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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.

Trial of two men for transporting persons out of the colony, February 27, 1770.
Juries in these trials represented a cross section of the county's male population. The law was designed to prevent debtors from fleeing to escape their creditors.

Trial of Cato, February 28, 1770.
The name Cato, from an ancient Roman orator, indicates that masters often sarcastically named slaves for ancient Greek and Roman statesmen and mythological figures. Caesar, Brutus, Bacchus were common. The unusual form of this trial stems from the nature of the crime: salvage was a crime against the king's property. Although found innocent, Cato was assessed the court costs, and his master John Custis became his security for their payment. The justices assessed a further fifty pound security perhaps because Cato had treated justice Thomas Parramore with disrespect.

Apprentice complaint, April 24, 1770.
While servants often sued their masters in court for ill treatment (in this case for failing to supply his clothing) or even for freedom, slaves of course lacked any official standing and only in rare cases (upon testimony of a white man) could they bring action against their masters.

Masters' complaints against their servants, September 27, 1770.
To "gainsay" was to deny. By "not gainsaying," Judith Welch admitted that she was guilty of bearing an illegitimate child and was sentenced to an extra year of service.

Examination of a white man for killing a slave, November 15, 1770.
This case includes testimony, unusual for proceedings before the Revolution, that provides grisly details of the horrid murder. The defendant's alleged insanity would not have served as a defense.