Greene County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Greene County was named for Nathanael Greene, commanding general of the Continental army in the South during part of the Revolutionary War. It was formed from Orange County in 1838. The county seat is Stanardsville.

Greene County (Va.) Ground Observer Corps was part of the Air Warning System established by the War Department during World II as a defense against a German air attack. The Air Warning system set up observation posts along the East Coast manned by civilian volunteers who were trained to identify enemy airplanes. The observers were ordered to report by telephone all planes they spotted to the Army Filter Center. Many observation posts, including the Greene County post, were located at American Legion Posts. Each post was to have a chief observer, two assistant chief observers, and as many observers as he or she needed or could get so the post could be manned on a continuous 24 hour basis.

From the guide to the Greene County (Va.) Ground Observer Corps Post 128-G Log Book, 1943, (The Library of Virginia)

Greene County was named for Nathanael Greene, American commander of the Army of the South in the Revolutionary War. It was formed from Orange County in 1838.

Laws requiring the recording of births and deaths in Virginia were enacted as early as 1632, when a law directed ministers or churchwardens in each parish to present a "register of all burialls, christenings, and marriages" yearly at the June meeting of the court. A similar act passed in 1659 stated that "enquiries are often made for persons imported into the collonie, of whose death no positive certificate can be granted for want of registers." Few records survive from these early decades.

In 1713, the General Assembly noted that earlier acts had "for a long time been disused" and once again directed the recording of births and deaths by the minister or clerk of each parish. A return made the same year noted that the list of births and deaths was not complete since many parishes failed to make returns "for tis a thing so new to the people that neither they care to Register their Births and Burials, nor are the Parish Clerks yet brought into a regular method of transmitting them."

The recording of vital statistics continued to be an ecclesiastical function throughout the colonial period. With the disestablishment of the Anglican church after the American Revolution and the rise of other religious denominations, the record-keeping process for vital statistics fell more and more to the individual family. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, medical science began to recognize the advantages of accurate birth and mortality information in controlling and treating communicable diseases. Pressure from local and national health organizations and medical professionals resulted in the passage of vital statistics registration laws. Virginia was one of the earliest states to pass such a law.

A law requiring the systematic statewide recording of births and deaths was passed by the General Assembly on April 11 1853. Every commissioner of revenue registered births and deaths in his district annually, at the same time personal property subject to taxation was ascertained. The commissioner recorded births and deaths that had occurred prior to 31 December of the preceding year and returned the record to the clerk of court by 1 June. Information was obtained from heads of family, physicians, surgeons, or coroners. The law imposed penalties for failing to furnish or collect the information.

The clerk of court in each locality entered the information supplied by the commissioner into registers and prepared an accompanying alphabetical index. A copy of each register was forwarded to the Auditor of Public Accounts. The law went into effect on 1 July 1853, and continued until 1896, when an economy-conscious legislature repealed the recording provisions.

There was no statewide recording of births and deaths between 1896 and 1912. Several metropolitan areas continued to keep records of births and deaths for all or part of the period between 1896 and 1912. Systematic statewide registration began again in June 1912.

From the guide to the Greene County (Va.) Birth Records, 1912-1917, (The Library of Virginia)

Greene County was named for Nathanael Greene, American commander of the Army of the South in the Revolutionary War. It was formed from Orange County in 1838.

From the guide to the Greene County (Va.) Tax Receipt and Memorandum Books of Dr. Joseph Smith, 1868-1874, (The Library of Virginia)

Greene County was named for Nathanael Greene, American commander of the Army of the South in the Revolutionary War. It was formed from Orange County in 1838.

From the guide to the Greene County (Va.), 1756-1979 (bulk 1901-1979), (The Library of Virginia)

On February 21, 1818, the Virginia legislature passed a school bill which appropriated $45,000 annually from the Literary Fund for the education of poor children. (The Literary Fund was established in 1810 with passage of a bill to appropriate "certain escheats, confiscated, and forfeited lands" for the "encouragement of learning.") Under the provisions of the 1818 School Act, each county court was required to appoint five to fifteen commissioners to establish and/or administer schools for children of the poor. A more comprehensive, racially segregated public school system was established by the legislature in 1870. The system was racially segregated until the mid-twentieth century.

Greene County was named for Nathanael Greene, American commander of the Army of the South in the Revolutionary War. It was formed from Orange County in 1838.

The origins of the Orange Humane Society can be traced to an act passed by the Virginia legislature January 19, 1811, "appropriating the money arising from the sale of the glebe lands." On April 6, 1839, the legislature passed an act to appoint a board of commissioners with representatives from the Albemarle, Greene, and Orange county courts. The origins of the Orange Humane Society can be traced to an act passed by the Virginia legislature January 19, 1811, "appropriating the money arising from the sale of the glebe lands." On April 6, 1839, the legislature passed an act to appoint a board of commissioners with representatives from the Albemarle, Greene, and Orange county courts to appoint the Society's trustees.

From the guide to the Greene County (Va.) Board of School Commissioners Reports, 1839-1860, (The Library of Virginia)

Greene County was named for Nathanael Greene, commanding general of the Continental army in the South during part of the Revolutionary War. It was formed from Orange County in 1838. The county seat is Stanardsville.

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 Greene County (Va.) Coroners' Inquisitions, 1850-1945, (The Library of Virginia)