Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Virginia. Land Office. Letters received and sent from the Virginia Land Office, 1774-1977. Accession Land Office inventory entry no. 18, State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Archives Branch, Richmond, VA 23219.

Acquisition Information

Accession LOI 18 transferred by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1948.

Biographical Information

The act which established the previous Land Office passed the General Assembly on 22 June 1779. The register was the head of the Office and was appointed by joint ballot of both houses of the legislature.

Scope and Content

These records contain incoming correspondence to the register of the Land Office, including the period the secretary of the commonwealth held the office, dealing primarily with business affairs. Included are requests for warrants and copies of grants and surveys, letters which accompanied incoming surveys, letters seeking information about military bounty lands, and inquiries regarding the manner of resolving conflicts pertaining to land possession. Many entries from the 20th century involve requests for information for genealogical or historical research, frequently to establish eligibility for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The General Assembly of 1867 appointed the register to be superintendent of weights and measures and that of 1874 added to his duties those of the superintendent of public buildings. The correspondence directed to the former office was filed separately and is described in entry 126, but that of the latter is incorporated in the regular land Office correspondence. The little extant correspondence directed to the register in his capacity as ex officio secretary of the Board of Immigration, an office assigned him by legislative action of March 1875, is described in entry 137.

Although some of the 19th century letters have notes for replies annexed (particularly during the periods 1810-1814 and 1875-1899), it is not until the 20th century that copies of the replies are attached to most letters received, sometimes typed onto the back of the original letter received. In 1948, the Land Office records were transferred from the custody of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the State Library, and in 1952 the duties of the Register of the Land Office were transferred from the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the state librarian. Following the transfer, correspondence regarding the Land Office records was conducted by the state librarian, Randolph W. Church from 1948 to 1972, and Donald Haynes from 1972.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Virginia. Land Office
• Virginia. Secretary of the Commonwealth

Subjects:

• Bounties, Military -- Virginia.
• Right of property -- Virginia.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Correspondence.
• State government records -- Virginia