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Millions of Americans can trace their heritage to Frederick County, VA!
During the 1730’s, Frederick County was the destination of early settlers – newly arrived English, Scots, Irish, and German immigrants who came south from Pennsylvania in search of good, cheap farmland. Eager to have the lands west of the Blue Ridge occupied to protect the colony of Virginia against Indian attack, Royal Governor William Gooch permitted dissident faiths to settle here, and to practice their religion instead of requiring them to join the Episcopal Church.
Frederick County was established in 1738 and included much of West Virginia. In 1745, more than 4,000 people lived in old Frederick County and in what today are Clarke, Shenandoah, Warren, and Page Counties in Virginia, and Berkeley, Hampshire, Hardy, and Jefferson Counties in West Virginia.
Frederick County today offers a wealth of opportunities for genealogists and historians. The Frederick County Clerk’s Records cover 1743 to the present. Winchester, the county seat, is an independent city and has its own Clerk’s Office with records from 1790 to the present.
The Winchester Frederick County Historical Society and the Handley Regional Library jointly operate the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives located in the Handley Regional Library. They house an extensive collection of material on the people, places, and events of the lower Shenandoah Valley.
Handley Regional Library
100 W. Piccadilly Street
Winchester, VA 22601
Stewart Bell Jr. Archives Room
Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society
P.O. Box 58, Winchester, VA 22604
(540) 662-9041, ext. 17; fax (540) 722-4769
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Shenandoah Valley Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 2234
Winchester, VA 22604
Mount Hebron Cemetery
305 E. Boscawen Street
Winchester, VA 22601
(540) 662-4868
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Newtown History Center
Newtown History Center of The Stone House Foundation
P.O. Box 143, 5408 Main Street
Stephens City, VA 22655-0143
(540) 869-1700 | (540) 869-7102
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Wilderness Road: Virginia's Heritage Migration Route
The Great Wagon Road
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