Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Accomack County (Va.) Records, 1697-1947 circa, undated. Local government records collection, Accomack County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court records from Accomack County. Barcode number 1200398 was transferred under accession number 44262.

Historical Information

Accomack County was named for the Accomac Indians, who lived on the Eastern Shore at the time of the first English settlement in Virginia. The word means "on-the-other-side-of-water place" or "across the water." It was one of the original eight shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634 and spelled Accomac without the k. The county's name was changed to Northampton County in 1643. The present county was formed from Northampton about 1663. In October 1670, the General Assembly temporarily reunited Accomack and Northampton Counties as Northampton County. In November 1673, Accomack County was again separated from Northampton. In early records, the county's name was spelled many ways. In 1940 the General Assembly adopted the present spelling, Accomack. The county gained a small part of the southern end of Smith's Island from Somerset County, Maryland, in 1879, after the United States had approved boundary changes between Virginia and Maryland that had been agreed to in 1877. The county seat is Accomac.

A significant number of loose records from the 1700s suffered extreme water and pest damage. Volumes that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist.

Scope and Content

Accomack County (Va.) Records, 1697-1947 circa, consist of the following records series: Road and Bridge Records; Bonds, Commissions, Oaths; Tax and Fiscal Records; Military and Pension Records; Fiduciary Records; Clerks' Records; Election Records; Board of Supervisors Records; Overseers of the Poor Records; School Records; Marriage Records and Vital Statistics Miscellaneous Records; Court Records; Land Records; Wills; Commissioner of the Revenue Records; and Township Records.

Related Material

Additional Accomack County Records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm" found on the Library of Virginia's web site.

Accomack County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Accomack County Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search 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:

• Accomack County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Public records--Virginia-- Accomack County.

Geographical Names:

• Accomack County (Va.)--History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Local government records--Virginia-- Accomack County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data