Hi all, Picked this up from the Southside list. Susan, think this will answer your questions about where records are located. As the other Susan told us, you will need to know the dates and where people were located in order to know where the records are. Your guardian records from 1860 would be in the Norfolk CITY court records. Message from the list: Norfolk, VA was an independent city as of 1845. The city did not move, the boundaries and form of government did! Virginia has a habit of forming independent cities smack in the middle of perfectly good counties. from "Hornbook of Virginia History,"Fourth Edition, ed. by Salmon & Campbell, Library of Virginia Publication, c. 1994: "Norfolk [City] was located in Norfolk County, which is now extinct. The city took its name from the former home of an early settler, Adam Thoroughgood, who was a native of the county of Norfolk, England. Norfolk was established in 1680 by an act of assembly. It was incorporated as a borough in 1736 and as a city in 1845. Norfolk was enlarged in 1906 by the annexation of the town of Berkeley." "Norfolk County (extinct) probably was named by Adam Thoroughgood, a local resident, for his native county in England. It was formed from Lower Norfolk County in 1691. Norfolk County became extinct in 1963, when it was consolidated with the city of South Norfolk to form the city of Chesapeake. The county seat was Portsmouth." "Chesapeake, which is named for the Chesapeake Bay, comprises the former Norfolk County and the former city of South Norfolk. It was formed by court order in 1963 by a merger of these two entities, both of which thereby became extinct." "Portsmouth was located in Norfolk County, which is now extinct. It was named by its founder, William Crawford, for the English seaport and was established in 1752. Portsmouth was incorporated as a town in 1836 and as a city in 1858." On Thu, 4 Feb 1999 09:33:09 EST CHARALK@aol.com writes: >Would anyone happen to know what county Norfolk, VA was in during the middle >to late 1800's? I've been told that it now is not in a county. ___________________________________________________________________