PUBLIC "-//Library of Virginia//TEXT (US::Vi::vi02509::A Guide to the Lancaster County (Va.) Wills, 1700-1921)//EN" "vi02509.xml" A Guide to the Lancaster County (Va.) Wills, 1700-1921 Lancaster County (Va.) Wills, 1700-1921 1050417, 1050425, 1134608, 1134968-1134969, 1135000 Louise Jones Library of Virginia © 2007 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

Conditions of Use

Machine-readable finding aid derived from being created directly into EAD, created by Louise Jones, 14 December 2007 Description is in English 2013-11-21 Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. A Guide to the Lancaster County (Va.) Wills, 1700-1921 A Collection in the Library of Virginia 1050417, 1050425, 1134608, 1134968-1134969, 1135000 Louise Jones

Library of Virginia 2007 Library of Virginia staff Library of Virginia Descriptive Summary The Library of Virginia Lancaster County (Va.) Wills, 1700-1921 1050417, 1050425, 1134608, 1134968-1134969, 1135000 Library of Virginia 2.7 cu. ft. (6 boxes) English Lancaster County (Va.) Circuit Court Administrative Information Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Lancaster County (Va.) Wills, 1700-1921. Local Government Records Collection, Lancaster County (Va.) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Lancaster County (Va.).

Historical Information

Lancaster County was named for the English county. It was formed from Northumberland and York Counties in 1651.

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.

Scope and Content

Lancaster County (Va.) Wills, 1700-1921, 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. Additional record types may be found in this collection such as fiduciary records (inventories and accounts.)

Adjunct Descriptive Data Related Material

Lancaster County (Va.) Court Records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

 Index Terms Corporate Names: Lancaster County (Va.) Circuit Court Subjects: African Americans--History Estates (Law)--Virginia--Lancaster County Land subdivision--Virginia--Lancaster County Slaveholders--Virginia--Lancaster County Slaves--Virginia--Lancaster County Geographical Names: Lancaster County--History Genre and Form Terms: Local government records--Lancaster County Wills--Virginia--Lancaster County