Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Virginia Land Office. General records, 1670-1804. Accession LOI 104. State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Transferred in 1948 from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Richmond, VA 23219.

Biographical Information

General records, 1670-1806, including correspondence, depositions over land disputes, bills of sale, lists, and surveys for land in Augusta, Culpeper, Frederick, Loudoun, Orange, Prince William, and Stafford Counties, Virginia; and Hampshire and Hardy Counties, West Virginia. It is unknown why these records were grouped together.

Scope and Content

The Northern Neck Land Office controlled 5,282,000 acres in land grants located between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, which were given to seven loyal supporters of King Charles II. Agents of the Northern Neck Proprietary issued the first land grant in 1690.

To obtain land in the Northern Neck persons purchased warrants which specified the exact location of the land desired. A warrant was taken to a surveyor, and the land desired was surveyed. The plat and any accompanying papers were returned to the proprietor's office from which, if no discrepancy existed and no conflicting claim was presented, a grant was issued. The survey was filed and the grant recorded before delivery. Unlike the colonial Land Office, the Northern Neck Land Office did not annually destroy plats.

The Proprietary operated until the death of Lord Fairfax in 1781. For the next thirty years, however, the ownership was in dispute. Fairfax family interest was terminated in 1808 when the last surviving heir sold his title to his remaining manor to a syndicate.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically.