Collections

Brunswick County (Va.) Birth and Death Records, 1912-1918, consist of birth and death registers.

Brunswick County (Va.) Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Records, 1865-1868, consist of Freedmen's Contracts and Freedmen's Apprenticeship Indentures.

Brunswick County (Va.) Business Records, 1795-1938, are comprised of various records created by individuals and companies in pursuit of documenting business activities in and around Brunswick County (Va.) Represented records consist of bound volumes such as a contract book, account books, ledgers, a scratcher, registers, a cashbook and loose records.

Brunswick County (Va.) Commonwealth Causes and Pardons, 1791-1806; 1898-1902. Commonwealth causes, 1791-1806, are criminal court cases. Most of the cases in this collection pertain to enslaved people, and many involve accusations of poisoning. One case, Commonwealth vs. Isaac, Phill, and Shaq, documents an alleged insurrection to "kill all white people." Pardons, 1898-1903, are pardons granted by Virginia Governors James Hoge Tyler and Andrew Jackson Montague to persons convicted of criminal offenses.

Materials in the Library of Virginia's collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Brunswick County (Va.) County District Court Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1790-1808, consist of suits initiated by slaves seeking to gain their freedom in the district court. Cases are identified by style of suit consisting of plaintiff and defendant names. Surnames of others involved in a suit, including secondary plaintiffs and defendants, witnesses, deponents and affiants, and family members with surnames different from the plaintiff or defendant are indexed. Also identified are names of slaves and slaveowners identified in suit as well as whether slave(s) won their freedom. Predominant documents found in freedom suits include petitions, records of suits, depositions, affidavits, wills, among other items. Information found in documents include slave's argument for freedom, acquisition of slaves by slaveowners, slave ancestry, and relationship between slaves and slaveowners.

Brunswick County (Va.) District Court Records, 1789-1809, consist of civil suits and commonwealth causes that were heard in the District Court of Brunswick County. The majority of cases in this record series relate to matters of debt. Documents commonly found in civil suits include declarations or narratios that explain the plaintiff's complaint, executions, affidavits, and depositions. Suits may include exhibits such as wills, plats, deeds, indentures, estate inventories, and business records. Names of slaves are commonly found in the District Court records. Additional types of suits heard by the District Court include land ejectment suits and petitions for freedom made by slaves.

Brunswick County (Va.) Health and Medical Records, 1799-1901, consist of Mental Health Records and Smallpox Epidemic Records.

Buckingham County (Va.) Lists of Tithables, 1764, 1773-1774. Consists of manuscript and photostat images of the list of tithable heads of household in the county for the years 1764, 1773-1774.

Brunswick County (Va.) Minute Books, 1794-1948, along with closely related court records such as order books, record all matters brought before the court when it was in session and may contain important information not found anywhere else. Generally minute books contain brief entries. A locality's loose papers are the raw materials from which this type of book was created. Like order books, a wide variety of information is found in its pages including: appointments of county officers, appointments of guardians and administrators, records of legal disputes heard before the court, and matters related to the fiscal management of the court. Collection includes minute book from the Superior Court of Law, Circuit Court, and County Court.