Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Albemarle County (Va.) Register of Marriages and Convicts, 1888-1928. Local government records collection, Albemarle County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This volume came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Albemarle County.

Historical Information

Albemarle County was created by a statue of 1774 and formed from Goochland County. Part of Louisa County was added in 1761 and islands in the Fluvanna (now the James) River in 1770.

Prior to 1853, when the Commonwealth began recording vital statistics, Virginia marriages were recorded at the county or city level. Beginning in 1661, in order to be married by license, the groom was required to go before the county clerk and give bond with security that there was no lawful reason to prevent the marriage. The license, issued then by the clerk, was given to the minister who performed the service. Written consent from a parent or guardian was needed for individuals younger than twenty-one years.

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.

Order books record all matters brought before the court when it as in session and may contain important information not found anywhere else. A wide variety of information is found in order books--including individuals convicted of felonies.

This original register was also created by the City of Charlottesville Corporation, Juvenile and Police courts.

Scope and Content

Albemarle County (Va.) Register of Marriages and Convicts, 1888-1928, is divided into two separate sections. The first section, pages 1-6, covers a register of marriages recorded in the county from 1888-1899. These pages include the date of the marriage license, the date of the marriage, the names and ages of the bride and groom and the name of the person giving consent. The second section, pages 7-17 and 40-49, is a register of convicts from 1894-1928. This list is comprehensive and includes the convict's name and/or alias, place of residence, color (race), height, weight, eye color, hair color, age, distinguishing marks, occupation, crime committed, date of crime, court and term of court, order book and page number of conviction, punishment and whether pardoned for crime. Individuals with prior convictions are found on pages 40-46. In addition, there is a list of persons convicted in 1907 pasted on the inside of the front cover of the volume.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically within marriage section.

Related Material

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

Albemarle County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Albemarle 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 web site.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Albemarle County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• African American prisoners--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• African Americans--Employment--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• African Americans--History--1877-1964.
• African Americans--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• Marriage--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• Occupations--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• Prisoners--Virgina--Albemarle County.

Geographical Names:

• Albemarle County (Va.)--History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Convicts--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• Criminal court records--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• Judicial records--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• Marriage records--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• Marriage registers--Virginia--Albemarle County.
• Order books--Virginia--Albemarle County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Charlottesville (Va.) Corporation Court.
• Charlottesville (Va.) Juvenile Court.
• Charlottesville (Va.) Police Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data