Records Room Road Trips: 2024 Roundup

The previous installment of Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP) Road Trips pertained to my colleague Eddie Woodward’s autumn travel, so it’s fitting that this installment closes out my 2024 travel season, beginning with a few overnights the first week of September, with visits to Charlottesville, Nelson County, and Rockingham County.

I had visited the City of Charlottesville Circuit Court at almost exactly the same time the previous year, and met Clerk Llezelle Dugger and Deputy Clerk David Schmidt. This year, Mr. Schmidt also wanted me to do some reconnaissance regarding pre-1913 materials in their offsite storage facility for potential transfer to the Library of Virginia, so I took copious notes and several photos to share with the Library’s Local Records Program Manager Vince Brooks, who later followed up with him for a deeper dive into that records transfer.

I then spent the remainder of my time in the records room. I regularly find land tax books in various states of disrepair at the localities, and there were a few late-19th- and early-20th-century land books to examine, as well as large, heavy volumes of general indexes to deeds.

Particularly interesting in the 1905 Reassessment of Lands was a broadside glued to the front pastedown listing town lots to be sold at public auction, denoting them as “White” or “Colored.” When this volume is conserved, the broadside will be removed, mended, deacidified, and encapsulated also.

After an overnight in Charlottesville and an early morning run through the neighborhood between Barracks Road and Rugby Road, I drove north on Rt. 29 then headed west at Ruckersville onto Rt. 33 to Greene County Circuit Court in Stanardsville. Clerk Ashby Lamb-Gomez and her staff are always so friendly and helpful. I spent most of my time in the basement where a number of older volumes are housed. A few years ago I had taken photos and notes regarding a small collection of Aircraft Warning Service Records, which are not circuit court records, but relate to another small collection of Greene County materials transferred to the Library of Virginia years ago, which Local Records Archivist Callie Freed wrote a great blog about in 2013. As part of this visit, I was to gather these materials and prepare a transfer form so that I could return the next day and retrieve them after my visit in Rockingham County on my way back to the library. Since then, they have been processed and added to that collection, with the finding aid reflecting that addition.

Although Greene County chancery causes 1838-1886 are digitized and available freely through the Chancery Records Index (CRI), it was interesting to see entries in a small volume titled “Receipt Book for Chancery and other Sundry Papers” that listed when a person (presumably an attorney or judge) “checked out” the chancery cause to take home, and then to return it…or perhaps not return it!

From Stanardsville I continued west on Rt. 33 to Harrisonburg to visit the records room and basement of Rockingham County Circuit Court Clerk Chaz Haywood. Deputy Clerk Megan Pullen serves as the Historic Archives and Law Librarian and has been most helpful during the recent visits. One of her projects has been to oversee the organization of the basement area where land books are housed and to continue to submit land tax books in need of conservation. In so doing, various loose pieces or “shards” of land books had been found and grouped together, and the archivist in me could not help spending some time determining where some of those belonged, whether in volumes already conserved, or volumes for future conservation. Although I still examined several volumes as potential item conservation grant candidates, the process of matching up these puzzle pieces was very satisfying.

Upstairs in the main records room, Megan brought out two 18th-century volumes that may warrant future conservation. Upon examination, and after returning to the Library and reviewing my notes and photos, I believe I need to return again to verify a few mysteries relating to their detached covers. Some cover boards are vellum, and some are calf or leather, and it’s possible they were mixed up and housed incorrectly decades ago.

After my visit, I spent the night in downtown Harrisonburg. The next day, I enjoyed a spectacular dark-early-morning-run around the JMU campus before heading back to the Library by way of Rt. 33 through Stanardsville to retrieve the Aircraft Warning Service records I’d packed up the previous day.

After a week’s hiatus I day-tripped again, west on I-64 then south on Rt. 29 to the records room of Nelson County Circuit Court Clerk Lisa Bryant in Lovingston. Day trips occasionally mean I can also bring along a fellow local records archivist, so Caroline Collins joined me. Caroline was tasked with taking photos and notes regarding an 1853-1868 Free Register housed there, to serve as reconnaissance for Virginia Untold Program Manager Lydia Neuroth. That volume will be treated separately from the CCRP item conservation grants program.

However, I had wanted to locate a “Marriage Register of Free Persons 1865-1877” that was known to have existed and had been microfilmed decades ago, but that I had not located on previous visits. While examining some volumes on a high shelf near the ceiling along one wall, I literally lucked out finding it. The spine was titled “Index to Orders.” My colleagues and I often find that clerks in the 1700s and 1800s used whatever empty volumes they had, or used a volume for more than one purpose, so it is true that one should not judge a book by its cover (or spine).

