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Gloucester County (Va.) Charity School Board of Trustees Records, 1814-1923; 1958. Local government records collection, Gloucester County (Va.) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.
These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Gloucester County.
The collection is located at the State Records Center. Contact Archives Research Services staff for access information, directions, and hours.
In 1814, the proceeds from the sale of the glebe lands in Gloucester County were appropriated for the purchase of a suitable site for a poor house, work house and school house, to be known collectively as the Gloucester Charity School. The Virginia legislature passed an act incorporating the Gloucester Charity School in 1814, giving it the authority to hold real and personal estate. It was determined that the cost exceeded the benefit and the establishment was sold for a poor fund, with the exception of a 500-acre tract of land, known as the free-school tract. On March 1, 1886, the Senate passed Senate Bill 289 to allow the Trustees to sell the free-school tract and use the proceeds for the support and education of the poor.
Gloucester County was probably named for the English county, although it may also have been intended to honor Henry, duke of Gloucester, the third son of Charles I. It was formed from York County in 1651.
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.
Gloucester County (Va.) Charity School Board of Trustees Records, 1814-1923; 1958; are comprised of correspondence, financial records, including reports, audits, bonds, and accounts, and other administrative records documenting management of a tract of land initially purchased for a school, work house, and poor house. The collection also contains newspaper clippings, by-laws, and printed copies of acts of Assembly pertaining to the management of funds and land by the Charity School Trustees.
Correspondence, 1846-1923, is llegal correspondence pertaining to the tax status of the school, other tax issues, and general administrative issues (mostly financial).
Financial records, 1839-1923, are comprised of annual reports to the Board of Trustees, 1876-1922, documenting interest earned on bonds, disbursements, and other financial transactions. Financial records also contain, bonds, correspondence, accounts, notes, and financial audits.
Financial records, 1839-1923, are comprised of annual reports to the Board of Trustees, 1876-1922, documenting interest earned on bonds, disbursements, and other financial transactions. Financial records also contain, bonds, correspondence, accounts, notes, and financial audits.
Newspaper clippings and printed materials, 1814-1897; 1958, are comprised of a printed copy of House Bill 291, passed 1814 Jan. 25, appropriating sale of Glebe lands in Gloucester County; a printed copy of Senate Bill 289, to give authority to the Gloucester Charity School to sell real estate in Gloucester County, and Senate Bill 291, to amend Senate Bill 289; two printed copies of the Act of Incorporation, amendments, and by-laws of the Gloucester Charity School, 1890; newspaper clippings pertaining to the school, 1882, 1883, 1895, 1897, and an unrelated clipping about the life of retired Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell Puller, 1958. The clippings from 1882 and 1883, are from the Tidewater Liberal newspaper, published in Gloucester Courthouse by Joshua Ross. The 1882 article is an editorial protesting the Trustees' management of the Charity School funds and arguing for better services and education for the poor.
See also Gloucester County (Va.) Charity School Records, 1826-1922 (bulk 1826-1884), comprised of minutes, records of debt, and account books. These records can be found on Gloucester County microfilm reel 80 at the Library of Virginia.
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 .