Rockingham County (Va.) Wills and Administrations, 1803-1862

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Creator:
Rockingham County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Rockingham County (Va.) Wills and Administrations, 1803-1862, record the deceased's plan for how his or her estate was to be divided among his or her heirs following his or her death. Information commonly recorded in wills include the name of the deceased, also referred to as the testator; names of heirs; a listing of real and personal property (including slaves) and how it was to be divided among the heirs; names of individuals who were to be the will's executors; the date the will was written and the date the will was recorded at the court house. These will books also include estate inventories and guardians' accounts.

Biographical / historical:

Rockingham County was formed from Augusta County in 1778. The county is named for Charles Watson-Wentworth, second marquis of Rockingham, who supported the colonists in their disputes with Great Britain.

Individuals dying with a written will died testate. After the death of an individual, his or her will was brought into court, where two of the subscribing witnesses swore that the document was genuine. After the will was proved, the executor was bonded to carry out his or her duties to settle the estate. The court then ordered the will to be recorded.

The court appointed an administrator who was bonded and issued an order to appraise the deceased's estate. The court usually appointed four appraisers, any three of whom might serve. They returned an inventory of the decedent's personal property to the court to be recorded. An appraisal listed the personal property and assigned a monetary value to each item.

A guardian was appointed by the court only if there was an estate to protect. At age thirteen, a child was eligible to go into court and choose his own guardian. Periodically, guardians were required to bring estate accounts inot court. These accounts deal with the expenditures of the guardian for the raising of each child, generally on an individual basis. The estate of a deceased person with minor children required the keeping of records until it was settled. The settlement occured when the last minor child married or arrived at legal age.

A courthouse fire in 1787 destroyed primarily wills and estate records. In June 1864, many court records were removed from the courthouse and loaded on a wagon to be taken to place of safety in or beyond the Blue Ridge. The wagon was overtaken by Union troops near Port Republic and set afire. Some local citizens put out the fire; however, many court order books, deed books, will books, and fiduciary books were lost or severely damaged by the fire. Pre-1864 records including deeds and wills were re-recorded following an act of assembly passed on November 18, 1884.

The original Rockingham County Wills described in this collection were created by the County Court.

Acquisition information:

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Rockingham County.

Many of the documents in these volumes were damaged by the 1864 wagon fire. As a result, pagination and recorded dates were effectively removed. Using county order books, a Local Records archivist (Louise Jones) with the Local Records Services Branch of the Library of Virginia, painstakingly researched and reconstructed the original volumes for microfilming purposes. In total, nine voumes were reconstructed.

Once reconstructed, the original volumes were microfilmed in-house by the staff of Preservation Resources (OCLC Preservation Service Center.)

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically.

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
9 microfilm reels (4751 images)