Accomack County (Va.) Township Records, 1870-1879

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:
Accomack County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Accomack County (Va.) Township Records, 1870-1875, consist of seven volumes and one box of papers relating to the administrative functions of the township boards of the county.

Atlantic Township Record Book, 1870-1875, consists of minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes the division of the township into road districts; appointment of road overseers; accounts allowed such as officials' payments, road and bridge accounts, and overseers of the poor accounts; the division of the township into election districts; township levy accounts; and accomodation for the treatment of smallpox in the county (p. 22).

Atlantic Township Accounts Allowed, 1871-1875, record individuals' names and monies paid to them. No details are provided about reason for payment or what service was provided.

Atlantic Township papers, 1871-1878, consist of claims and allowances paid for accounts claimed against the township board. Most do not say why payment was made but those that do include claims for road and bridge work and payment to township officials. It is unclear whether those claims that post date the existence of the township are for work done prior to its dissolution or date from after the change to magisterial district and are misfiled here.

The Islands Township Record Book, 1872-1875, record accounts with the township board and warrants issued and settled, and clerk's and treasurer's accounts. No details are given about the financial transactions. Inserted in the front of the volumes are three envelopes of vouchers for township and road accounts and a road overseer's bond for Kendal Jester dated August 1874.

Lee Township Record Book, 1871-1873, consists of minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes the division of the township into road districts; road overseers and laborers appointed; division of the township into voting districts; township accounts audit that includes the name of the person paid, why, and the amount; and the township levy with accounts.

Lee Township papers, 1874-1879, consist of warrants and accounts against the township board. Included are overseer of the poor claims for supplies and coffins, the final reports of the township clerk and treasurer from 1876, and a printed circular from the Auditor of Public Accounts dated 1877 about voter qualifications. Other claims are for road work or are unspecified. It is unclear whether those claims that post date the existence of the township are for work done prior to its dissolution or date from after the change to magisterial district and are misfiled here.

Pungoteague Township Record Book, 1872-1873, consists of two volumes of accounts of the clerk, the treasurer, the road overseers, and the overseer of the poor. Many of the accounts seem to consist of claims allowed against the township.

Pungoteague Township Record Book, 1873-1875, consists of minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes the division of the township into road districts; the division of the township into election precincts; road accounts; township levy accounts; and accounts allowed for road, overseer of the poor, and clerk and other officials' payments.

Biographical / historical:

Accomack County was named for the Accomac Indians, who lived on the Eastern Shore at the time of the first English settlement in Virginia. The word means "on-the-other-side-of-water place" or "across the water." It was one of the original eight shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634 and spelled Accomac without the k. The county's name was changed to Northampton County in 1643. The present county was formed from Northampton about 1663. In October 1670, the General Assembly temporarily reunited Accomack and Northampton Counties as Northampton County. In November 1673, Accomack County was again separated from Northampton. In early records, the county's name was spelled many ways. In 1940 the General Assembly adopted the present spelling, Accomack. The county gained a small part of the southern end of Smith's Island from Somerset County, Maryland, in 1879, after the United States had approved boundary changes between Virginia and Maryland that had been agreed to in 1877. The county seat is Accomac.

A significant number of loose records from the 1700s suffered extreme water and pest damage. Volumes that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist.

The 1870 Virginia Constitution required that each county in the state be divided into no less than three townships (see Article VII, section 2). Based on the New England administrative organization of a county, each township would elect the administration officials for the offices of supervisor, clerk, assessor, collector, commissioner of the roads, overseer of the poor, justice of the peace, and constable. The supervisors of each township would comprise the board of supervisors for the county, and would be responsible for auditing the county accounts, examining the assessors' books, regulating property valuation, fixing the county levies. The Acts of Assembly provided that each township be divided into school and electoral districts (see Acts of Assembly 1869-1870, Chapter 39). A constitutional amendment in 1874 changed the townships into magisterial districts and each district elected one supervisor, three justices of the peace, one constable, and one overseer of the poor. The supervisors of the districts made up the county board of supervisors whose duties were identical as those set out in 1870. The published Acts of Assembly appended a list of township names by county following the acts for every year that townships existed in Virginia.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Accomack County. The Lee Township papers came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Accomack County under the accession number 44262. The filmed items were microfilmed by the Library of Virginia's Imaging Services Division.
Physical location:
Library of Virginia/ State Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia
Physical description:
7 v. and .225 cu. ft. (1 box)