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Preferred Citation

Accomack County (Va.) Judgment and Execution Docket and List of Free Negroes Over Twelve Years of Age, 1849-1852. Local Government Records Collection, Accomack County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This item came to the Library of Virginia in 2007 under accession number 43554.

Historical Information

Accomack County was named for the Accomac Indians, who lived on the Eastern Shore at the time of the first English settlement in Virginia. One of the original eight shires established in 1634, Accomac County (spelled without a k) became Northampton County in 1643. The present county was formed from Northampton about 1663. In 1940 the General Assembly adopted the county's present spelling.

Scope and Content

Accomack County (Va.) Judgment and Execution Docket and List of Free Negroes Over Twelve Years of Age, 1849-1852. The volume contains a Judgment and Execution Docket, 1849-1852, and a Free Negro List, 1852.

The Judgment and Execution Document, compiled by John J. Blackstone, is an abstract of judgments and executions from 1849 Sept. 1 to 1852 Mar. 24. Each entry lists the name of the parties involved in the case, the date and amount of the judgment and court costs, the name of the person granting the judgment, the date of execution of the judgment, and the name of the person to whom the execution was delivered. Most of the cases are civil cases involving debt. The docket also contains five criminal cases, four of which were against slaves. The commonwealth causes include a description of the corporal punishment inflicted for the crime. At the end of the volume, there is an undated description of the penalty of having one's ears nailed to the pillory and cut off for giving false evidence and a description of a Judgment for Stripes for an unspecified crime.

The List of Free Negroes Over Twelve Years of Age, circa 1850, is an alphabetical list of over 600 free Negroes living in Accomack County circa 1850. The list includes full name, gender, age, and trade or occupation. Free Negro Lists were compiled by the Commissioner of Revenue for tax purposes.

Related Material

Additional Accomack County court records and Free Negro and Slave Records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm" .

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Accomack County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Corporal Punishment--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Criminal law--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Executions (Law)--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Fees, administrative--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Free African Americans--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Judgments, criminal--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Judgments--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Slavery--Law and legislation--Virginia--Accomack County.

Geographical Names:

• Accomack County (Va.)--History--19th century.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Dockets--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Free negro lists--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Judicial records--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Accomack County.
• Tax and fiscal records--Virginia--Accomack County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data