New Kent County (Va) Election Records, 1851-1932

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

Extent:
2 boxes and 3 volumes
Creator:
New Kent County (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

New Kent County (Va.) Election Records, 1851-1932 consist of individual items concerning elections, Abstracts of Voters for specific elections, and List of Voters.

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:
These item came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from New Kent County (Va.).
Physical location:
State Records Center-Archives Annex, Library of Virginia