Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Accomack County (Va.) Court Records, 1697-1836. Local government records collection, Accomack County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Accomack County.

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. The word means "on-the-other-side-of-water place" or "across the water." It was one of the original eight shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634 and spelled Accomac without the k. The county's name was changed to Northampton County in 1643. The present county was formed from Northampton about 1663. In October 1670, the General Assembly temporarily reunited Accomack and Northampton Counties as Northampton County. In November 1673, Accomack County was again separated from Northampton. In early records, the county's name was spelled many ways. In 1940 the General Assembly adopted the present spelling, Accomack. The county gained a small part of the southern end of Smith's Island from Somerset County, Maryland, in 1879, after the United States had approved boundary changes between Virginia and Maryland that had been agreed to in 1877. The county seat is Accomac.

A significant number of loose records from the 1700s suffered extreme water and pest damage. Volumes that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist.

Scope and Content

Accomack County (Va.) Court Records, 1697-1836, consist of records organized into the local records series of Judgments, Court Records, Fiduciary Records, Land Records, Miscellaneous Records, Overseers of the Poor Records, and Tax and Fiscal Records.

Judgments consist of the following suits: Broadwater vs. Johnson, 1740. Rossaria vs. Folia, 1752. Beavans vs. Weldon, 1785.

Court Records consist of a list of actions, 1722-1723, and 1 page from a minute book, 1722.

Fiduciary Records consist of the petition of Martha Dennis for assignment of dower, 1697, and an administrator's account of Thomas Bagwell's estate,1786.

Land Records consists of the petition of William Parker for a mill, 1774.

Miscellaneous Records consists of a request for wool, 1836.

Overseers of the Poor Records consist of financial claims, 1779, and meeting minutes, 1788-1789.

Tax and Fiscal Records consists of county claims,1782, 1809.

Related Material

Additional Accomack County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. Consult A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm

Accomack County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Accomack 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:

• Accomack County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Poor -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Public welfare -- Virginia -- Accomack County.

Geographical Names:

• Accomack County (Va.) -- History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Fiduciary Records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Judgments -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Judicial records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Land records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Tax and fiscal records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Tax records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data