Accomack County (Va.) Lists of tithables, 1738-1769 and undated

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:

Accomack County (Va.) Lists of tithables, 1738-1769 and undated. Local government records collection, Accomack County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Summary

Creator:
Accomack County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Accomack County (Va.) Lists of tithables, 1738-1769 and undated. Local government records collection, Accomack County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Accomack County (Va.) Lists of tithables, 1738-1769 and undated. Consists of manuscript lists of tithable heads of household in the county including in some instances the names of slaves, and squirrel and crow scalp and head claims.

Biographical / historical:

Accomack County was named for the Accomac Indians, who lived on the Eastern Shore at the time of the first English settlement in Virginia. The word means "on-the-other-side-of-water place" or "across the water." It was one of the original eight shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634 and spelled Accomac without the k. The county's name was changed to Northampton County in 1643. The present county was formed from Northampton about 1663. In October 1670, the General Assembly temporarily reunited Accomack and Northampton Counties as Northampton County. In November 1673, Accomack County was again separated from Northampton. In early records, the county's name was spelled many ways. In 1940 the General Assembly adopted the present spelling, Accomack. The county gained a small part of the southern end of Smith's Island from Somerset County, Maryland, in 1879, after the United States had approved boundary changes between Virginia and Maryland that had been agreed to in 1877. The county seat is Accomac.

A significant number of loose records from the 1700s suffered extreme water and pest damage. Volumes that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist.

In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Virginia, the term "tithable" referred to a person who paid (or for whom someone else paid) one of the taxes imposed by the General Assembly for the support of civil government in the colony. In colonial Virginia, a poll tax or capitation tax was assessed on free white males, African American slaves, and Native American servants (both male and female), all age sixteen or older. Owners and masters paid the taxes levied on their slaves and servants. For a more detailed history of tithables, consult "Colonial Tithables" found on the Library of Virginia's web site.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Accomack County.
Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
21 p.