Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Warwick County (Va.) Records, 1650-1840. Local government records collection, Warwick County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer under the accession numbers 18655, 20321, 21071, 21369, 21708, 22028, 22057, 22641, 22642, 24853, 24867, 25129, 28694, 31286, 31287, 53322.

The will of Henry Cary, 1716, came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer from the Monticello Association Archives under the accession number 50827.

Historical Information

Warwick County was named either for Robert Rich, earl of Warwick, a prominent member of the London Company, or for the county of Warwick in England. The county was originally called Warwick River and was one of the original shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634. The shorter name was adopted in 1643. Warwick County became extinct in 1952, when it became the city of Warwick. The new city was consolidated with the city of Newport News in 1958 and took the latter's name. Denbigh was the county seat.

County court records were destroyed at several times with most destruction occurring during the Civil War. The clerk's office was burned on 15 December 1864. County court minute books and loose records from 1787 to 1819 were destroyed by the fire. Additional records were burned in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.

A portion of the records in the collection were returned to Warwick County in 1914. E. Russell Jones returned Warwick County records found among the effects of a deceased relative who served in the Civil War. James P. Williams returned Warwick County records he received from a friend named Edward G. Wood whose grandfather was a collector of relics.

Scope and Content

Warwick County (Va.) Records, 1650-1840, include county court orders, county claims, order book, docket book, pages from order books, judgments, chancery cause, deeds, justice of the peace commission, and fiduciary records. Information found in order book and pages from order books include deeds, wills, estate inventories, and summary of suits heard in county court.

The collection includes correspondence dated 1914 between the clerk of Warwick County and two individuals from Philadelphia, PA regarding the return of some of the records found in this collection to Warwick County.

Conservation for a portion of the Warwick County Records including the will of Henry Cary, 1716, was funded through a donation made by John C.R. Taylor III.

Conservation for a portion of the Warwick County Records was funded through a donation made by the Jamestowne Chapter of the Colonial Daughters of the 17th Century.

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 .

Adjunct Descriptive Data