The Mathews Memorial Library has an excellent collection of family history-related research materials. These resources include a wide variety of standard reference sources, historical periodicals, Virginia histories and biographies, newspapers, maps, Mathews County census schedules, and many unique manuscripts.

This guide is designed to assist the genealogist/family historian in locating and using these resources in the Chesapeake Room. This is a very selective bibliography and does not attempt to be exhaustive or complete. Careful examination of these titles and browsing for other interesting resources are highly recommended.

Books

Records of Colonial Gloucester County Virginia, a collection of abstracts from original documents concerning the lands and people of Colonial Gloucester County compiled by Polly Cary Mason. Vol. I. (1946) & Vol. II (1948). CREF 975.375 MAS

Kingston Parish Register Gloucester and Mathews Counties, Virginia 1749-1827 compiled by Emma R. Matheny & Helen K. Yates. 1963. CREF 929.375 MAT

Mathews County Virginia Records including Executors’ Bonds, 1795-1825 Guardian Bonds, Book B, 1806-1822 Marriages (1827-50) performed by Rev. William A. Billups Marriage (1817-70) & Death (1807-90) Announcements from Virginia Newspapers compiled by Jane B. Goodsell. 2000. CREF 929.3755 GOO

Mathews County Virginia Death Register 1853-1896 compiled by Jane B. Goodsell. 2001. CREF 929.3 GOO

Births (1865-1874) and Deaths (1865-1874) of Mathews County, Virginia compiled by Carolyn and Frances Haywood. CREF 929.3755 HAY

Tombstones of Mathews County, Virginia 1711-1986 compiled by Christine L. Sheridan & Elsie W. Ernst. Published by the Mathews County Historical Society, Inc. 1988. CREF 929.5 SHE

Roses for Mama Tombstones of Mathews Co., Va. compiled by Frances Haywood. 1997. CREF 929.5 HAY

Marriages in Mathews County, Virginia: 1861-1900 compiled by Carolyn Winn Markie. 2006. CREF 929.3755 MAR

Mathews County Virginia Land and Personal Tax Lists 1791-1800 abstracted by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr. 1992. CREF 929.3 BRA

Mathews County Virginia Censuses 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840 abstracted by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr. 1994. CREF 929.3755 BRA

The 1850 Federal Census Mathews County, Virginia (Includes All Schedules) abstracted by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr. 1990. CREF 929.3755 BRA

The 1860 Federal Census Mathews County, Virginia (Including All Schedules) abstracted by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr. 1998. CREF 929.3755 BRA

The Vestry Book of Kingston Parish Mathews County, Virginia, (until May 1, 1791, Gloucester County) 1679-1796 transcribed, annotated, and indexed by C. G. Chamberlayne. 1929. CREF 929.3755 CHA MCHS

The 1787 Census of Virginia Gloucester County by Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love. 1987. CREF 929.3 SCH

Revolutionary War Roster Gloucester County Virginia compiled by Elizabeth Dutton Lewis. 1976. CREF 929.3755 LEW

Mathews Men Who Served in The War Between the States by Mrs. Bernard Franklin White. 1961. CREF 929.3755 WHI

Epitaphs of Gloucester and Mathews Counties in Tidewater Virginia Through 1865 by Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities Joseph Bryan Branch, Gloucester. 1959. CREF 929.5 EPI

Old Tombstone Records of Mathews County, Virginia by Princess Anne County Chapter National Society Daughters of the Revolution. 1970. CREF 929.5 DAR

The Black Americans of Gwynn's Island 1600s through 1900s by John W. Dixon. 2005. CREF 909.04 DIX

History and Progress Mathews County, Virginia reprints from 1949 and 1979 Special Editions Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal. 1982. CREF 975.531 MAT

Mathews County Panorama a pictorial history of Mathews County 1791-1941. Mathews County Historical Society, Inc. 1983. CREF 929 MAT

The Governors' Island by Peter Jennings Wrike. 1993. CREF 973.3 WRI MCHS

Gwynn's Island Virginia a history and pictorial essay by David D. Ryan. 1986. CREF 975.531 RYA MCH

Gwynn's Island Virginia stories of a New World Settlement from the first families to the present by David D. Ryan. 2000. CREF 975.531 RYA

Gwynn's Island & the Great Storm of 1933 and other weather related accounts by the Gwynn's Island Museum. 2002. CREF 975.5 GWY

Gwynn's Island Times news items from the Mathews journal, 1905-1937; and the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal, 1937-1950 compiled and edited by Elsa Cooke Verbyla. 1998. CREF 975.5 GWY

Island History & Progress news items about Gwynn's Island, Virginia from the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal 1951-2000. 2008. CREF 975.5 GWY

Historic Homes and Properties of Mathews County, Virginia pre-Civil War. First in a Series of Five. Mathews County Historical Society, Inc. 2009. CREF 728 MCH

Historic Homes and Properties of Mathews County, Virginia pre-Civil War. Second in a Series of Five. Mathews County Historical Society, Inc. 2009. CREF 728 MCH

Historic Homes and Properties of Mathews County, Virginia pre-Civil War. Third in a Series of Five. Mathews County Historical Society, Inc. 2009. CREF 728 MCH

Historic Homes and Properties of Mathews County, Virginia pre-Civil War. Fourth in a Series of Five. Mathews County Historical Society, Inc. 2009. CREF 728 MCH

Membership of Bethel Church (c. 1800-2010) Partial List compiled by Elaine R. Owens. 2010. CREF 929.3755 OWE

Heirs and Estates: Mathews County, Virginia Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery Process Book 1831-1861 transcribed and edited by Anita A. Lustenberger. 2012. CREF 975.531 LUS

Kingston Parish Register Mathews, Gloucester and Middlesex Counties, Virginia Slaves and Slaveholders, 1746-1827 by Martha W. McCartney. 2014. CREF 929.3755 MCC

Gloucester and Mathews Newspaper Articles, 1770-1922 by Joan Charles. 2014. CREF 929.3755 CHA (readable online)

Mathews County Virginia: Lost Landscapes, Untold Stories by Martha W. McCartney. 2015. CREF 975.531 MCC (975.531 MCC available for check out)

Microfilm