Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Warren County (Va.) Overseers of the Poor Records, 1836-1870. Local government records collection, Warren County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Warren County in an undated accession.

Processing Information

Apprenticeship Indentures, 1830-1882, were previously described as part of the Warren County (Va.) Overseers of the Poor Records but are now described separately as Warren County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1830-1882.

Board of Supervisors Records, 1887-1917, were previously described as part of the Warren County (Va.) Overseers of the Poor Records but are now described separately as Warren County (Va.) Board of Supervisors Records, 1871-1917.

Encoded by Louise Jones, 2013; Edited by M. Mason, January 2024

Historical Information

Context for Record Type: 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. They also bound out children whose parents could not support them or who failed to educate or instruct them, as well as orphans to become apprentices. The boys learned a trade and the girls learned domestic skills.

In 1844, the General Assembly enacted laws to create poor farms overseen by boards of directors for the maintenance and education of the poor. The boards bought farms and built buildings, appointed a superintendent for each poor farm, and chose a physician to attend the sick and teachers to educate the children. The adults and older children were required to work if they were able.

Locality History: Warren County was named for Joseph Warren, the revolutionary patriot who sent Paul Revere and William Dawes on their famous rides and who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The county was formed from Frederick and Shenandoah counties in 1836.

Scope and Content

Warren County (Va.) Overseers of the Poor Records, 1836-1870, consists of accounts and vouchers; insolvent and delinquent records; and reports.

Accounts and vouchers, 1837-1870, undated, which consists of accounting and receipts of various expenses, purchases, and services of the overseers of the poor.

Insolvent and delinquent levy records, 1836-1853, which consists of poor levies and other delinquent tax lists including delinquent lists that contain lists of "free negroes" tax records.

Reports, 1837- 1870, consisting of annual reports with remarks, lists of property, lists of "paupers," and other documents created by meetings of the Board of the Overseers of the Poor for the county.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in

Related Material

See also: Warren County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1830-1882

See also: Warren County (Va.)Free and Enslaved Records, 1836-1861

Additional Warren County (Va.) court records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia.Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Adjunct Descriptive Data