Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Warwick County (Va.) Stanley Township and Board of Supervisors' Minutes, 1871-1904. Local government records collection, Newport News (City) 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 the city of Newport News.

Historical Information

Newport News was located in Warwick County, which is now extinct. The origin of the name is uncertain but the phrase "Newportes News" appeared in documents as early as 1619 and probably commemorated Christopher Newport, who made five voyages to Virginia between 1607 and 1619. Newport News was a small settlement until late in the nineteenth century, when it became the eastern terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. It was established in 1880 and incorporated as a city by act of the General Assembly in 1896 without ever having been incorporated as a town. Newport News was enlarged by consolidation with the city of Warwick in 1858.

Warwick County (extinct) was named either for Robert Rich, earl of Warwick, a prominent member of the London Company, or for the county of Warwick in England. The county was originally called Warwick River and was one of the original shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634. The shorter name was adopted in 1643. Warwick County became extinct in 1952, when it became the city of Warwick. The new city was consolidated with the city of Newport News in 1958 and took the latter's name. Denbigh was the county seat.

County court records were destroyed at several times with most destruction occurring during the Civil War. The clerk's office was burned on 15 December 1864. County court minute books and loose records from 1787 to 1819 were destroyed by the fire. Additional records were burned in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.

The 1870 Virginia Constitution required that each county in the state be divided into no less than three townships (see Article VII, section 2). Based on the New England administrative organization of a county, each township would elect the administration officials for the offices of supervisor, clerk, assessor, collector, commissioner of the roads, overseer of the poor, justice of the peace, and constable. The supervisors of each township would comprise the board of supervisors for the county, and would be responsible for auditing the county accounts, examining the assessors' books, regulating property valuation, and fixing the county levies. The Acts of Assembly provided that each township be divided into school and electoral districts (see Acts of Assembly 1869-1870, Chapter 39). A constitutional amendment in 1874 changed the townships into magisterial districts and each district elected one supervisor, three justices of the peace, one constable, and one overseer of the poor. The supervisors of the districts made up the county board of supervisors whose duties were identical as those set out in 1870. The published Acts of Assembly appended a list of township names by county following the acts for every year that townships existed in Virginia.

Scope and Content

Warwick County (Va.) Stanley Township and Board of Supervisors' Minutes, 1871-1904, consists of one volume of minutes relating to the administrative functions of these county boards.

Stanley Township Board Minutes, 1871-1875, consist of minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes names of officials, purchases of stationery and supplies, persons exempt from road duty due to age, accounts allowed against the township board, establishment of rates allowed for road work, laying of levies and taxes, and a final settlement of accounts to turn over to the Board of Supervisors in 1875.

Board of Supervisors' Minutes, 1885-1904, consists of minutes and accounts. The majority of the minutes were taken as the Board of Supervisors sat as the Road Board. Information recorded includes election of road surveyors, road bids, accounts allowed, establishment of rates allowed for road work, orders to road commissioners to issue reports on the county bridges, orders to road surveyors to present reports on citizens' road work status for their districts, and orders to road surveyors to present lists of delinquent road workers and fines.

Related Material

Additional Warwick County Court Records can be found with Warwick County Court records on microfilm at The Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

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

For more information and a listing of lost records localities see Lost Records research note .

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Newport News (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• County government -- Records and correspondence -- Virginia -- Warwick County.
• Local finance -- Virginia -- Warwick County.
• Local government -- Virginia -- Warwick County.
• Public records -- Virginia -- Warwick County.

Geographical Names:

• Newport News (Va.) -- History.
• Warwick County -- History -- 19th century.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Accounts -- Virginia -- Warwick County.
• Board of supervisors records -- Virginia -- Warwick County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Warwick County.
• Minute books -- Virginia -- Warwick County.
• Township records -- Virginia -- New Kent County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Township of Stanley (Warwick County, VA)
• Warwick County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data