Warwick County (Va.) Records, 1688-1751

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:
Newport News (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Warwick County (Va.) Records, 1688-1751, include an administrator's bond, 1719; judgments, 1688, 1718, 1719; torn page from a will book, 1718; and the will of Nathaniel Wythe, 1751.

The following groups donated to the conservation of these manuscripts: the Daughters of the Barons of Runnemede, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Jamestowne Chapter of the Colonial Daughters of the 17th Century, and the Warwick County Historical Society.

Biographical / historical:

Warwick County was named either for Robert Rich, earl of Warwick, a prominent member of the London Company, or for the county of Warwick in England. The county was originally called Warwick River and was one of the original shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634. The shorter name was adopted in 1643. Warwick County became extinct in 1952, when it became the city of Warwick. The new city was consolidated with the city of Newport News in 1958 and took the latter's name. Denbigh was the county seat.

County court records were destroyed at several times with most destruction occurring during the Civil War. The clerk's office was burned on 15 December 1864. County court minute books and loose records from 1787 to 1819 were destroyed by the fire. Additional records were burned in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.

These documents were removed from the Warwick County (now city of Newport News) courthouse by a Massachusetts soldier, Wallace A. Putnam, a second lieutenant in the 10th Massachusetts Regiment, during the Peninsula Campaign in April 1862.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia under the accession number 50416.
Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
14 p.