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Official Records - County Records - Augusta County

Augusta County, west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was formed in 1738 from Orange County. Little tobacco was grown there, and the county had fewer slaves than Virginia’s more eastern counties: a 14 percent slave population by the 1790 census. But as the records make very clear, Augusta had a very large servant population, many of whom appear in the order books.

Child abuse
Child abuse, January 21, 1774.

Trial of William Givans
Trial of William Givans for murder of his servant, March 15, 1774; and a convict servant adjudged to be eleven years old.

Runaway servants
Runaway servants and a servant protesting against her master, May 17, 1774.

The Beard brothers are bound out
The Beard brothers are bound out, May 18, 1774. In August 1773, they had been apprenticed to another man, because their father could not provide for them.

David Jennings declared free
David Jennings declared free, August 16, 1774.

Runaway servant
Runaway servant, November 15, 1774

Runaway servant and a bastard bound out
Runaway servant and a bastard bound out, November 16, 1774.