New Kent County (Va.) Minute Book, 1836-1860

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:

New Kent County (Va.) Minute Book, 1836-1860. Local government records collection, New Kent County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Summary

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

New Kent County (Va.) Minute Book, 1836-1860. Local government records collection, New Kent County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

New Kent County (Va.) Minute Book, 1836-1860, record all matters brought before the court on a daily basis when it was in session including but not limited to: civil and criminal suits, appointments of county officers, appointments of guardians and administrators, deed recordings, free negro registrations, naturalization registrations, and court fees. Clerks would transfer information from minute books to appropriate order book, deed book, fiduciary book, free negro register, etc. Collection includes minute book from the Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery and Circuit Court.

Biographical / historical:

New Kent County may have been named either for the English county of Kent or for Kent Island, in the upper waters of the Chesapeake Bay. William Claiborne, a native of Kent who had been driven from Kent Island by Lord Baltimore, was a prominent resident of the New Kent area about 1654 when the county was formed from York County. Part of James City County was added in 1767. The county seat is New Kent.

Records were destroyed when John Posey set fire to the courthouse on 15 July 1787. Many records were lost when the courthouse was partially destroyed by fire during Civil War hostilities in 1862. Additional records were burned in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from New Kent County.
Arrangement:

Chronological by entry date.

Physical location:
The Library of Virginia
Physical description:
1 v.