A Guide to the Richmond (Va.) Overseers of the Poor Records, 1807-1912
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
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Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
© 2009 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
Processed by: Library of Virginia staff
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Richmond (Va.) Overseers of the Poor Records, 1807-1912. Local government records collection, Richmond (City) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.
Acquisition Information
These records came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of papers from Richmond.
Overseers Minutes, 1817-1828, came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of papers from Richmond in 1973 under accession 27977.
This microfilm was generated by Backstage Library Works through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program.
Alternative Form Available
Manchester (Va.) Almshouse and Poor Committee Minutes Book, 1893-1909 is available as Richmond (Va.) Reel 1000
Processing Information
Volumes related to the Committee for the Relief of the Poor were processed by L. Jones in 2009.
Additional Richmond (Va.) Overseers of the Poor records, approximately 1811-1840, were identified after 2009. These records are at various processing stages, some records are flat filed and foldered while other records remain tri-folded in bundles. Material that has been identified and foldered was processed by G. Crawford in the 2010s and M. Mason in 2025.
Majority of records relating to the Overseers of the Poor probably remains in the unprocessed Richmond Ended Causes.
Encoded by L. Jones, 2009; Updated by M. Mason, January 2025
Historical Information
Context for Record Type:
Overseers of the Poor
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. The cites had Almshouses to board invalids and paupers living in their cities. They also obtained employment for those who were able to work.
Committee for Relief of the Poor
Created by a Richmond City Ordinance passed 1865 December 1, the committee consisted of seven members, a member from each ward of the city, appointed by the president of the Richmond City Council. According to the ordinance, the committee "shall have the government, control and direction of the Almshouse and grounds, and of any other buildings and ground which may be acquired or used for the benefit of the poor of the city." This control extended to the officers, agents, nurses and other employees connected with the institutions. This committee additionally had the "power and perform the duties vested in the required of overseers of the poor" and if necessary "to act as overseers of the poor they shall be such for that purpose" with the committee chairman serving as president of the board. This ability for the Committee to function as the city's Overseers of the Poor was allowed by an Act of the General assembly passed in the 1865-1866 session.
Locality History:
Richmond
Richmond, located between Henrico and Chesterfield Counties, was named by William Byrd (1674-1744), who envisioned the development of a city at the falls of the James River and with the help of William Mayo laid out the town in 1737. The name probably came from the English borough of Richmond upon Thames, which Byrd visited on several occasions. Richmond was established in 1742 and in 1779 was designated the capital of Virginia effective 30 April 1780. It was incorporated as a town, although "stiled the city of Richmond," in 1782 and was incorporated as a city in 1842. It served as the capital of the Confederacy from mid-1861 to April 1865. Richmond was enlarged by the annexation of Manchester (or South Richmond) in 1910, and by the addition of Barton Heights, Fairmount, and Highland Park in 1914. Further annexations from Chesterfield County occurred in 1942 and 1970.
Manchester
Manchester (extinct), in the city of Richmond, was established in 1769 on land owned by William Byrd (1728-1777) on the south bank of the James River. The General Assembly had authorized Fort Charles to be built there in 1645, and the site was soon named Rocky Ridge. After its establishment in 1769, the newly laid-out town was named probably for Manchester Parish in Chesterfield County. The parish in turn was named either for George Montague, fourth duke of Manchester, or for the town of Manchester, England. Incorporated as a town in 1834, Manchester served as the county seat for Chesterfield County from 1871 until 1874 when it was incorporated as a city (although Chesterfield did not move its courthouse until 1876). In 1910 Manchester was consolidated with the city of Richmond with the provisos that a free bridge would be constructed to connect Manchester with Richmond and that Manchester would retain a courthouse. Today the area is also known as South Richmond.
Lost Locality Note:
During the burning of Richmond on April 3, 1865, during the Civil War, Richmond circuit court judge John A. Meredith led efforts to save the circuit court records found at the State Court House. Rescuers successfully removed all the papers that were necessary to pending suits and many of the order books, but all of the wills and deed books were lost. Records of the superior court and circuit superior court of law and chancery were also destroyed. Most of the pre-Civil War Hustings Court records exist.
Scope and Content
Richmond (Va.) Overseers of the Poor Records, 1807-1912, consists of loose records of the Overseers of the Poor, 1807-1837, which includes accounts, administrative records, reports; as well as volumes concerning the work of the Richmond City County Committee for the Relief of the Poor, 1870-1912, which is made up of 8 volumes.
Overseers of the Poor Records, 1807-1839, consists of loose records including minutes, accounts, administrative records, bill and receipts, List of Paupers, reports, the boards involvement bringing judgements against city residence, and summons.
The accounts, bill and receipts, and reports are at times not created by the Overseers of the Poor but by members of various Richmond City Council (Common Hall) committees. These committees were usually created to examine the finances, expenders, accounting, etc. of the Overseers of the Poor.
The "List of Paupers", 1820-1837, part of the "keeper's returns", consist of either monthly or annual lists of all the "inmates" of the almshouse. The names are grouped into "men", "women", "boys", and "girls" with the categories repeated (usually on the reverse of the list) for Black and Multiracial persons. Information for each individual includes the date they arrived, status of health (includes sickness or physical disabilities), who sent the individual to almshouse, if the individual died or was discharged, date of discharge, and by whom discharged.
