Fairfax County was formed from Prince William County in 1742. Part of Loudoun County was added in 1798. The county exchanged land with the city of Fairfax in 1980, 1992, and 1994. The county was named for Thomas Fairfax, sixth baron Fairfax of Cameron, proprietor of the Northern Neck.
In 1853, the General Assembly passed a law requiring the systematic statewide recording of vital statistics. The marriage register, still compiled by the county clerk from ministers' returns and other original marriage records, became more standardized and comprehensive.
The original records, from which this register was compiled, were created by the County Court.
Original wills and deeds as well as many other loose papers were destroyed during the Civil War; deed books for twenty-six of the fifty-six years between 1763 and 1819 are missing. Numerous pre-Civil War minute books are missing as well.
From the guide to the Fairfax County (Va.) Marriage Register, 1876-1877, (The Library of Virginia)
