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Official Records - County Records - Accomack County

Accomack County is the northernmost county on Virginia's Eastern Shore. As one of the original counties established in 1634, Accomack has a large collection of records dating back to the earliest years of local government in colonial Virginia. In the first federal census of 1790, Accomack contained 4,262 slaves, or 31 percent of the total population of 13,959. The county also contained a large population of free blacks, and interactions between black and white Virginians in Accomack reveal much of the complexity of Virginia's society. You may read excerpts from county order books for the following years.

A person accused of interfering with the sheriff, February 1764.
William Parramore fined for hindering the sheriff in arresting a slave, February 2, 1764.

Indictment of a white person for dealing with a slave, February 29, 1764.
Slaves were generally prohibited from engaging in business without their masters' permission, but many nontheless did. Accomack County records indicate that interracial commerce was fairly common. Interestingly, the defendant did not argue his innocence, rather that the charge should have been brought by action or petition rather than the grand jury.

Joshua accused of disturbing the peace, February 29, 1764.
Crimes against the peace were unspecified disturbances.

Littleton Read, the man accused of trading with a slave, accused of stealing corn, February 29, 1764.
Read was probably caught in possession of the corn and made defense that he had received it from a slave.

A complaint against a female tavern-keeper for selling liquor to blacks and keeping a "house of ill fame," August 29, 1764.
There were strict controls over selling alcohol to slaves, but there were numerous instances of slaves' using alcohol in the runaway advertisements. This was only the first of a series of actions involving Margaret Bayley (Bailey) who would have repeated appearances before the justices.

Complaints about Straton Burton, August, 1764.
It seems that while Margaret Bayley enticed Burton's wife away, Burton was accused of stealing Elijah Bayley's horse.

A woman suspected of murdering a slave, October, 1764.
Abigail Briggs, described as a "free Indian" examined for murdering Dick, a black slave, October 30, 1764.

Trial of Obadiah, December, 1764.
Captured after allegedly stealing a sheep, Obadiah, alias Diah, broke jail, December 1764.