Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne County (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1837-1844. Local government records collection, Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne 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 the city of Virginia Beach.

Historical Information

Virginia Beach was in Princess Anne County, which is now extinct. The ocean resort was incorporated as a town in 1906 and as a city by an act of the General Assembly on 14 February 1952. It was greatly enlarged on 1 January 1963 by consolidation with Princess Anne County, which thereby became extinct. Princess Anne County was named for Anne, daughter of King James II, who became queen of England in 1702. The county was formed from Lower Norfolk County in 1691. The county seat was Princess Anne.

Two freeholders were appointed on order of the county court to procession or review the bounds of farms or tracts of land in each precinct in order to renew or replace old landmarks. This was originally a function of the church vestry, but was continued by the court after disestablishment. Persons who walked the boundaries were called processioners.

Scope and Content

Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne County (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1837-1844 typically record an area of land processioned with geographical landmarks, roads, property lines noted, the names of the persons present, the date(s) when the processioning occurred, the names of the processioners, and the date that the return was recorded by the local court.

Arrangement

Chronological.

Related Material

Additional Virginia Beach, City of/Princess Anne County records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Adjunct Descriptive Data