Buckingham County Obituaries and Death Records

Buckingham County obituary and death records are maintained by the Circuit Court Clerk in Buckingham and through Virginia's vital records system, serving genealogists and family members researching deaths in this Piedmont county located in central Virginia between Richmond and the Blue Ridge.

Buckingham County Circuit Court Clerk

The Buckingham County Circuit Court Clerk holds land records, probate records, and marriage records going back to 1761. Buckingham County was formed from Albemarle County. Older family records may be found in Albemarle County files at the Library of Virginia for families that predated 1761.

Estate files at the Buckingham Circuit Court document deaths and list heirs. These files are public records available for review in person. If a person died with real property in Buckingham County, an estate was opened in the circuit court, and the files document the approximate date of death, the property involved, and the names of surviving family members.

Buckingham County Death Certificates

Certified death certificates for Buckingham County deaths from 1912 to the present are available through the Piedmont Health District or the Virginia Department of Health. The fee is $12 per copy. Under Code of Virginia Title 32.1, deaths within the past 25 years are restricted to immediate family members.

Request by calling VDH at (804) 662-6200 or visiting vdh.virginia.gov/vital-records. For in-person service, the local Piedmont Health District office can assist. You will need photo ID and, for deaths within the last 25 years, documents showing your relationship to the deceased.

Death certificates record the deceased person's name, age, place of birth, date of death, cause of death, attending physician, and place of burial. The burial information can point you to cemetery records for additional family research.

The screenshot below shows the VDH vital records site for ordering Buckingham County death certificates.

Virginia's Office of Vital Records is the main source for certified Buckingham County death certificates from June 1912 to the present.

Historical Death Records for Buckingham County

Buckingham County death registers from 1853 to 1896 are on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. These registers predate the modern certificate system and record deaths in the county from the period when state registration was first required. They are a key source for pre-1912 genealogy in central Virginia.

The statewide gap from 1897 to 1911 means that official death records do not exist for those years. Church registers, cemetery surveys, and local newspaper obituaries are the best alternatives for Buckingham County deaths in that period. Local Baptist and Methodist churches often kept burial records that supplement the official registers.

The LVA death guide at lva-virginia.libguides.com/bmd/death explains what is available for Buckingham County and how to access the microfilm registers. The Henley Index at lva-virginia.libguides.com/henley covers newspaper obituary notices from 1736 to 1982 and includes Buckingham County coverage.

Online Resources for Buckingham County Obituaries

Find It Virginia at finditva.com is the best free online resource for Buckingham County death records from 1912 to present. A Virginia library card is needed. You can search by name and county to locate death index entries before ordering a certified copy.

The Virginia Genealogical Society obituary database at virginiagenealogy.org/obits indexes obituaries from multiple Virginia newspapers. Buckingham County families appear in this database, particularly those with ties to the central Piedmont region. The database is free to search and draws from multiple sources.

The Virginia Museum of History and Culture at virginiahistory.org holds compiled genealogies and family papers that include Buckingham County families. VMHC's collections include Bible records, correspondence, and published county histories with family sketches and death dates.

The screenshot below shows the Virginia Genealogical Society obituary database, which covers central Piedmont Virginia newspapers including Buckingham County sources.

The Virginia Genealogical Society obituary index is a free resource covering multiple newspaper sources from across Virginia, including the Piedmont region where Buckingham County is located.

Public Access and FOIA Rights

Virginia's Freedom of Information Act at Code of Virginia Section 2.2-3700 makes death records older than 25 years publicly available. Circuit court records at the Buckingham County Courthouse are also open to the public. Probate files and deed records can be reviewed in person during regular business hours.

Local Genealogy Resources

Buckingham County genealogy research benefits from the county's long history and its proximity to other well-documented Virginia counties. The Library of Virginia at lva.virginia.gov holds Buckingham County deed books, will books, and court records. Their collections index at lva.virginia.gov/collections/cri lists specific holdings.

Local library access to Ancestry Library Edition and HeritageQuest is available to Virginia library cardholders. For on-site research, the Buckingham County Public Library provides access to these genealogical databases. The Virginia Museum of History and Culture and the Library of Virginia are the two primary statewide repositories for Buckingham County family research.

Cities Near Buckingham County

There are no qualifying independent cities directly adjacent to Buckingham County. Nearby cities such as Charlottesville and Lynchburg maintain their own vital records offices.

Nearby Counties

Buckingham County is surrounded by Albemarle, Appomattox, Cumberland, and Prince Edward counties in central Virginia.