Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Virginia. Land Office. Letters sent from the Virginia Land Office, 1795-1924. Accession Land Office inventory entry no. 19, State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Archives Branch, Richmond, VA 23219.

Acquisition Information

Accession LOI 19 transferred by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1948.

Historical Information

The act which established the previous Land Office next hit passed the General Assembly on 22 June 1779. The register was the head of the Office and was appointed by joint ballot of both houses of the legislature.

Scope and Content

These records include drafts and copies of letters, most of which concern routine business affairs for which there is no incoming correspondence on file.

Included among these drafts are several important procedural statements. In November 1795, the register William Price directed two letters to the House of Delegates explaining certain irregularities in procedure and seeking relief. Also included are drafts of several depositions which Price gave in land disputes tried before county courts. A draft of a report for the governor contains a policy statement and is dated May 14, 1807. The records include a letter from John Mercer Brockenbrough, the land register, to West Virginia Governor Henry M. Mathews, offering him the opportunity to secure the records of all the original titles to the lands of West Virginia. A series of letters from 1922-1924, signed by register John W. Richardson, concern the acquisition of various items for the land office. Other records address copies of warrants and grants made for members of the public.

The register annually reported to the auditor those grants which had been issued within the preceding calendar year. Copies of those reports for the years 1906, 1908-1916, and 1919-1923, as well as slips noting that the reports for 1917 and 1918 had been sent to the auditor are in this file. The period covered for this material 1795-1796; 1801; 1803; 1805; 1807; 1812; 1832; 1847-1848; 1851; 1880; 1922-1924, n.d.

Index Terms

Persons:

• Brockenbrough, John Mercer, 1830-1892
• Price, William, 1772-1808
• Richardson, John W., d. 1899

Corporate Names:

• Virginia. Land Office
• West Virginia. Governor (1877-1881 : Mathews).

Subjects:

• Land grants -- Virginia.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Depositions
• Drafts (documents)
• Letters (correspondence)
• Reports.
• State government records.