Chesterfield County (Va.) Business Records, 1831-1925

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:

Many of the business volumes are fragile. Please handle with extreme care.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Chesterfield County (Va.) Business Records, 1831-1925. Local government records collection, Chesterfield County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Extent:
2 volumes; .23 cu. ft. (1 box)
Creator:
Chesterfield County (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Chesterfield County (Va.) Business Records, 1831-1925. Local government records collection, Chesterfield County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Chesterfield County (Va.) Business Records, 1831-1925, are comprised of various records created by individuals in pursuit of documenting business activities in and around Chesterfield County (Va.) Represented records consist of bound volumes such as loose accounts, a contract book and a ledger.

Historical Information:Edward Anderson and Benjamin Moody owned and operated a mill in Chesterfield County in the early 19th century.

Scope and Content:Anderson and Moody Mill Accounts, 1831-1834, records on a weekly basis the amount of barrels of corn and wheat ground by mill on behalf of individual customers. Each account lists name of customer, day of week corn and/or wheat was grounded and amount grounded, total amount of corn or wheat grounded for the week, and total amount of both wheat and corn grounded for each customer. At the bottom of each page are the totals of each of the previous.

Historical Information:The Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association was a non-profit association of tobacco farmers organized in North Carolina in 1921 and administered by a board of twenty-five directors in Raleigh. It was organized "for the purpose of promoting, fostering, and encouraging the business of marketing tobacco cooperatively: for reducing speculation; for stabilizing the local tobacco markets; for cooperatively and collectively handling the problems of tobacco growers, and for other pertinent purposes."

Scope and Content:Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association Contract Book, 1921-1925, contains the names of farmers and companies in Chesterfield County, Va., who signed contracts to market their tobacco cooperatively through the association. The contracts contain the farmer's address (name of community), the date of the contract, the number of pounds, type of tobacco (dark or bright) pledged, and the amount of acreage in production. Index included. The book also contains a printed agreement with the Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, 1921, outlining terms of marketing agreements with farmers; and three signed affidavits of M.O. Wilson, Secretary of the Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association, 1924.

Historical Information: David M. Walker was a merchant who conducted business in Chesterfield County in the early twentieth century. He also served as county treasurer.

Scope and Content: David M. Walker Ledger, 1913-1921, records the accounts of an unidentified sawmill. Walker's cash payments and cash received are listed in chronological order. Cash payments include payroll, goods purchased from local businesses, freight costs and interest payments. Walker received cash for labor (such as plowing, hauling lumber and coal and selling rye, hay and wheat.)

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type:Business Records, both volumes and loose records, are in some cases transferred to the Library of Virginia as components of court record transfers. These business records in some cases were simply stored in the local court building for safe keeping by business owners. In other cases, business records (particularly ledgers, account books, etc.) may have been filed in a court case as an exhibit. These business record exhibits appeared both in chancery causes and in judgments, these records serving as exhibits for business dissolution cases, debt suits, and contract disputes.

Locality History:: Chesterfield County was named for Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth earl of Chesterfield, British statesman and diplomat, and was formed from Henrico County in 1749. The county seat is Chesterfield Court House. Part of Henrico County was added to Chesterfield in 1922. Area: 425.8 square miles. Population: 259,903 (2000), 286,500 (2005 estimate.)

Acquisition information:
These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Chesterfield County in an undated accession.
Processing information:

Prior to 2024, the various business records in this collection were originally described as individual records, but they have been consolidated into one large business record for the locality.

Encoded by C. Freed, September 2024

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: Anderson and Moody Mill Accounts, 1831-1834
  • Series II: Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association Contract Book, 1921-1925
  • Series III: David M. Walker Ledger, 1913-1921

Physical location:
State Records Center