Got this off of the Va list. Thought it would prove helpful. ----- Original Message ----- From: Deborah Byrd <dwbyrd@usa.net> To: <dbyrd@lightcom.net> Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 8:47 AM Subject: Re: [Va-Notes. Burned Record Counties] > Brent Tarter <BTarter@lva.lib.va.us> wrote: > VA-NOTES > BURNED RECORD COUNTIES > Several Virginia counties, most of them in the eastern part of the > state, have suffered tremendous loss of their early records during the > intense military activity that occurred during the Civil War, and others > lost records in fires. At some point, almost everyone conducting > genealogical or historical research will face the problem of finding > information from a so-called "Burned Record county." > Burned record counties might be grouped into three basic categories: > Hopeless, Almost Hopeless, and Difficult. Included in the Hopeless category > are James City, New Kent, Buckingham, Nansemond, Dinwiddie (before 1782), > Appomattox, Buchanan, King and Queen, Warwick, and Henrico (before 1677). > Almost Hopeless are Hanover, Prince George, Elizabeth City, and Gloucester. > Difficult counties are Caroline, Charles City, King William, Mathews, Prince > William, Stafford, Rockingham, and Nottoway. > If you are working with a county that has suffered a loss of court > records, you must devote all your genealogical energy and historical > knowledge to the project. First, survey any extant records as well as all > existing indexes; second, read every surviving record page by page; third, > consult the records of the surrounding counties; finally, seek out other > types of records, such as church, business, private, and government > documents. > Within the colonial period, the major source available are the > patents that were recorded in the Secretary's Office between 1623 and 1774. > Determine also if any church records are extant for the county of your > interest. > A few more resources are available during the statehood period. > Title to virgin land issued from the governor in a record now called a > grant; petitions to the legislature date from 1775 into the 1850s; tax > records, both land and personal, date from 1782 into the twentieth century; > militia fines date from 1795 to 1860. Researchers should also consult the > federal census schedules that were taken every ten years and for Virginia > survive from 1810 onward, excepting 1890, which was almost entirely burned. > Realize, however, that most of these records are simply lists and do > not give family information. The record can locate a particular name within > a specific county. > With the exception of the patent and grant books, the records > referenced are not available on-line; further, most are manuscripts and must > be consulted in person at the holding depository. > As always, when researching county court records, first consult the > on-line list of what is available at the Library of Virginia. It may be > found at the Library's wet site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us > > The Burned Record Counties. > > Appomattox: created in 1845, county court records were destroyed by > fire in 1892. > Buchanan: created in 1858, county court records were destroyed by > fire in 1885; records created after that date suffered extreme damage in a > flood in 1977. A few re-recorded deeds exist. > Buckingham: created in 1761, county court records were destroyed by > fire in 1869. One plat book survived and some wills and deeds were later > re-recorded. > Dinwiddie: created in 1752, county court records prior to 1833 were > destroyed in 1865. One plat book, one order book, and one judgment book > survive. > Elizabeth City: created in 1634 as an original shire, records were > damaged and/or destroyed during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the > Civil War. A few early deeds, wills, orders, and guardian's accounts > survive. > Gloucester: created in 1651, all county court records were > destroyed by an 1821 fire, and records created after that date were > destroyed in Richmond on 3 April 1865. Six minute books from the nineteenth > century and two surveyor's record books survive. > Hanover: created in 1721, most county court records were destroyed > by fire in Richmond on 3 April 1865. A few isolated record books that were > not sent to Richmond and various scraps of loose papers survive. > Henrico: created in 1634 as an original shire, all county court > records prior to 1655 and almost all prior to 1677 are missing; > additionally, many isolated records were destroyed during the Revolutionary > War, and almost all Circuit Court records were destroyed by fire in Richmond > on 3 April 1865. > James City: created in 1634 as an original shire, all county court > records were lost in 1865. > King and Queen: created in 1691, county court records were lost in > fires in 1828 and 1865. One plat book and three mid-nineteenth century > Superior Court record books survive. > Nansemond: created in 1652, county court records were destroyed in > three separate fires, the earliest of which consumed the house of the court > clerk in April 1734 (where the records were kept at that time), and the last > on 7 February 1866. A few fee books have been found in the records of Sussex > County. > New Kent: created in 1654, county court records were destroyed when > John