Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

New Kent County (Va.) Board of Supervisors Records, 1858-1921. Local government records collection, New Kent County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These item came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court records from New Kent County (Va.) The two volumes came to the Library of Virginia under the accession number 42127.

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 about 1654 when the county was formed from York County. Part of James City County was added in 1767.

The Board of Supervisors is the basic governing body of the county. County laws--called ordinances--may also be passed by this board. This form of government came into existence with the state constitution of 1869 when the counties were divided into a minimum of three townships each, with a popularly elected supervisor from each township. When the township system was abolished in 1875, the counties were divided into magisterial districts. The Board of Supervisors are the current elected representatives of these districts and meet in regular monthly public sessions.

Until 1869 the county court controlled construction, alteration of, and maintenance of roads. The state constitution of 1869 created overseers of the roads and road boards which fell under the jurisdiction of the county's board of supervisors.

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 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.) Board of Supervisors Records, 1858-1921 contains two volumes, Records of Board of Supervisiors, 1870-1890 and Board of Supervisors Book, 1890-1907. Five boxes include loose records and some undated records. The other five boxes include Road and Bridge Records such as Road Accounts, Bridge Records, Bridge, Ferry & Public Landing Records, Road Petitions, Road Overseer & Road Superintendent Records related to the Commissioner of Roads & Road Construction Records.

Related Material

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

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• New Kent County (Va.) Board of Supervisors.
• New Kent County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

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

Geographical Names:

• New Kent County--History

Genre and Form Terms:

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

Adjunct Descriptive Data