A Guide to the Gloucester County (Va.) Register of Convicts, 1871-1885 Gloucester County (Va.) Register of Convicts, 1871-1885 Barcode number 1096319/Gloucester County (Va.) Reel 54

A Guide to the Gloucester County (Va.) Register of Convicts, 1871-1885

A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Collection numbers: Barcode number 1096319/Gloucester County (Va.) Reel 54


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Processed by: Library of Virginia staff

Repository
The Library of Virginia
Collection numbers
Barcode number 1096319/Gloucester County (Va.) Reel 54
Title
Gloucester County (Va.) Register of Convicts, 1871-1885
Physical Characteristics
1 v. (7 p.); 1 microfilm reel
Collector
Gloucester County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Location
State Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Use microfilm copy, Gloucester County (Va.) Reel 54.

Preferred Citation

Gloucester County (Va.) Register of Convicts, 1871-1885. Gloucester County (Va.) Reel 54, Local government records collection, Gloucester County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

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

Microfilm Reel 54 was generated by a field operator, from the Virginia State Library's (now the Library of Virginia) Microfilm Section, while filming in the Circuit Court Clerk's Office.

Historical Information

Gloucester County was formed from York County in 1651. The county was named probably for the English county, although it may have been intended to honor Henry, duke of Gloucester, the third son of King Charles I.

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

This original register was created by the County and Circuit Courts.

All records were destroyed by an 1820 fire, and most of the records created after 1820 were destroyed by fire in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.

Scope and Content

Gloucester County (Va.) Register of Convicts, 1871-1885, is a comprehensive register of "every person convicted in the County Court or other Court of Record of Gloucester County, of Felony, or other infamous offence." Based on a form, the listings of each conviction include the individual's name in full and any aliases, the present and last known residence of the accused, the color or race of the individual (including white, black, tawney and mulatto), the individual's height, eye color, hair color and any identifying marks, the apparent or known age of the accused, his or her occupation, the offence, the court in which convicted, the date of conviction and page of record and whether the judgment was reversed or pardon granted and date thereof. Page 5 of the volume is blank.

Related Material

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

See 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:

  • Gloucester County (Va.) Circuit Court.
  • Subjects:

  • African American prisoners--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • African Americans--Employment--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • African Americans--History--1863-1877.
  • African Americans--History--1877-1964.
  • African Americans--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Crime--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Occupations--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Prisoners--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Public records--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Racially mixed people--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Geographical Names:

  • Gloucester County (Va.)--History--19th century.
  • Genre and Form Terms:

  • Criminal court records--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Local government records--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Minute books--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Order books--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Registers (lists)--Virginia--Gloucester County.
  • Added Entry - Corporate Name:

  • Gloucester County (Va.) County Court.

Significant Places Associated With the Collection

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