Daily AncestorDissenter
A dissenter was a Protestant who did not belong to the established church, such as a Presbyterian, Baptist or Quaker in Anglican colonial Virginia.
The term came from England, where Protestants who left the Church of England were called Dissenters. In colonial Virginia a dissenter could register in county court to be excused from Anglican services, but still had to pay the parish levy.
A dissenting meeting house in a deed or court order shows a non-Anglican congregation nearby, whose own records may hold your family's baptisms and marriages.
As seen in a recordVirginia county court order book, 1700s
Licensed a meeting house for Protestant dissenters on the land of Jas. Moss
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Dissenter." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/church/dissenter. Last checked 2026-10-03.