Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

New Kent County (Va.) Bonds/Comissions/Oaths, 1865-1936 circa, undated. Local government records collection, New Kent County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from New Kent County. A portion of the records were transferred under Accession numbers 45139 and 43653.

Historical Information

New Kent County was named either for the English county of Kent or for Kent Island, in the upper waters of the Chesapeake Bay. William Claiborne, a native of Kent who had been driven from Kent Island by Lord Baltimore, was a prominent resident of the New Kent area about 1654 when the county was formed from York County. Its area is 221 square miles, and the county seat is New Kent.

Records were destroyed when John Posey set fire to the courthouse on 15 July 1787. Many records were lost when the courthouse was partially destroyed by fire during Civil War hostilities in 1862. Additional records were burned in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.

Scope and Content

New Kent County (Va.) Bonds/Comissions/Oaths, 1865-1936 circa, undated, typically consist of bonds, commissions, oaths, certificates, and appointments related to holding public office. Some collections can include ministers' bonds.

Related Material

Additional New Kent County 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's web site.

New Kent County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional New Kent County Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search 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:

• New Kent County (Va.). Circuit Court

Subjects:

• Oaths -- Virginia -- New Kent County.
• Public officers -- Virginia -- New Kent County.

Geographical Names:

• New Kent County (Va.) -- History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Appointments -- Virginia -- New Kent County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- New Kent County.
• Oaths -- Virginia -- New Kent County.
• Performance bonds -- Virginia -- New Kent County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data