Richmond County (Va.) Wills and Fiduciary Records, 1699-1921

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

Background

Scope and content:

Richmond County (Va.) Wills and Fiduciary Records, 1699-1921, includes recorded and unrecorded wills, administrators' bonds, dower appraisements, estate accounts, executors' bonds, guardians' bonds, and inventories and appraisements. The wills 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 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 will was written; and the date will was recorded at the court house. The collection also includes wills not recorded in will books.

References to Sabine Hall are found in the records.

Biographical / historical:

Richmond County may have been named for Richmond borough in Surrey, England, or for Charles Lennox, first duke of Richmond and a son of King Charles II. It was formed from Old Rappahannock County in 1692. The county seat is Warsaw.

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.

Some volumes were burned and mutilated through unknown causes; in addition, the will books prior to 1699 were missing as early as 1793, and order books for the period 1794-1816 are also missing. Numerous loose records prior to 1781 are missing as well.

Sabine Hall is a plantation established in the 1730's in Richmond County, Virginia and owned by the Carter family.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfer of court papers from Richmond County. A portion of the items were transferred to the Library of Virginia under the accession numbers 39231 and 39234.
Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
12.69 cu. ft.