A few days later I visited the City of Staunton Circuit Court Clerk Staci Falls, and her deputy, Douglas Ciampi. They had various loose records that may be candidates for future reformatting projects, but for the time being, early loose marriage licenses, bonds and consents have the most potential for item conservation and digital access, as they have no HIPAA-related or other restrictions. Last grant cycle, marriage records dating from 1802-1871 were approved for conservation. This year I noted that the locality’s early Black marriage records were filed separately through at least 1927. So I targeted the earliest batches, dating 1865 to 1885. In addition to the formality of the marriage license, often a parent or guardian gave consent or verified the age of a bride or groom, or either party explained their own age or condition. These can provide information that might not be found elsewhere easily. For example:

I, Mary Jane Williams, do solemnly swear, that about the year 1857, I was married, as Slaves were then married, to ^one^ Wyatt Williams, –that in the year 1862 or 1863, the said Wyatt Williams deserted me, and his Country, and went ^away^ with the Federal Army; –that for more than Seven Years last past, I have known nothing of the said Wyatt Williams, nor has he in any way Contributed to my support. So help me God.  Mary Jane Williams    herXmark   [3/3/1877]

And

I, Andrew Robertson do solemnly swear, that my half sister, Eliza Sommerville, whose name is mentioned in the within License was twenty one years of age before the first day of July 1877. So help me God. Andrew Robertson    hisXmark  [7/1/1877]

I closed out my September travel with a 10-minute walk east of the Library of Virginia to visit the records room of Richmond City Circuit Court Clerk Ed Jewett. Because there were a number of heavy, oversized, and awkwardly housed plat books that I knew I needed to examine, CCRP colleague Eddie Woodward accompanied me, as he mentioned in a previous post. We also examined a few volumes in another area, and an 1861-1865 deed book containing some torn and detached hand-colored plats, which could be mended and encapsulated in the future. All told, we examined about 20 items, with enough condition reports for the next few grant cycles, and we certainly got our heavy lifting in for the day!

Sometimes localities that have had their historic items conserved, or whose records are in good condition and do not warrant conservation, can still benefit from item conservation grants, if there are records that have been transferred to the Library of Virginia that warrant conservation. Henrico County is one such locality. Much has been written in the Library’s UncommonWealth blog regarding Henrico County records, and my examination of a few items housed here did not disappoint. In a previous blog, I had noted the usefulness of the detailed indexes of early Henrico County record books. As I examined an 1816-1819 Minute Book, the index that was tucked into it separately contained a variety of interesting references.

In another instance, a cellulose acetate laminated volume labeled “Proceedings of Commissioners Respecting the Records of Henrico Court Destroyed by the British (Deeds, Wills, Etc.) 1774-1782,” was a treat. Clerk Heidi Barshinger phoned me recently about it in an effort to understand its contents. Henrico County is considered a “lost records” locality, as per the following historical note which is in all Library of Virginia Henrico County finding aids relating to records for that period:

All county court records prior to 1655 and almost all prior to 1677 are missing. Many records were destroyed by British troops during the Revolutionary War. Post-Revolutionary War county court records exist. Almost all circuit superior court of law and chancery and circuit court records were destroyed by fire during the evacuation of Richmond on 3 April 1865 in the Civil War. The county’s circuit court held its sessions at the state courthouse in Richmond.

Thus, this volume references losses of documents belonging to individuals, and to original loose records possibly at the courthouse that had been recorded in a volume prior to the Revolutionary War, but then destroyed by the British.

On a cold, rainy Thursday morning in November I drove west from the Library of Virginia to the office of Alleghany County Circuit Court Clerk Debra Byer in Covington. Many records housed there have been conserved. For the last few grant cycles, Ms. Byer has focused on conserving and/or reformatting her earliest marriage licenses, and now is at a point where she could reformat those that remain, going forward. So on this visit, I identified three volumes of pre-1860s land books containing varying date spans which could be conserved and bound chronologically. A small batch of loose records regarding Civil War-era county claims are also potential item conservation grant candidates. The claims range from blankets, livestock, and food, to enslaved people.

After leaving Covington I drove in rain and sleet to Lexington for the night, then drove the next morning to visit the records room of City of Lynchburg Circuit Court Clerk Kenneth Todd Swisher. I examined a few volumes needing attention, such as Deed Book 61 1900-1901, which is a candidate for rebinding since its text block is in good condition. However, conserving marriage licenses has been an ongoing project, so I examined several years’ worth on this visit. As is typical of marriage licenses and their supporting documents, the handwritten statements of some individuals make the task of examining and counting them interesting and worthwhile, especially the letter of consent from a mother to her future son-in-law:

My dear friend Mr. Green                                                       July 1th 67

In ancer to your letter that came to hand the 30 of June it made me sad to think of giving up my last daughter my dear Maria(.) if you an Maria is satisfied I am willing for you an her to marry (.) I have heard George McCary speak highly of you before this so I have nothing to say but leave it with you an Maria fondly that the blessing of God may rest upon you an my dear child(,) that you an her may live long on the earth an then A home in heaven(,) so I am willing for you an Maria to marry(.) May God bless you is my prayer so farewell for this time(.)

Witness Geo M. McCary

S.L. McCary

A day trip to the records room of Hanover County Circuit Court Clerk Frank Hargrove closed out my locality visits for 2024. Like a few other longtime CCRP grant participant localities, many of the records housed there have been conserved. In addition to examining previously lower-priority volumes, I had an opportunity to examine several unique hand-colored plats and drawings, and other flat-filed materials which did not fall within the scope of the CCRP item conservation grant. Particularly interesting among some records that are potential grant candidates was a volume of “Delinquent Lands Not Purchased by the Commonwealth, 1876-1896.” While its pages record the owners’ names and acreages of said delinquent lands, several pages contain letters hastily pasted in, written by individuals who had paid for the land in question and were affirmed that previous owners had since reimbursed them, thus “redeeming” the land. Removing, flattening, mending, and retaining these loose items will be part of the challenge of conserving this volume.

And herein ended this CCRP consulting archivist’s 2024 locality travels. It was a busy year, and I’ll look forward to visits in 2025. Until then….safe travels!