Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Isle of Wight County (Va.) Records, 1754-1956. Local government records collection, Isle of Wight County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This negative photostatic volume was created by the Virginia State Library's (now the Library of Virginia) Archives Division, under the accession number 21594, from the original volume found in the Isle of Wight's Circuit Court Clerk's Office.

The eleven volumes and or boxes came to to the Library of Virginia in a shipment of court papers from Isle of Wight County. One collection was transferred under accession number 13860.

Historical Information

Isle of Wight County was one of the original shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634. The present name was given in 1637. Parts of Nansemond County were added in 1769 and 1772.

The early tax laws required the tax commissioner in each district to record in "a fair alphabetical list" the names of persons owning land or town lots, the quality of land owned, the value of the land or lots and the amount of tax owed. Each tract or lot owned by an individual was to be entered separately.

"Processioning consisted of a person or persons appointed by the vestries (later the county court) meeting with the land owners and walking their property boundaries with them and remarking their lines and corners. At least one other person, preferably an adjacent land owner, would accompany the owner and the processioner. Perhaps this "processioning" of people walking the boundaries is the basis for the term "processioning." The objective of this practice seems to have been to prevent boundary disputes between adjacent land owners by renewing and maintaining survey marks. However, most of the marks used were temporary items such as trees and bushes. Processioning was not done annually, nor was the entire county done at the same time. Usually processioning was done by militia districts, or some other governmental subdivision of the county."

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 first permitted to perform marriage ceremonies. Ministers' returns were required by law beginning in 1780, so all marriages from that date would be of record in the county court clerk's office--thereby creating an official record. Some ministers adopted a custom of 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. Once the marriage service was performed, the minister submitted a return to the county clerk. The county clerk recorded these returns along with other marriage records, such as licenses, in a volume.

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

Scope and Content

Isle of Wight County (Va.) Records, 1754-1956, provides the following records; Board of Supervisors Records; Bonds, Commissions and Oaths Records; Business Records, Coporations, and Partnership Records; County Administrative Records; Court Records; Fiduciary Records; Health and Medical Records; Justice of the Peace Records; Land Records; Marriage Records and Vital Statistics Records; Miscellaneous Records; Road and Bridge Records; School Records; Tax and Fiscal Records and one photostatic copy of a volume of original items from early county records offering various record categories.

Related Material

Additional Isle of Wight County records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Isle of Wight County is one of Virginia's Lost Record Localities. Additional Isle of Wight 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 on the Library of Virginia's web site.

Adjunct Descriptive Data

The original volume is found in the Isle of Wight's Circuit Court Clerk's Office.