Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Buckingham County (Va.) Sheriffs' Records, 1896-1920. Local government records collection, Buckingham County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These volumes came to the Library of Virginia as a gift under the accession number 38542.

Historical Information

Buckingham County was formed from Albemarle County in 1761. Part of Appomattox County was added to Buckingham in 1860. Buckingham County was named perhaps for the English county or possibly for a tract of land owned by Archibald Cary on what was then called Willis's Creek and known as Buckingham that had been granted to Henry Cary in 1729. The origin of the county's name, however, is uncertain.

Records were destroyed by fire in 1869.

Scope and Content

Buckingham County (Va.) Buckingham County (Va.) Sheriffs' Records, 1896-1950, are a fifteen volume collection which cover in-depth all functions of the county sheriff's office--most notably during the tenure of sheriffs William Williams and Lewis Williams. The majority of the books in this collection are fee books. Fee books (also titled Daybooks or Ledgers), 1896-1938, are a record of fees collected by a sheriff for performing various duties--such as serving writs, process, summonses in civil and criminal matters, posting election notices, making arrests and taking prisoners to jail, appearing in court and making levies and commissions on sales. Entries for these books include the name of the individual or suit of a court case (typically judgments, chancery causes and commonwealth causes), the date of the duty or service performed and the amount charged for the actions taken.

In addition, the sheriffs of this county detailed additional job functions in other type of record books. The Accounts and Receipts Ledger, 1919-1920, lists individual court cases and the fees and receipts associated with these suits. The Report of Fires, 1906-1917, is a unique and fascinating volume. One of the sheriff's duties for the county was to investigate all fires. Included in this account is the date of the fire, the location of the fire, the name of the owner of the property, a description of the building, how the building was used, the value of the building internally and externally, whether there was an insurance policy for the dwelling and contents, the extent of damage to the dwelling and contents, whether there were mortgages on the property and a probable cause for the fire. In the remarks section, the sheriff frequently mentioned the race of the property owner, whether individuals had died and sometimes the occupation of the owner was noted.

The sheriff also collected fees, allowances and commissions for administrating estates. There are two Administrators' Books in the collections (1897-1932) which outline the appraisement and account sales of personal property associated with an individual's estate. There were various county funds that the sheriff was in charge of maintaining. The High School Fund Account Book, 1916-1920, outlines accounts from work projects undertaken at two Buckingham County high schools in the mid-twentieth century. This volume includes the date of the account, to whom paid and the amount paid. The bulk of the book is dedicated to the accounts of Buckingham County High School, pages 1-18. On page 140, there is a list of accounts for Agricultural High School in 1919. Another ledger, dating from 1918, notes other county fund activity undertaken by the sheriff.

A Cashbook, 1907-1950, is dedicated solely to recording all money paid to individuals for work related to the maintenance of the county jail. The final volume is a Process book kept by Sheriff Lewis Williams from 1916-1920. This type of book would indicate how an individual was cited to appear in court. This volume notes the nature of the process, the names of the parties, the date of the process, when the process was returned, to whom the process was delivered and the date that the process was receipted for. Most of the volumes in this collection include internal indexes arranged alphabetically and miscellaneous loose papers.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

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 .

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Buckingham County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• African Americans--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Costs (Law)--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Debt--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Education--Finance.
• Education--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Elections--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Fire investigation--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Land value taxation--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Personal property--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Public records--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Real property tax--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Real property--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Schools--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Sheriffs-Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Tax collection--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Taxation of personal property-Virginia--Buckingham County.

Geographical Names:

• Buckingham County (Va.)--History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Account books--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Administrative reports--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Administrators' books--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Cashbooks--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Daybooks--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Decisions--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Estate records--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Fee books--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Financial records--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Judicial records--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Ledgers (account books)--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Process book--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Receipts (financial records)--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• School records--Virginia--Buckingham County.
• Tax records--Virginia--Buckingham County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data