Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

New Kent County (Va.) County Court Records, 1860-1927. Local government records collection, New Kent County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

Volumes came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court records from New Kent County under the accession numbers 42127 and 42171.

Historical Information

New Kent County may have been 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 around 1654 when the county was formed from York County. Part of James City County was added in 1767.

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 the 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.) County Court Records, 1860-1927, consist of a Chancery Rule Book, 2 Common Law Order Books, Common Law Order Books, Nos.1-3, a Common Law Rule Book, 2 Docket Books, an Execution Book, a Jury Book, a Minute Book (Monthly Sessions), Minute Book, No. 8 and 2 Witness Attendance Books.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged chronologically.

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.

New Kent County (Va.) is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional New Kent County records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Digital Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available at Virginia Memory.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• New Kent County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Public records--Virginia--New Kent County.

Geographical Names:

• New Kent County (Va.)--History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Local government records--Virginia--New Kent County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data