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Official Records - County Records - Essex County
Essex County--Founded on the south side of the Rappahannock River in 1692, by the eighteenth century Essex County was one of the established Tidewater counties, its economy fully bound to tobacco and the number of slaves relatively high. In the 1790 census, of the total population of 9,122, 5,440, or 60 percent, were slaves. The county justices met at the town of Hobb's Hole, which today is called Tappahannock, and its prominent men included merchant-planter Archibald Ritchie, and Robert Beverley. Across the Rappahannock was Richmond County, whose planters, among them John Tayloe and Landon Carter, joined with those of Essex in family and business relationships.
Records for 1769
Trial of another of William Porter's slaves
Trial of another of William Porter's slaves, Essex, April 1769. Porter had petitioned to have his slave Jack castrated and advertised for Tom in January and February 1768, and was one of three subscribers to an ad for two English convict servants and one mulatto servant who ran away in August 1768.
Grand Jury presentments
Grand Jury presentments, May 15, 1769. Note in particular the types of moral transgressions that the court concerned itself with. James Emerson, son of the deceased jailer, was named for selling liquor without a license and not attending church.
Public claims
Public claims, October 17, 1769: John Gray certified for taking up a runaway.
Trial of Harry
Trial of Harry, property of Robert Burwell, November 15, 1769. Burwell, of York County, advertised for runaway Jack Dismal in 1773 (Ad 1 and Ad 2) Harry, tried in Essex, was probably a runaway.
Trial of Betty
Trial of Betty, property of Meriwether Smith, for murder, December 1769. Smith was allowed eighty pounds for her certified by the General Assembly: see McIlwaine, ed., Journals of the House of Burgesses, 22 June 1770, p. 91.
Slave Minnus ordered whipped
Slave Minnus ordered whipped for stealing geese and turkeys, Dec. 1769.
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