Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Middlesex County (Va.) Deeds and Surveys, 1679-1831 (bulk 1735-1820). Local government records collection, Middlesex County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Middlesex County.

Historical Information

Middlesex County probably was named for the English county. It was formed from Lancaster County about 1669.

Numerous loose records from the nineteenth century including chancery, Deeds and Surveys, and commonwealth causes are missing. Most volumes including deed books, Deeds and Surveys, and order books exist because court clerk Philemon T. Woodward removed them from the courthouse for safekeeping during the Civil War.

Scope and Content

Middlesex County (Va.) Deeds and Surveys, 1679-1831 (bulk 1735-1820) includes six Deed Books in this collection covering the years 1679-1720 and 1740-1785. There is one Survey Book for the years 1735-1807, which includes a plat with most of the surveys. There are two boxes of loose deeds for the dates 1751-1820, 1827, and 1831.

Deed Books contain deeds of bargain and sale, deeds of gift, mortgages, and deeds of trust. On presentation to the court, deeds were proved and recorded. If the deed was not witnessed, the grantor acknowledged the deed in open court. A few of the deeds include plats.

Deeds of bargain and sale are the most commonly recorded deed in which one individual sells property, usually land, but occasionally personal property, to another individual. Such deeds show the names of the grantor and grantee, the residence of both parties, a description of what is being sold, the consideration (or price), the location of the tract of land, the tract's boundaries, and any limitations on the property being sold. The deed was signed by the grantor, and possibly his wife or anyone else having a claim to the property, and by at least two witnesses. Appended to the deed may be a memorandum of livery of seisin, stating that the property has changed hands and that peaceful possession has taken place.

Deeds of gift are often found transferring property, either real or personal, from one individual to another "for love and affection." The degree of kinship, if any, between the grantor and grantee is sometimes stated.

Mortgages and deeds of trust were deeds where one party is indebted to another and transfers or mortgages property to a third party to secure the debt.

Surveys give the size and boundaries of a piece of real estate. They often give the names of neighboring property owners, water features, roads, paths, etc. Sometimes they just name the trees, large stones, or some other item used to denote a meeting of two boundary lines. They give the metes and bounds which are using carefully measured distances, angles, and directions, which results in what is called a "legal description" of the land. Many surveys are accompanied by a plat which is a drawing showing the boundary lines, angles, directions and other information given in the survey.

Arrangement

Chronological

Related Material

Additional Middlesex 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."

Middlesex County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Middlesex 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 at the Library of Virginia web site.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Middlesex County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Deeds--Virginia--Middlesex County.
• Land survey-- Virginia -- Middlesex County.

Geographical Names:

• Middlesex County (Va.) -- History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Land plats-- Virginia -- Middlesex County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Middlesex County.
• Surveys, land-- Virginia -- Middlesex County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data