Newport News (Va.) and Warwick County (Va.) Records, 1646-1971

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:

Selected Warwick County, Records, 1650-1840, have been digitized and can be found on theLost Records Localities Digital Collection available electronically at the website of the Library of Virginia.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Newport News (Va.) and Warwick County (Va.) Records, 1646-1971. Local government records collection, Newport News/Warwick County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Summary

Creator:
Newport News (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Newport News (Va.) and Warwick County (Va.) Records, 1646-1971. Local government records collection, Newport News/Warwick County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Newport News (Va.) and Warwick County (Va.) Records, 1646-1971, consist of the following series: County and City Court Records (subfield series include Judgments, Clerk' Records, Jury Records, Common Law papers and Chancery Records, Election Records, Fiduciary Records, Bonds/Commissions/Oaths, County Administrative Records (subfield series include Board of Supervisors Records and Board of Supervisors Records: Road and Bridge Records), Tax and Fiscal Records, Business Records, Organization Records, Fiduciary Records, Wills, Military and Pension Records, Miscellaneous Records and Property Records.

Many of the surviving pre-1866 Warwick County records are incomplete, damaged, or fragments. This includes materials originally part of volumes, as well as loose papers.

This series contains both original and reproduction copies of Warwick County records. A significant number of these records are partial or damaged.

Box list:
  • Clerk's Records, 1683-1787
  • Order Book, 1699-1701
  • Deed, Mobbs to Burgess, 1698
  • Contract, Digges and Young, 1810
  • Will of Wiliam Garrow, 1815; Petition to prove will of John Young, 1875
  • Record Book, 21 November 1719
  • Orders, 1646-1647
  • Order Book, 1728-1729
  • Court Papers, 1669-1837 [3 folders]
Box list:
  • Wood photo frame back with inscription, 1865 circa
  • Assignment of Bond, 1678
  • Deed and Plat, Aylett to Carey, 1798
  • Deed, Carey to Aylett, 1798
  • Judgment, Exr. of Haynes v. Wills, 1770
  • Deed, Ballard to Aery, 1792
  • Fifa, Blake for vs. Dixon & Page [Gloucester County], 1827
  • Will of Hnery Cary, 1716
  • Order Book, 1713-1714
  • Justice of the Peace commission, 1840
  • Fiduciary Records: Divsion of Real and Personal Property, 1656-1686
  • Court Orders, 1650-1651
  • Records, 1657-1837
  • Court Papers, 1701-1728 and undated
  • Capias for Peter Houghton, 1799
  • Docket Book, 1813 March - 1818 September
  • Order Book page, 1663
  • Order Book pages, 1685
  • Order Book fragment, 1680
  • Record Book, 1687 28 Decmeber - 1688 21 March
  • Record Book, 1688 18 May - 1866 July
  • Court Records, 1690/1691
  • Court of Claims, Order, 1691 1 April
  • Order Book pages, 1695 & 1705
  • Record Book, 1695-1697
  • Appointment of Mary Kensington as Executrix of Nicholas Kingston, 1697
  • Order Book fragment, 1701
  • Judgments and Chancery Cause, 1707, 1728, 1730
  • Orders, 1705
  • Orders, 1705
  • Casa, Perry v. Crandol, 1785
Box list:
  • Property Records: Indenture, 1715
  • Fiduciary Records: Guardians Account, 1743
  • Court Records: Order Book page, 1663
  • Unidentified Account, 1658
Box list:
  • Bond, 1719
  • Judgments, 1688 and 1718
  • Wills, 1718 and 1751

This series consists of unprocessed County Court, Corporation Court, and Circuit Court papers; County Administrative Records; Health and Medical Records; Fiduciary Records; Tax and Fiscal Records; Bonds, Commissions, and Oaths; Military and Pension Records, and Election Records.

Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments, petitions
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor licenses/bonds, erroneous assessment of lands, commonwealth claims, lists of fines, etc.
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor License Bonds/Applications, Commonwealth & County claims, Erroneous Assessments, etc.
  • Petitions (most re: church trustees)
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor License Bonds/Applications, Commonwealth & County claims, Erroneous Assessments, etc.
  • Petitions (most re: church trustees)
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor License Bonds/Applications, Commonwealth & County claims, Erroneous Assessments, etc.
  • Petitions (most re: church trustees)
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor License Bonds/Applications, Commonwealth & County claims, Erroneous Assessments, etc.
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor License Bonds/Applications, Commonwealth & County claims, Erroneous Assessments, etc.
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor License Bonds/Applications, Commonwealth & County claims, Erroneous Assessments, etc.
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
Box list:
  • Court Records: Judgments
  • Fiduciary Records
  • Tax and Fiscal Records: Liquor License Bonds/Applications, Commonwealth & County claims, Erroneous Assessments, etc.
  • Bonds/Commissions/Oaths
Biographical / historical:

Locality History: Warwick County (extinct) was named for Robert Rich, earl of Warwick, a prominent member of the London Company, or for the county of Warwick in England. The county was originally called Warwick River and was one of the original shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634. The name was shortened to Warwick in 1643. Warwick County became extinct in 1952, when it became the city of Warwick. The new city was consolidated with the city of Newport News in 1958 and took the latter's name.