Posey burned the courthouse on 15 July 1787, and records created after > that date were lost to fire in 1865. > Prince George: created in 1703, most county court records were > burned during the Civil War. A few record books survived and, proving that > there is always hope, the volume in which deeds and wills were recorded > between 1710 and 1713 was found within the last decade. Warwick: created in > 1643, county court records were destroyed at several times with most > destruction occurring during the Civil War. A seventeenth century livestock > registry, one order book, and one minute book from the eighteenth century > survive. > > Twenty-five other Virginia counties have suffered some loss of county court > records, some to a greater degree than others: > > Albemarle: created in 1744, all order books except the first and > all loose papers were destroyed in Tarleton's raid on Charlottesville in > 1781. > Bland: created in 1861, all but a few record books and some > chancery papers were destroyed by fire in 1888. > Brunswick: created in 1732, the first pages of a number of early > record books damaged by time. > Caroline: created in 1728, most records prior to 1836 were > destroyed during the Civil War. Some deeds and wills are recorded in extant > Chancery Papers, and a considerable number of order books and loose papers > survive. > Charles City: created in 1634 as an original shire, records have > been destroyed at various times. The most damage occurred during the Civil > War when the records were strewn through woods in a rainstorm. Many > fragments of records exist, so many, in fact, that there is something for > almost every year. > Chesterfield: created in 1749, lost one marriage register and some > loose court papers during the Civil War. > Clarke: created in 1836, had pages cut from several record books > during the Civil War. > Craig: created in 1851, lost the first deed book and most of the > loose papers during the Civil War. > Fairfax: created in 1742, original wills and deeds as well as many > other loose papers were destroyed during the Civil War; deed books for > twenty-six of the fifty-six years between 1763 and 1819 are missing. > Greene: created in 1838, lost the first deed book during the Civil > War when it was removed from the courthouse; no records were lost, but some > suffered extreme water damage in efforts to put out a fire in the 1970s. > King George: created in 1721, had one will book, an early marriage > register, and an order book "carried away during the Civil War." A few years > ago the will book was deposited in the Virginia Historical Society. > King William: created in 1702, all county court records prior to > 1885 (except for seventeen will books) were destroyed in a fire in that > year. > Lee: created in 1793, lost the oldest marriage register in an 1863 > fire. > Louisa: created in 1742, lost one order book in Richmond in 1865. > Mathews: created in 1791, all county court records were burned in > Richmond on 3 April 1865. At least two bond books, one plat book, and a > number of fee books survive. > Northumberland: created in 1645, suffered some loss in a fire in > the clerk's office on 25 October 1710. > Nottoway: created in 1789, many county court records were destroyed > or heavily mutilated in 1865. > Prince William: created in 1731, many county court records have > been lost, destroyed, or stolen at various times. Scattered years of deeds, > wills, and orders, as well as various bond books and a plat book, survive. > Richmond: created in 1692, has some record books damaged and > mutilated due to unknown causes; additionally, the will books prior to 1699 > were missing as early as 1793, and order books for the period 1794-1816 are > also missing. > Rockingham: created in 1778, most pre-Civil War wills were lost > when the courthouse was burned in June 1864; in an effort to save records, > they were loaded onto a wagon which was set afire along the road. Some few > were saved and administrators, executors, and guardian bonds survive. > Russell: created in 1786, the first marriage register and all loose > files were lost in a fire in the clerk's office in 1872. > Stafford: created in 1664, many pre-Civil War county court records > were lost to vandalism during the war. Scattered years of deeds, wills, and > orders have survived as has an old General Index. > Surry: created in 1652, has lost deeds for 1835-1838 and order > books for 1718-1741 and various other early record books are fragmentary. > Court house fires in 1906 and 1922 did not result in loss of records which > were then housed in a separate clerk's office. > Washington: created in 1777, lost a minute book for the period > 1787-1819 and many loose papers in a fire in the clerk's office on 15 > December 1864. > Westmoreland: created in 1653, lost an order book for the period > 1764-1776 to theft, and many loose papers were damaged during both the > Revolutionary War and the Civil War. > > > An online series on Research in Virginia Documents. > Prepared by the Division of Publications and Education Services. > Copyright by The Library of Virginia; this note may be reproduced in full if > proper credit is given and no changes are made. > > > ____________________________________________________________________ > Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1 >