Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Buchanan County (Va.) Fiduciary Records, 1896-1955. Local government records collection, Buchanan County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a shipment of court papers from Buchanan County.

Historical Information

Buchanan County was named for the United States president James Buchanan and was formed from Tazewell and Russell Counties in 1858.

Fiduciary Records consist of the records produced by executors, executrices, administrators or administratrices. The executors and executrices handled the estate of a person who died testate and the administrators and administratrices handled the estate of a person who died intestate. They had an inventory or an inventory and appraisement made of the deceased person's estate. They gave accounts currents telling how they collected debts owed the decease and the payment of the decease person's debts. They gave a report called a "Settlement of the Estate" which said what was done with the deceased person's estate that was left after all that person's debts were paid.

Fiduciary Records may include the records of a guardian appointed to administer the estate of a child under the age considered to be the age of an adult. The guardian would give accounts of the monies spent to feed, cloth, educate, and maintain their ward. They would rent out the land and/or slaves owned by their ward to produce income for the ward's support and record the amount of rent received in their accounts. If their ward received a legacy or a deed of gift, that information would be recorded in the guardian's accounts. When the child became of age, a final account would be made and a receipt from the ward would be included.

Records were destroyed by fire in 1885; records created after that date suffered extreme damage in a flood in 1977.

Scope and Content

Buchanan County (Va.) Fiduciary Records, 1896-1955, consist of Circuit Court Clerk's Fiduciaries Order Book; County and Circuit Court Fiduciary Accounts; Circuit Court Fiduciary Settlement Book, Volume 2 through Volume 5; Circuit Court Receivers' Record, Volume 1; and Index to Fiduciaries' Accounts.

Related Material

Additional Buchanan 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:

• Buchanan County (Va.) Circuit Court

Subjects:

• Public records--Virginia--Buchanan County

Geographical Names:

• Buchanan County (Va.)--History

Genre and Form Terms:

• Local government records--Virginia--Buchanan County

Adjunct Descriptive Data