The Staunton Public Library can help you in your search with numerous online and in-Library resources. Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.

Staunton Public Library is a FamilySearch affiliated Library, with in-house access to some digitized resources. 

Note to Virginia residents: The Library of Virginia subscribes to a number of current and historical newspapers, magazines, and journals, as well as genealogical resources, historical maps, civil war records, encyclopedias and directories, and many other texts.  If you sign up for a Library of Virginia library card using their online registration system (requires a valid state issued driver’s license or identification card), you can gain immediate remote access to the Library’s subscription databases and catalog features requiring a login.

Researching at the Library

We offer the following resources at the Library for your genealogical research:

• Access to  Ancestry Library Edition. (At-home access expired 12/31/2021. Please visit the library to use this database.)
• Local History Filing Cabinet: Newspaper clippings and articles about Staunton and some surrounding areas
• Digitized yearbooks from various years
• Historical maps including the Beverley Patent and topographic maps
• Microfilm of Staunton newspapers, directories, and others
• Microfilm of Augusta County Census records from 1810 to 1930
• Periodicals

Online Genealogical Resources

• NEW! ShipIndex.org Special access provided at no cost by the  provider.
• Ancestry Library Edition (At-home access expired 12/31/2021. Please visit the library to use this database.)
• Ancestry for Virginians (accessible from home). The Library of Virginia is pleased to provide Virginians free public access to select content from Ancestry.com. PLEASE NOTE: These records do not include the entirety of Ancestry.com's Virginia-related content. 
• Chronicling America: Access to and information about many American newspapers.
• Cyndi’s List: More than 180,000 categorized and cross-referenced links to websites with genealogical information on the web. Includes lists of sources geared specifically for beginners.
• The DAR Genealogical Research System: A combination of several databases created in recent years to organize the large quantity of information that the Daughters of the American Revolution has collected since its inception in 1890.
• Ellis Island Immigration Records: Search passenger records for ships that landed at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. Castle Garden, also in New York harbor, was the official immigration center from 1855 to 1890.
• FamilySearch.org: The Internet Genealogy Service of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the largest genealogy organization in the world.
• RootsWeb: Known as the oldest and largest free genealogy website. See who is looking for the same surnames as you.
• Social Security Death Index: A listing of persons who had a Social Security number and whose death was reported to the Social Security Administration. Available online from a variety of commercial services.
• USGenWeb Project: Links to state and county genealogy sources organized by volunteers working to provide for genealogical research in every county in the U.S.

Researching Around Staunton

Download the guide to local genealogical research.

Researching Local History & Families

• Chronicling America and Virginia Chronicle include some local historic newspapers
• FamilySearch has a Wiki for Augusta County
• The Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library (Indiana) for some Virginia cemetery databases, including Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton
• Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative provides digital access to records at the Library of Virginia that document the lived experiences of enslaved and free Black and Multiracial people
• Virginia Memory, a Library of Virginia digital Library with digital collections, including the Chancery Records Index. Each of Virginia's circuit courts created chancery records that contain considerable historical and genealogical information
• Augusta County Historical Society’s archived online index. The Augusta County Historical Bulletins available in the Library’s Genealogy Room
• Staunton African-American Research Association
• The Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia are available online as well as in the Library
• Virginia Heritage, a consolidated database of more than 12,000 finding aids providing information about archival materials housed in various institutions across the Commonwealth
• The Valley of the Shadow Project, a hypermedia archive of thousands of sources for the period before, during, and after the Civil War for Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Sources include newspapers, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, church records, population census, agricultural census, and military records.