Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Accomack County (Va.) Fiduciary Records and Wills, 1678-1862 circa, undated. Local Government Records Collection, Accomack County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Accomack County.

Historical Information

Accomack County was named for the Accomac Indians, who lived on the eastern Shore at the time of the first English settlement in Virginia. One of the original eight shires established in 1634, Accomac County (spelled without a k) became Northampton County in 1643. The present country was formed from Northampton about 1663. In 1940 the General Assembly adopted the county's present spelling.

One of the original shires recognized in 1634, it became part of Northampton County in 1643, reverted to Accomack about 1663, merged into Northampton again in October 1670, and reverted to Accomack for final time in November 1673. A significant number of loose records from the 1700s suffered extreme water and pest damage. Volumes that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist.

Scope and Content

Accomack County (Va.) Fiduciary Records and Wills, 1678-1862 circa, undated, include miscellaneous records filed in a local court by trustees, administrators, executors, guardians, and committees that related to the performance of their duties managing a person's estate. These records typically include the following; bonds, appraisements, audits, inventories, accounts, estate divisions, settlements, dowery records, etc. Information related to enslaved people are commonly found in these records.

This collection includes estate inventories, estate divisions, and estate settlements that record real and personal property, quantity of property, and value of property owned by the deceased. The documents include names of enslaved persons owned by the deceased. It also inlcudes Inventories, appraisements, estate audits, guardians' bonds, orphan accounts, etc.

The collection includes the will of Thomas Custis recorded in 1721.

The National Society Daughters of the Barons of Runnemede donated to the conservation of these manuscripts.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged largely chronologically

Related Material

Additional Accomack County sheriff's records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm" found on the Library of Virginia web site.

See the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available at Virginia Memory.

For more information and a listing of lost records localities see Lost Records research note .

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Accomack County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• African Americans--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Estates (Law)--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Personal property--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Public records--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Real property--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Slaveholders--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Slaves--Virginia--Accomack County.

Geographical Names:

• Accomack County (Va.)--History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Inventories--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Wills--Virginia--Accomack County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data