Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

James City County/Williamsburg, City of (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1891. Local government records collection, James City County/Williamsburg, City of Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from James City County and City of Williamsburg.

Historical Information

James City County was named for King James I. It was one of the eight shires, or counties, enumerated in 1634. Subsequent additions from the Williamsburg section of York County were made in 1769, 1852, and 1880. The county courthouse is the city of Williamsburg, and the county administrative offices are near Kingsmill in the county.

Williamsburg in James City and York Counties was established by the General Assembly as Middle Plantation in 1633. After the capitol at Jamestown burned in 1698, the assembly decided to move the capital of the colony to Middle Plantation, which was renamed Williamsburg in 1699 in honor of William III. Williamsburg was established in 1699 and declared a "city Incorporate" in 1722, although its actual status was that of a borough. It served as the capital of Virginia from 1699 until 1780. Williamsburg was incorporated as a city in 1884.

James City County/Williamsburg, City of is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Beginning in 1770, the courts of James City County and Williamsburg shared a common courthouse. During the Civil War, the records of both localities were transferred to Richmond for safekeeping, but were destroyed by fire there on April 3, 1865. The records of the superior court of chancery for the Williamsburg district were destroyed by a courthouse fire in April 1911.

Two freeholders were appointed on order of the county court to procession or review the bounds of farms or tracts of land in each precinct in order to renew or replace old landmarks. This was originally a function of the church vestry, but was continued by the court after disestablishment. Persons who walked the boundaries were called processioners.

Scope and Content

James City County/Williamsburg, City of (Va.) Processioner's Records, 1891 typically record an area of land processioned with geographical landmarks, roads, property lines noted, the names of the persons present, the date(s) when the processioning occurred, the names of the processioners, and the date that the return was recorded by the local court.

Arrangement

Chronological.

Related Material

Additional James City County/Williamsburg, City of records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

James City County/Williamsburg, City of is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional James City County/Williamsburg, City of Court Records may be found in the "Virginia Lost Records Localities Digital Collection."

Adjunct Descriptive Data