Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

Should you wish to quote from or reproduce images of any of the materials, you must write to the Librarian of the Huntington Library, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, requesting formal permission to do so. Please note that you do not have to obtain permission if you are quoting fewer than fifty words, or if you are only citing the document. Images made with microfilm-reader printers are for research use only and may not be used for publication without permission.

Preferred Citation

Hanover County (Va.) Circuit Court. Records, 1750-1868, Robert Alonzo Brock Collection, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Acquisition Information

The Robert Alonzo Brock Collection was filmed by The Huntington Library in cooperation with The Library of Virginia with funding provided by The Library of Virginia Foundation with the support of The Roller- Bottimore Foundation and The Robins Foundation. Microfilm received 15 April 2004.

Historical Information

Hanover County was formed from New Kent County in 1720.

Most county court records, particularly deeds, wills, and marriage records, were destroyed by fire in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War. The circuit court records were not moved to Richmond and were relatively unscathed. Consequently, there is a strong run of common law papers and chancery papers after 1831 that were generated by the circuit superior court of law and chancery and its successor, the circuit court.

Scope and Content

Records, 1750-1868, of Hanover County Circuit Court consist of papers related to fiduciary records (undated, 1750, 1753-1786, 1797, 1829, 1830, 1854, 1860), wills (1777, 1779, 1783, 1795, 1797, 1800, 1806, 1815, 1820, 1823, 1824, 1842, 1843, 1849, 1858), chancery papers (undated, 1807, 1822, 1823, 1825, 1835, 1845), judgments (1792, 1794, 1803, 1862), marriage licenses (1816-1817, 1831-1835, 1838-1847), sheriffs' records (1807), clerks' records (1783, 1817, 1827, 1868), land records (1806, 1829), free negro and slave records (1791), and tax and fiscal records (1798, 1804, 1813.)

Wills found in collection include Elisabeth Elmore, 1783 (Includes related fiduciary records such as an inventory and estate accounts); Susanna Crenshaw, 1779; Joshua Acree, 1777; Daniel Dejarnatt, 1795; Joseph Cross, 1797; John Richardson, 1800 (Includes miscellaneous court documents related to claims against the estate.); Pittman Kidd, 1806; John Oliver, 1815. (Includes related fiduciary records such as an inventory and administrator bond.); Mary Ann Jones, 1829; John P. Brock, 1823; John Cross, 1823; Moses White, 1842; Reuben Gardner, 1843; Richard H. Johnson, 1849; Spotswood Childress, 1858; Thomas Acree, 1858 (Includes related fiduciary records such as an appraisement and administrator account.)

Chancery papers found in this collection include a transcript of the suit Dudley Richardson and wife and others versus the Executors of John Anderson, 1823 (Includes a transcript of John Anderson's will, 1800); a transcript of the suit Betty Ellis and others versus the Administrator of David Richardson and others, 1807; copy of the amended bill in the suit Kent, Paine, and Company versus the Executors of Philip H. Jones, undated; copy of bill, answer, and plea in the suit John M. Price versus James Corbett and others, 1823; transcript of the suit Mary Boaze and others versus the Administrator of Thomas Boaze and others, 1825; copy of decree in the suit of George N. Clough and wife and others versus the Executor of Benjamin Timberlake, 1845; and the answer of John W. Page in the suit of Toler versus Toler, 1835.

Land records found in this collection include the following: Deed - George Harris and wife to Jesse Crew, 1806. Torn deed between John P. Parsley and William Gaulding, 1829.

Free negro and slave records found in this collection include a bond related to the hire of a female slave in 1791.

Related Material

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 .

Access Terms

Corporate Name

• Hanover County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subject Terms

• Claims against decedents' estates--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Clerks of court--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Equity--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Estate settlement costs--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Executors and administrators--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Judgments--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Marriage--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Public records--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Slaves--United States.
• Slaves--Virginia--Hanover County.

Geographic Terms

• Hanover County (Va.)--History.

Record Type

• Courts of chancery--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Deeds--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Estate inventories--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Judicial records--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Marriage licenses--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Marriage records--Virginia--Hanover County.
• Wills--Virginia--Hanover County.

Added Entry - Personal Name

• Brock, R. A. (Robert Alonzo), 1839-1914, collector.

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Originals are located at the Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California.