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Official Records - County Records - Richmond County

Richmond County, on Virginia's Northern Neck between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, was formed in 1692. A tidewater county, it was home to a large slave population, amounting to 57 percent of the total in the 1790 census. Richmond County's more prominent residents included Virginia leaders such as Landon Carter of Sabine Hall and John Tayloe of Mt. Airy. Excerpts from its order books below show the activities of Richmond's justices as well as their relations with neighboring counties such as Essex across the Rappahannock River.

A patroller complains against two runaways, March 1775.
Some runaways resisted capture as this complaint of slave patroller Zechariah White against Kitt and Thomas shows. Spring of 1775 was a period of growing tension between Governor Dunmore and Virginia's leaders. Slaves may also have exhibited unrest.

A case of Arther "inciting a Runaway Slave," April 1775.
Another example of slave unrest in a period of growing tension between governor and Virginians. Arther's master John Tayloe was one of the leading citizens of Richmond County.

A "New Light" preacher accused of "a breach of good behaviour," October 1775.
The Anglican gentry viewed itinerant, unlicensed revivalist preachers as threats to the stability of the colony.