Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Mathews County (Va.) Road and Bridge Records, 1849-1868. Local Government Records Collection, Mathews County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Mathews County under accession 54190 and undated accessions.

Processing Information

These records came as part of several transfers of various local records types. The pre-1869 road and bridge records were arranged as their own series. Post-1868 road and bridge materials are arranged with the Board of Supervisors Records series.

These records were processed by S. Walters.

Encoded by S. Walters: April 2012; Edited by V. Brooks: August 2025.

Historical Information

Context for Record Type: During the Colonial Period and to 1866, the people, owning or renting property on a road or their hands, were responsible for maintaining the road. The County Court appointed "Overseers of the Road" to supervise the work on the road. The County Courts were responsible for the creation and maintenance of the road and bridges in their county. The Court accepted or rejected petitions to create new roads, alter existing roads, or to discontinue roads. They accepted or rejected petitions to build new bridges, replace old bridges, or make repair to existing bridges. The County Government paid for the creation, the alterations, the repairs or replacement of the roads and bridges. In an Act of Assembly Passed on February 28, 1866, a County Commission of the Road was appointed to make contracts with contractors to construct roads or bridges and to make the repairs to the roads or bridges. The county was allowed to collect specific levies to pay the contractors for their work.

Locality History: Mathews County was named for Thomas Mathews, of Norfolk, the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates when it was formed from Gloucester County by a statute passed on 16 December 1790 to take effect on 1 May 1791.

Scope and Content

Mathews County (Va.) Road and Bridge Records, 1849-1868, consist of two folders containing road claims, applications for new roads, road orders, road viewer reports, and a list of road surveyors between 1849 and 1852. The claims concern repairs and maintenance to roadways, both for materials like timber and services such as use of oxen or carts. Payments for survey work are also included. The applications contain the names of petitioners, road viewer reports, orders, and plats depicting the new roads.

Arrangement

For descriptive purposes, the collection has been divided into one series:

Related Material

See also: Mathews County (Va.) Board of Supervisors Records, 1871-1973, undated

Additional court records for Mathews County can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Mathews County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Mathews 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.

Adjunct Descriptive Data