Committee for Relief of the Poor Minutes Books, 1870-1912, record the meetings and activities of the Committee [committee functionally replaces the Overseers of the Poor in 1865]. The minute books exist for the city of Richmond as well as for Manchester, Va., and include the administration of the Almshouses, renovation to the buildings and grounds and maintaining the buildings. The city also operated a soup house, an ambulance service, a hospital, and other services. The records additionally discuss the services provided for individual inmates.
The minutes include accounts of purchases of goods and services for the "White" and "Colored" Almshouses and for the employees and inmates. The minutes provide detailed descriptions of the activities occurring in and associated with the almshouses, as well as activities of the inmates outside of the almshouses.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into
Related Material
See also: Richmond (Va.) Ended Causes, 1782-1951
See also: Richmond (Va.) City Administration Records 1782-1979
Additional Richmond Court Records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."
Contents List
Consisting of loose records
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Barcode Number 1119667: Overseers of the Poor Records-Minutes, 1817-1828
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Barcode Number 0007843288: Overseers of the Poor Records- Accounts, Reports, Receipts, 1807-1839
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Barcode Number 0007902020: Overseers of the Poor Records- Accounts, Reports, Receipts, 1818-1837
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Barcode Number 0007902021: Overseers of the Poor Records- Lists of Paupers, 1820-1837
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Barcode Number 1048043: Overseers of the Poor Records, 1830-1838 [Unprocessed]
Minute Books of the Commitee for Richmond (Va.) and Manchester (Va.)
- Subseries A: Richmond(Va.): Committee for the Relief of the Poor Records 1870-1912
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Barcode Number 1114399: : Committee for Relief of the Poor Minutes Book, 1870-1875
This volume includes references to the services provided for the Henrico County (Va.) paupers who stayed in the Almshouse starting in 1870. Two pieces of paper stuck in the book give these references to the Henrico County Overseers of the Poor payments found on pages 11, 108, 142, 175, 189, and 194. [see Henrico County (Va.) Minutes of the Overseers of the Poor, 1869-189, Henrico County (Va.) Reel 214].
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Barcode Number 1114392: : Committee for Relief of the Poor Minutes Book, 1875-1885
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Barcode Number 1114401: : Committee for Relief of the Poor Minutes Book, 1885-1896
Volume additionally contains two lists with the Order of Business for the meetings of the Committee for the Relief of the Poor. One list has nine items of business and the other has six items of business.
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Barcode Number 1114403: : Committee for Relief of the Poor Minutes Book, 1896-1899
Volume additionally contains is a list of the Order of Business for the Committee for the Relief of the Poor that has twelve items of business.
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Barcode Number 1114406: : Committee for Relief of the Poor Minutes Book, 1899-1904
Volume additionally contains a paper with notes from a meeting on it. The notes concern $500 credit of the Visiting Nurses Fund.
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Barcode Number 1114394: : Committee for Relief of the Poor Minutes Book, 1908-1912
By 1908, the almshouses called the "City Home" and the "old and new Colored Homes. There were discussions about the furnishings for the two new homes. There is information about selling the old Colored Almshouse land and the legal matters associated with the sale.
Additionally contains a small map entitled the "Nurses Home, Woman's Colored Property". The map starts at First Street, goes east on Leigh Street to Tenth Street, then south to Clay Street, then east on Clay Street to Twelfth Street, then south on Twelfth to Broad Street, then west on Broad Street to Ninth Street, then north on Ninth Street to Marshall Street, then west on Marshall Street and ends at First Street. There is a discussion on 1992 March 20 about starting a training school for nurses in the City Hospital (pages 246-247).
Contains with volume there is a letter dated 1912 May 23, from the Richmond Heating and Plumbing Company containing their estimate of the installation of a water heater. A postcard from the Broadus Memorial Church dated 1910 August 10, was used to write a note on the front. A letter from John S. Williams, President of the Board of Trustees of the Memorial Hospital concerning the offer of a gift to the Committee on Relief of the Poor. A copy of the Rules of Order with twelve items of business is in the book. There are handwritten notes for the 1912 November 18 and the 1912 December 30 meetings. There are five papers with accounts on them. There are six pages of notations for the index. An invitation to the Adult Class Conference at the First Baptist Church 1913 October 27-31 is stuck in the book.
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- Subseries B: Manchester(Va.): Committee for the Relief of the Poor Records 1893-1912
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Barcode Number 1114448: : Manchester (Va.) Almshouse and Poor Committee Minutes Book, 1893-1909
The minutes list the bills received for services and supplies. It mentions services provided individual inmates. The minutes include recommendations for city ordinances. On May 7, 1907 the committee was called to deal with the disappearance of Superintendent William Allen. It had been discovered that Mr. Allen had charged for and received payments for services provided inmates that did not live in the almshouse.
Included with the book are proposals for goods and services needed for the Almshouse. There are copies of bills for goods, copies of committee minutes, list of repairs needed for the buildings, a list of supplies given to an inmate, and other business records.
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Barcode Number 1114454: : Manchester (Va.) Almshouse and Poor Committee Minutes Book, 1909-1912
The minutes list the bills received for services and supplies. It mentions services provided individual inmates. Manchester had White and Colored Buildings and a kitchen building.
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