“OGS Saturday Showcase: Virginia Military District Resources”
Saturday Showcase is a series of presentations by the OGS staff featuring particular resources of the Library and Archives. They are hosted in-person at the library in Bellville, Ohio.
Linda Swanson, OGS Librarian, highlights some of the OGS Samuel D Isaly Library’s resources regarding the Virginia Military District. This territory was bordered by the Ohio River on the south, the Little Miami River to the west, and the Scioto River on the east and north. Virginia used these lands as payment to Revolutionary War veterans of the Virginia Continental Line. Many people, from surveyors to chain men to business owners who provided supplies, were involved in the process of surveying the land between the 1780s and mid 1850s. Several new abstracts and indexes can help one discover if their relative is mentioned in documents pertaining to the original surveying of the district.
Resources mentioned in this recording:
Index to the R. C. Anderson Surveyor Collection at the University of Illinois, 1783-1859 / by LaRoux K. Gillespie. Olathe, Kansas: Family History & Genealogy Center, 2025. ISBN: 9780912017730
IHLC MS 429 Richard Clough Anderson Papers, 1782-1905, 1912-1914. Manuscript Collection Inventory. Illinois History and Lincoln Collections, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/ihlcsfa/andersonrc.pdf
R.C. Anderson’s Virginia Military District for Ohio 1784-1796 Survey Finance Journal #5: Abstracts and Index / by LaRoux K. Gillespie. Olathe, Kansas: Family History & Genealogy Center, 2024. ISBN: 9780912017686. 2025 Winner of the Ohio Genealogical Society Governor Salmon P. Chase Award for abstracts of Ohio records: https://www.ogs.org/about/awards/
R.C. Anderson’s Virginia Military District for Ohio 1796-1820 Survey Finance Journal #1: Abstracts and Index / by LaRoux K. Gillespie. Olathe, Kansas: Family History & Genealogy Center, 2025. ISBN: 9780912017716
LaRoux K. Gillespie books are published by Family History & Genealogy Center, 21164 W. 153rd Place, Olathe, Kansas 66061
Federal Land Series: A Calendar of Archival Materials on the Land Patents Issued by the United States Government, with Subject, Tract, and Name Indexes / Clifford Neal Smith. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 1972. ISBN: 0838901387. Volume 4 is about the Virginia Military District.
Virginia Survey 1861 / Virginia Military District. Surveyor’s Office. Hillsboro, OH: Southern Ohio Genealogical Society, 199? Can be purchased from: Southern Ohio Genealogical Society of Highland County, Ohio. https://www.sogs.info/