New Kent County (Va.) Circuit Court. Records, 1688-1858

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:
Robert Alonzo Brock
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Records, 1688-1858, of New Kent County Circuit Court consist of wills (1688, 1835, 1853, 1858), marriage licenses (1835, 1840, 1841), a commonwealth claim (1770), a bill of complaint in the chancery suit John Coalter vs. the trustees of John D. Watkins and others (no date.)

Wills include Moses Davis (1688), Robert Pollard (1835), Dr. Samuel Webb (1853), and Richard B. Taylor (1858.)

Biographical / historical:

New Kent County may have been named either for the English county of Kent or for Kent Island, in the upper waters of the Chesapeake Bay. William Claiborne, a native of Kent who had been driven from Kent Island by Lord Baltimore, was a prominent resident of the New Kent area about 1654 when the county was formed from York County. Part of James City County was added in 1767. The county seat is New Kent.

Records were destroyed when John Posey set fire to the courthouse on 15 July 1787. Many records were lost when the courthouse was partially destroyed by fire during Civil War hostilities in 1862. Additional records were burned in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.

Acquisition information:
The Robert Alonzo Brock Collection was filmed by The Huntington Library in cooperation with The Library of Virginia with funding provided by The Library of Virginia Foundation with the support of The Roller- Bottimore Foundation and The Robins Foundation. Microfilm received 15 April 2004.
Physical description:
Miscellaneous reel 4611
Note:

This collection forms part of the Robert Alonzo Brock Collection at The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.