Buckingham County was named for either the English county or for the duke of Buckingham. Some sources say that the county's namesake is Archibald Cary's tract of land called Buckingham, on what was then Willis's Creek. It was formed from Albemarle County in 1761.

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 the Library of Virginia's website for Colonial Tithables

Original tithable list was used as a wrapper for a suit heard in Prince Edward County District Court.

Records were destroyed by fire in 1869.