Since records of the Petersburg District Court of Law (aka Superior
Court), 1789-1808, are not found in online or published inventories,
here is a possible explanation:
Laws of Virginia, December 1807:
"15. Be it further enacted, That all judgments rendered in the district
courts before the first of January next, which shall, on that day, be
wholly or in part unexecuted, shall be executed by the respective
superior courts of those counties in which the same shall have been
rendered ..."
"19. Be it further enacted, That the town and borough court of
Petersburg shall be under the jurisdiction of the superior court of
Dinwiddie, ..." [Shepherd's Continuation of Hening's Statutes,3:360]
Current cases and their paperwork were to be delivered to the clerk of
the new superior court. It seems likely that all previous records were
transferred at the same time. Therefore, the records in question
probably ended up at the Dinwiddie Courthouse. Dinwiddie's pre-1865
court records are extremely meagre. The only Dinwiddie court record
extant for the period 1789-1808 is a County Court Order Book, 1789-91,
which does not concern the Superior Court. [Some abstracts from it
appear in Virgina Genealogical Society Quarterly (1965-66) and in
Southside Virginian (1985).]
Unless by some miracle the District Court records have found another
home, it is likely that they have the same fate as Dinwiddie's other
missing records.
Dinwiddie: created in 1752, county court records prior to 1833 were
destroyed in 1865. One plat book, one order book, and one judgment book
survive. [http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/va22_burnedco.htm]
Donald L. Wilson, Virginiana Librarian,
Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center
for Genealogy and Local History (RELIC),
Prince William Public Library System,
Bull Run Regional Library,
8051 Ashton Avenue, Manassas, VA 20110-2892
703-792-4540 www.pwcgov.org/library/relic
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Nicholls
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 2:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Petersburg District Court records
I am looking for Petersburg District, not Hustings Court records, before
the District court was abolished ca 1808. I can not find any evidence of
them still existing. Is this correct?--Mick Nicholls
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