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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.

Trail of Isaac
Trail of Isaac, property of Isaac Smith of Onancock, April 13, 1780. Isaac was part of a band of Tories and runaways who attacked Virginia planters during the war years. See Maryland Gazette, July 27, 1779.

Trials of other members of the group
Trials of other members of the group, April 1780.

Trial of Thom Hill
Trial of Thom Hill, sentenced to be hanged, and valued at £3500, an extremely high sum owing to the inflation sparked by the war. As noted Hill was pardoned.

Trial of Shadrack
Trial of Shadrack, April 1780: the case was adjourned until the following day.

Trial of Shadrack continued
Felony cases required the unanimous verdict of the justices.

Trial of Joe
Trial of Joe. In this case, the value of the stolen goods did not amount to the minimum for a felony charge, so Joe was burnt on the hand and given thirty-nine lashes.

Trial of Stephen Mister, May 1780.
Mister and James Carmine were leaders of a mixed group of loyalists and runaways who operated on the Eastern Shore during the war.

Court held for public claims
Court held for public claims, May 1780 indicates the degree of crime and unrest created by the war.