Virginia Governor's Office escheated land records, 1811-1860

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Virginia Governor's Office escheated land records, 1811-1860. Accession 44639, State records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Creator:
Virginia. Office of the Governor
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Virginia Governor's Office escheated land records, 1811-1860. Accession 44639, State records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Contains escheated land records collected by the Governor's Office over the span of several decades and administrations. How the records came to be in one place is unknown. Included are escheated land files created by city and county escheators and sent to the Register of the Land Office, as well as lists of escheated land created by the Register of the Land Office and submitted to the governor.

Biographical / historical:

The act that established the Land Office on 22 July 1779, provided for a Register to be at the head, who would be "appointed from time to time, by joint ballot of both houses of assembly...." The act which established the Land Office passed the General Assembly on 22 June 1779. It was the responsibility of the Register to carry out the very carefully structured legislation which provided the procedure for obtaining waste and unappropriated lands.

Escheat is a common law doctrine put in place to ensure that property is not left in limbo and ownerless after the death of its owner. A parcel of land is escheated, or transferred to the state, when a person dies intestate (without a will or rightful heirs). In the Commonwealth of Virginia, each locality had an escheator who kept track of ownerless land. The escheator was required by law to publicize the possible escheat of land in a newspaper or at the county courthouse. Once it was determined that a parcel of land had no rightful owner, the escheator reported the escheat to the Register of the Land Office. In some cases, an inquisition was held by the local escheator to determine whether any heirs existed or whether the heirs had rightful title to the land in question. After the county and city escheators reported to the Register of the Land Office, the Register was required to forward the information directly to the governor.

Acquisition information:
Acquisition information is unavailable.
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into the following series:

  • Series I. Escheated land files, 1811-1860
  • Series II. Lists and reports of escheated land, 1812-1852
Physical description:
.45 cu. ft. (1 box)