Goochland County (Va.). Circuit Court.

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Judgment, Samuel N. Cragwall vs. Josiah Hatcher, etc., 1828 Jun, (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Fiduciary Records, 1728-1899, (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

The separate office of coroner appeared in Virginia about 1660. The judicial duty of the office is to hold inquisitions in cases when persons meet sudden, violent, unnatural or suspicious death, or death without medical attendance. The coroner would summon a jury to assist him in determining cause of death. Prior to November 1877, the jurors numbered twelve. Between November 1877 and March 1926, the jurors numbered six. The jury viewed the body of the deceased and heard the testimony of witnesses. The coroner was required to write down witness testimony. After seeing and hearing the evidence, the jury delivered in writing to the coroner their conclusion concerning cause of death referred to as the inquisition. After March 1926, only the coroner determined cause of death. He could require physicians to assist him with determing cause of death. If a criminal act was determined to be the cause of death, the coroner was to deliver the guilty person to the sheriff and the coroners' inquests would be used as evidence in the criminal trial.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Coroners' Inquisitions, 1787-1947, (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

The 1870 Virginia Constitution required that each county in the state be divided into no less than three townships (see Article VII, section 2). Based on the New England administrative organization of a county, each township would elect the administration officials for the offices of supervisor, clerk, assessor, collector, commissioner of the roads, overseer of the poor, justice of the peace, and constable. The supervisors of each township would comprise the board of supervisors for the county, and would be responsible for auditing the county accounts, examining the assessors' books, regulating property valuation, and fixing the county levies. The Acts of Assembly provided that each township be divided into school and electoral districts (see Acts of Assembly 1869-1870, Chapter 39). A constitutional amendment in 1874 changed the townships into magisterial districts and each district elected one supervisor, three justices of the peace, one constable, and one overseer of the poor. The supervisors of the districts made up the county board of supervisors whose duties were identical as those set out in 1870. The published Acts of Assembly appended a list of township names by county following the acts for every year that townships existed in Virginia.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Lickinghole Township Board Proceedings, 1871-1875, (The Library of Virginia)

In June 1781, the British army under the command of General Charles Cornwallis entered Goochland County as part of a campaign to capture the Virginia General Assembly and Governor Thomas Jefferson. During their march through Goochland County, British troops confiscated or destroyed private property including Thomas Jefferson's Elk Hill estate.

The claims were made in response to an act passed by the General Assembly in May 1782 (chap. 10) to ascertain the losses and injuries sustained from the depradations of the enemy within the commonwealth. The act required counties to hold special courts or to appoint members of the court to collect information and proof of the various losses and injuries sustained during the Revolutionary War. The proceedings or reports and the supporting documentation were to be submitted to the governor and council, to be laid before the next general assembly.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) citizens' claims of property lost to British army, 1782, (The Library of Virginia)

Chancery Causes are cases of equity. According to Black's Law Dictionary they are "administered according to fairness as contrasted with the strictly formulated rules of common law." A judge, not a jury, determines the outcome of the case.

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1913-1924, (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

The Virginia legislature passed an act on 27 February 1866 to legalize the marriages of former slaves who had been cohabiting as of that date. See Virginia Acts of Assembly, 1866-1867, Chapter 18, An act to amend and re-enact the 14th section of chapter 108 of the Code of Virginia for 1860, in regard to registers of marriage; and to legalize the marriages of colored persons now cohabiting as husband and wife.

The federal Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands directed the Assistant Superintendents of the states to order the county clerks to make a registry of such cohabiting couples. See Circular No. 11, dated 19 March 1866, in Orders, Circulars, Circular Letters, and Letters of Instruction, vol. 2 (1866). Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Virginia, 1865-1869. Miscellaneous reel 3880, Library of Virginia. National Archives microfilm M1048 (reel 41), Record Group 105.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting, 1866, (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

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.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Wills, 1731-1919 (bulk 1788-1919), (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Court Records, 1768-1895; 1941-1942, undated, (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Various Loose Free Negro and Slave Records, 1813-1844, (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was formed in 1728 from Henrico County.

The Goochland County (Va.) Judgments described in this collection were created by the following courts: County Court, Superior Court of Law, Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery, and Circuit Court.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Judgments, 1728-1912, (The Library of Virginia)

Chancery Causes are cases of equity. According to Black's Law Dictionary they are "administered according to fairness as contrasted with the strictly formulated rules of common law." A judge, not a jury, determines the outcome of the case.

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1731-1912 (bulk 1785-1912), (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was formed from Henrico County in 1728. The county was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749.

Until 1780, marriages could be performed only by ministers of the Established Church, who were required by law to record marriages in the parish register. In 1780, dissenting ministers (only four per county from each sect) were permitted to perform marriage ceremonies. In order to have a record of all marriages, ministers were required to sign a certificate to be filed with the county clerk. Initially, ministers sent marriage certificates to the clerk every three months. Some ministers adopted a custom of making collected returns--a list of marriages performed within a period of time such as a year or several years. Beginning in 1784, marriage certificates were returned annually. The law was rarely enforced, and ministers' returns were sometimes late, incorrect, incomplete and in many instances, not made at all. County clerks compiled a register of marriages based, in part, on ministers' returns.

The original minsters' returns, from which this volume was compiled, were created by the Couty Court.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Ministers' Returns, 1794-1853, (The Library of Virginia)

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

These records were replevined by the Library of Virginia following the trial entitled Commonwealth of Virginia vs. Larry I. Vass heard in Henrico County Circuit Court in November 1972.

From the guide to the Goochland County (Va.) Court Records, 1824-1879, (The Library of Virginia)