Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Chesterfield County (Va.) Township Records, 1870-1876. Local government records collection, Chesterfield County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Chesterfield County.

Historical Information

Chesterfield County was named for Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth earl of Chesterfield, British statesman and diplomat, and was formed from Henrico County in 1749.

The 1870 Virginia Constitution required that each county in the state be divided into no less than three townships (see Article VII, section 2). Based on the New England administrative organization of a county, each township would elect the administration officials for the offices of supervisor, clerk, assessor, collector, commissioner of the roads, overseer of the poor, justice of the peace, and constable. The supervisors of each township would comprise the board of supervisors for the county, and would be responsible for auditing the county accounts, examining the assessors' books, regulating property valuation, and fixing the county levies. The Acts of Assembly provided that each township be divided into school and electoral districts (see Acts of Assembly 1869-1870, Chapter 39). A constitutional amendment in 1874 changed the townships into magisterial districts and each district elected one supervisor, three justices of the peace, one constable, and one overseer of the poor. The supervisors of the districts made up the county board of supervisors whose duties were identical as those set out in 1870. The published Acts of Assembly appended a list of township names by county following the acts for every year that townships existed in Virginia.

Scope and Content

Chesterfield County (Va.) Township Records, 1870-1876, consist of six volumes of minutes and accounts and one box of papers relating to township activities and duties.

Bermuda Township Records, 1870-1875, consist of minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes the boundaries of the township, division of the voting precincts, division of the township into road districts, names of the township officials, orders for elections, appointment of election judges, appointment and election of road overseers, accounts allowed against the township, tax and levy rates, officials' payments, information about bridge construction contracts and inspections, and other miscellaneous accounts and financial information.

Dale Township Board Minutes, 1870-1875, consist of minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes the division of the county into road districts, appointment of road overseers, tax and levy rates, orders for elections, accounts allowed against the township, instructions about bridge repairs and orders that the road overseers give the board reports about their condition, and settlements of the treasurer's accounts. Inserted into the volume were several loose documents relating to officials' bonds, a murder indictment against Wormeley, accounts and financial information, a list of voters from 1871, and rough drafts of board minutes.

Manchester Township Board Minutes, 1870-1876 contain minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes tax and levy rates, business relating to an office and supplies for the township board, division of the township into road districts, division of the township into voting precincts, accounts allowed against the township including overseer of the poor and road claims, road overseer appointments, establishment of the rates allowable for road accounts, the amendment of road districts, bridge construction, road appropriations, and a certification by the clerk of court of Chesterfield County in 1876 that the books and papers of the township have been turned over to him for keeping.

Matoaca Township Record, 1870-1875, consists of minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes business relating to an office and supplies for the township board, tax and levy rates, accounts allowed against the township board, division of the township into road districts, order for the assessor to make a report of all township property, appointment of road overseers, schedules of labor and supply rates for road work, discussion of bridge repairs and construction, division of the township into election precincts, amendment of road districts, orders for elections, reports of the township treasurer, road overseer reports, and overseer of the poor reports. Inserted in the volume at p. 69 is a small hand drawn map of the township including railroads, roads, creeks and the location of the courthouse and the city of Petersburg in relation to the township.

Midlothian Township Account Book, 1871-1875, contains financial information about the township board's activities including monies paid in and out for road work, taxes, and other claims.

Midlothian Township Record, 1870-1876, contains minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes business relating to an office and supplies for the township board, orders for reports from the overseer of the poor about the numbers of poor, orders for reports from the assessor about the numbers of persons and amount of property to be taxed, tax and levy assessments, division of the township into road districts, appointment of road overseers, accounts allowed against the township, alterations to road district boundaries, orders for elections, schedule of rates allowable for labor and supplies for road work, and other financial business of the township. Pages 53-86 are lists of delinquent capitation taxes by white and colored by district for the year 1881.

Township Records, 1870-1875, are loose papers from the various townships arranged chronologically. Included are petitions for election, petitions to change township or district boundaries, commissioners appointed to lay off the townships, jury lists, accounts allowed against the township, lists of taxes collected, treasurer's reports, road work reports, bond of the township collector, a proposed list of police for Midlothian township, and the appointment of trustees of magisterial districts to oversee the wrapping up of business of the former townships.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Chesterfield County (Va.). Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• County government -- Records and correspondence -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Local finance -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Local government -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Public records -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.

Geographical Names:

• Chesterfield County (Va.) -- History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Account books -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Accounts -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Minute books -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Petitions -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Reports -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Township of Bermuda (Chesterfield County, VA)
• Township of Clover Hill (Chesterfield County, VA)
• Township of Dale (Chesterfield County, VA)
• Township of Manchester (Chesterfield County, VA)
• Township of Matoaca (Chesterfield County, VA)
• Township of Midlothian (Chesterfield County, VA)