Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Botetourt County (Va.) Justice's Warrant and Execution Book, 1852-1872. Local government records collection, Botetourt County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This volume came to the Library of Virginia under the accession number 50613.

Historical Information

Botetourt County was named for Norborne Berkeley, baron de Botetourt, the royal governor of Virginia from 1768 to 1770. It was formed from Augusta County in 1769, and part of Rockbridge County was added in 1785.

On 1970 December 15, a fire gutted the Botetourt County courthouse in Fincastle, Virginia. The court records were not burned but were heavily water damaged. Many of the court papers are extremely fragile today as a result of this water damage and some are not useable. Because of the near-loss of the Botetourt County records, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Public Records Act in 1975. The act mandated that deeds, wills, and other vital records be inventoried and microfilmed and copies of the film stored permanently in the Library of Virginia in Richmond for safekeeping. Counties could also choose to send court records to the Library of Virginia for storage and safekeeping as needed.

Scope and Content

Botetourt County (Va.) Justice's Warrant and Execution Book, 1852-1872, is a volume used by the justice of the peace to record the financial results of judgments. Recorded are the names of the parties in the suit, date of judgment, amount of judgment, interest from which date, costs, date of execution, to whom execution delivered for collection, and date execution was returnable.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Botetourt County (Va.)

Subjects:

• Public records -- Virginia -- Botetourt County.

Geographical Names:

• Botetourt County (Va.) -- History -- 19th century.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Civil court records -- Virginia -- Botetourt County.