has written a series of extraordinary accounts about the people of Nelson County. These articles appear on the Nelson County Historical Society’s website. Here is a surname and place name index to the articles with links.
Research Resources
Where the records are kept.
Guides and abstracts assembled over decades of courthouse and archive work — a starting point for your own search.
- Deeds & Wills — abstracts from Nelson, Amherst, and Albemarle county order books.
- Census & Tax Records — personal property and land tax indexes, 1782 onward.
- Church & Bible Records — baptisms, marriages, and burials from local congregations.
- Research Guides — how to work a Virginia county when the courthouse burned.
Contact Us
Share a name. Ask a question.
Whether you are chasing an ancestor through the Virginia Piedmont, have a research question, or hold a family story you would like preserved — Deborah would be glad to hear from you.
Families of Nelson County, Virginia 