Newport News probably commemorated Christopher Newport, who made five voyages to Virginia between 1607 and 1619. The Old Dominion Land Company bought land there in 1880 and began laying out a new village in October. Newport News was incorporated as a city by Act of the General Assembly in 1896 without ever having been incorporated as a town. On 1 July 1958 Newport News was enlarged by consolidating with the City of Warwick, which then became extinct. In the years before consolidation, Newport News annexed land from Warwick County in 1917, 1921 and 1940; from Elizabeth City County in 1927 and 1937; and from both Elizabeth City County and Warwick counties in 1921.

Warwick County court records were destroyed several times, with most destruction occuring during the Civil War. The clerk's office was burned on 15 December 1864. County court minute books and loose records from 1787 to 1819 were destroyed by this fire. Additiona records were burned on 3 April 1865, in Richmond, where the county records had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.

Acquisition information:

Record Book, October 25, 1680, was acquired in 1923 under accession 18655.

Warrant, May 22, 1799, was acquired in 1931 under accession 20321.

Contract for sale, between Cole Diggs and Richard Young, of property in Warwick County, 1810, [photostat] were acquired in 1933 under accession 20606.

Will of William Garrow of Warwick County and Court Order in re will of John Young of Warwick County [photostat] were acquired in 1933 under accession 20607.

Minutes, 1691, was acquired in 1936 uner accession 21071.

Indenture between Grace Mobbs and Stephen Burgess of Warwick County, September 17, 1698 [photostat] was acquired in 1938 under accession 21314.

Robert Hooper's bill, 1678; James Bates vs. Edward Loftus, 1707; Robert Philipson and Dorothy Price vs. Richard Hyde, 1723; Elizabeth Cary's petition, 1730, were acquired in 1939 under accession 21369.

Records, 1688, was transferred by the Newport News Circuit Court Clerk in 1940 under accession 21708.

Probate record 1697, was transferred by the Newport News Circuit Court Clerk in 1942 under accession 22028.

Orders, 1653-1686, pages 51-56, 59-74, 1690-1691; Records, 1695-1697, pages 449-462 were transferred by the Newport News Circuit Court Clerk in 1942 under accession 22057.

Order Book, 1713-1714, was transferred by the Newport News Circuit Court Clerk in 1947 under accession 22641.

Miscellaneous Court Papers, 1701-1726, were transferred by the Newport News Circuit Court Clerk in 1947 under accession 22642

Records, 1688, were acquired in 1958 under accession 24853.

Court Records, 1685, were acquired in 1958 under accession 24867.

Orders, June 21-July 21, 1705,were acquired in 1960 under accession 25129.

Court Docket Book, March 1813-September 1818, were transferred by the Newport News Circuit Court Clerk in 1975 under accession 28694.

Warwick County (Va), Order Book, 1699-1701 [photocopies] was acquired in 1975 under accession 28729.

Order Book (Fragment), 1701, was acquired in 1981 under accession 31286.

Commission for Justices of Peace, 1840, was acquired in 1981 under accession 31287.

Clerk's Records, 1689-1726 ca. [photocopies] were acquired in 1992 under accession 34287.

Court Records, 1875-1971 were transferred by the Newport News Circuit Court Clerk in 2007 under accession 43558.

Bond, 1719; Judgments, 1688 and 1718; and Wills, 1718 and 1751, were transferred by the Newport News Circuit Court Clerk in 2012 under accession 50416.

Will of Henry Cary, January 27, 1716, was acquired in 2013 under accession 50827.

Order Book pages, 1695, 1705, was acquired in 2021 under accession 53322.

Records, 1658-1744 circa, were acquired in 2025 under accession 54416.

Processing information:

Owing to the number of Warwick County court records taken during the Civil War, a significant portion of these records were acquired piecemeal over decades through donations from individuals of both original materials and reproductions. Transfers of original surviving records from the Circuit Court Clerk duplicated some of the previously acquired reproductions. In 2014, many of the original records were digitized as part of the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection. Consequently, in October 2025, it was decided to deaccession reproductions for which both the original and a digitized copy existed. Reproductions were maintained (BC#7417689) for those records not held in original form.

Due to the scarcity of pre-1865 original Warwick County court records, as well as the incomplete nature of many donated records, the pre-1865 materials have been organized under the heading "Records." Individial documents have been foldered and labeled, but have not been organized into established local records series at this time. Box lists for the records in Series I: Processed Records has been provided. Post-1865 records have been organized under local records series.

Encoded by C. Freed: September 2020; updated by V. Brooks: October 2025.

Arrangement:

For descriptive purposes, the collection has been divided into two series:

  • Series I: Processed Records, 1646-1875
  • Series II: Unprocessed Records, 1866-1971

Loosely chronological.

Loosely chronological.

Physical location:
State Records Center--Archives Annex, Library of Virginia
Physical description:
41 boxes, 4 volumes.