Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Use microfilm copy, Surry County (Va.) Reel 75.

Preferred Citation

Surry County (Va.) Registers of Convicts, Vols. 1 and 2, 1872-1929. Surry County (Va.) Microfilm Reel 75, Local government records collection, Surry County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

Microfilm Reel 75 was generated by a field operator from the Virginia State Library's (now the Library of Virginia) Microfilm Section while filming in the Surry County Circuit Court Clerk's Office.

Historical Information

Surry County was formed from James City Couty about 1652. Surry County was named fro the county of Surrey in England.

During the 1869-1870 session, the General Assembly passed an "Act to Secure Identification of Persons Convicted of Criminal Offences." On 2 November 1870, the act was approved. The act specified that "every clerk of the court of each county and corporation shall keep a register of full and accurate descriptive lists of every person convicted in his own or any other court of record of his county or corporation, of felony or other infamous offence, and a duly certified and attested copy of any such descriptive list may be used as prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated in any question of identity. Such registers shall be kept written up, well indexed, and shall be open to public inspection at reasonable hours. The register shall follow a set form and each descriptive list shall be attested by said clerk."

In addition, "the clerk of every court of record of each county or corporation, other than the county or corporation court, shall within ten days from the date of conviction of any person in his court of any offence mentioned in the first section of this act, deliver to the clerk of the county or corporation court, for record in said register, an attested descriptive list of the person so convicted, in the form hereinbefore prescribed." The judges of the respective courts are responsible for seeing that the provisions of the act are "punctually and properly carried out" by their respective clerks. The act was amended on 18 January 1871 and outlined the following: "For the services mentioned in this or the first section of this act, the clerk shall be entitled to a fee of fifty cents, to be paid out of the state treasury." By and large, the county and circuit court clerks went about compiling these registers throughout the counties of Virginia as late as the 1960s.

Instead of entries in order or minute books, lists of convicts appear in Justices of the Peace dockets for the county--as noted in Volume 2.

The original registers were created by the County and Circuit Courts.

Scope and Content

Surry County (Va.) Registers of Convicts, 1872-1929 are records of persons convicted of felonies within the county. Volume 1 covers the period from 1872-1903 and numbers 21 pages. Information found with the register includes the name of the person convicted, the residence of the individual, his or her race or color (including white, black or colored, brown, yellow or mulatto), the individual's height, eye color, hair color, age and occupation, the nature of the offense, the court in which convicted, the date of conviction and whether a pardon was granted. There is an internal index to this volume which is arranged alphabetically by the surname of the convict, A-W. Volume 2 covers the period from 1904-1929 and numbers 7 pages. Based on a form, the entries follow the same format as the first volume. Instead of a court conviction, sometimes an individual was convicted by a Justice of the Peace.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Related Material

Additional Surry County Court Records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm"

Surry County is one of Virginia's Lost Record Localities. Additional Surry County Court Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search the Lost Records Localities Database found at the Library of Virginia's web site.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Surry County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• African American prisoners--Virginia--Surry County.
• African Americans--Employment--Virginia--Surry County.
• African Americans--History--1863-1877.
• African Americans--History--1877-1964.
• African Americans--Virginia--Surry County.
• Occupations--Virginia--Surry County.
• Prisoners--Virginia--Surry County.
• Public records--Virginia--Surry County.
• Racially mixed people--Virginia--Surry County.

Geographical Names:

• Surry County (Va.) History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Criminal court records--Virginia--Surry County.
• Dockets--Virginia--Surry County.
• Judicial records--Virginia--Surry County.
• Justices of the peace--Virginia--Surry County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Surry County.
• Minute books--Virginia--Surry County.
• Order books--Virginia--Surry County.
• Registers (lists)--Virginia--Surry County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Surry County (Va.) County Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data