A Guide to the Albemarle County (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1795-1820 #1110509

Library of Virginia

The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/

Processed by: Library of Virginia staff

Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Albemarle County (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1795-1820. Local government records collection, Albemarle 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 Albemarle County.

Albemarle County was named for William Anne Keppel, second earl of Albemarle, and governor of Virginia from 1737 to 1754. It was created by a statute of 1744 and formed from Goochland County; part of Louisa County was added in 1761 and islands in the Fluvanna (now the James) River in 1770. The court met for the first time on 8 February 1745. The county seat is the city of Charlottesville.

Albemarle County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. All order books except the first and many loose papers between 1748 and 1781 were destroyed by British general Banastre Tarleton’s raid on Charlottesville in 1781 during the Revolutionary War.

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

Albemarle County (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1795-1820 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.

Related Material

Additional Albemarle 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."

Albemarle County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Albemarle County Court Records may be found in the "Virginia Lost Records Localities Digital Collection."