Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Greensville County (Va.) Ministers' Returns, 1850-1861. Local government records collection, Greensville County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Greensville County.

Historical Information

Greensville County was formed from Brunswick County on 28 November 1780. The county court first met on 22 February 1781. Subsequent additions were made from Brunswick (1787) and Sussex (1802) Counties.

Until 1780, marriages could be performed only by ministers of the Established Church, who were required by law to record marriages in the parish register. In 1780, dissenting ministers (only four per county from each sect) were permitted to perform marriage ceremonies. In order to have a record of all marriages, ministers were required to sign a certificate to be filed with the county clerk. Initially, ministers sent marriage certificates to the clerk every three months. Some ministers adopted a custom on making collected returns--a list of marriages performed within a period of time such as a year or several years. Beginning in 1784, marriage certificates were returned annually. The law was rarely enforced, and ministers' returns were sometimes late, incorrect, incomplete and in many instances, not made at all. County clerks compiled a register of marriages based, in part, on ministers' returns.

The original marriage records, from which this volume was compiled, were created by the County Court.

Scope and Content

Greensville County (Va.) Ministers' Returns, 1850-1861, records the returns made by individual ministers within the county. Returns in this volume, prior to 1859, record the names of the parties, the date of the marriage ceremony and the minister's name and denomination. As part of the return process, ministers filed marriage certificates with the county clerk. These signed documents certified that a minister had performed the actual marriage ceremony between the named individuals on a certain date.

In this particular volume, the certificates from 1859 and 1860 include more detailed information such as the place of marriage, the ages of the parties, the status or condition of the parties before marriage, their places of birth, the names of their parents, the occupation of the groom and where the parties reside. There are no returns recorded for 1854-1858. The rest of the pages in the volume have been removed. An internal index, A-W, is unnumbered. The index is arranged alphabetically by surnames according to the page number in the volume.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically by year.

Related Material

Additional Greensville County Marriage 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:

• Greensville County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Christian sects--Virginia--Greensville County.
• Clergy--Virginia--Greensville County.
• Marriage--Virginia--Greensville County.

Geographical Names:

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

Genre and Form Terms:

• Local government records--Virginia--Greensville County.
• Marriage certificates--Virginia--Greensville County.
• Marriage records--Virginia--Greensville County.
• Ministers' returns--Virginia--Greensville County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Greensville County (Va.) County Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data