Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Richmond County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1834-1859. Local government records collection, Richmond County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court records from Richmond County.

Historical Information

Richmond County may have been named for Richmond borough in Surrey, England, or for Charles Lennox, first duke of Richmond and a son of King Charles II. It was formed from Old Rappahannock County in 1692. The county seat is Warsaw.

In 1780 the Virginia General Assembly replaced the Anglican vestries and churchwardens of the colonial period with elected bodies called Overseers of the Poor. The Overseers provided food, clothing, shelter, and medical treatment for the persons who were too poor to support themselves or too ill to provide for their basic needs. They also bound out children whose parents could not support them or who failed to educate or instruct them, as well as orphans to become apprentices. The boys learned a trade and the girls learned domestic skills.

Scope and Content

Richmond County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1834-1859, are bonds and contracts of apprenticeship given by the Overseers of the Poor, showing the names of master and apprentice, the trade to be taught, details of the contract, the amount of the bond and the names of sureties. Many of the apprentices bound out prior to 1866 were free African Americans.

Related Material

Additional Richmond County Records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Richmond County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• African Americans--History.
• Apprentices--Virginia--Richmond County.
• Free African Americans--Virginia--Richmond County.

Geographical Names:

• Richmond County (Va.)--History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Indentures--Virginia--Richmond County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Richmond County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data