For more than two decades, Historic Christ Church & Museum research volunteers have been engaged in the Parish Profile project. These distinguished academics and dedicated volunteer researchers have been studying the people and places that made up Christ Church Parish in the mid-eighteenth century. Using surviving records from Lancaster County, such as wills and deeds, estate inventories, processions returns, tithable lists, rent rolls, and court order books, they are reconstructing the parish community during the period 1720–1750. Because of the sheer volume of Lancaster County records, the Parish Profile project focuses on the period fifteen years prior to Christ Church's completion and concludes fifteen years after its completion.
One of this project's remarkable achievements is a map of the parish circa 1750. It identifies the names and landholdings of each landowner in Christ Church Parish. Documentary records have helped create fascinating profiles of landowners and their households as well as profiles of tenants, indentured servants, slaves, free blacks, and others who made up the parish community. This rich portrait of an Anglican parish in colonial Virginia will become available in a searchable database.
If you have questions about this project or are interested in viewing our records on a particular person, family or subject in Christ Church Parish, please e-mail info@christchurch1735.org or call (804) 438-6855. You may also make an appointment to visit our Research Library.
