Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne County (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1777-1911

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 Beach, City of/Princess Anne County (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1777-1911. Local government records collection, Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Summary

Creator:
Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne County (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne County (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1777-1911. Local government records collection, Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne County (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1777-1911 typically record an area of land processioned with geographical landmarks, roads, property lines noted, the names of the persons present, the date(s) when the processioning occurred, the names of the processioners, and the date that the return was recorded by the local court.

Biographical / historical:

Virginia Beach was in Princess Anne County, which is now extinct. The ocean resort was incorporated as a town in 1906 and as a city by an act of the General Assembly on 14 February 1952. It was greatly enlarged on 1 January 1963 by consolidation with Princess Anne County, which thereby became extinct. Princess Anne County was named for Anne, daughter of King James II, who became queen of England in 1702. The county was formed from Lower Norfolk County in 1691. The county seat was Princess Anne.

Two freeholders were appointed on order of the county court to procession or review the bounds of farms or tracts of land in each precinct in order to renew or replace old landmarks. This was originally a function of the church vestry, but was continued by the court after disestablishment. Persons who walked the boundaries were called processioners.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from the city of Virginia Beach.
Arrangement:

Chronological.

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
4 b.