Warwick County, which merged with the city of Warwick in 1952, was one of Virginia’s original shires upon its creation in 1634. (The name changed from Warwick River County to simply Warwick County in 1642-1643.) Transcriber Richard Dunn has previously compiled three volumes on the colonial records of this county (a large base volume, a 32-page supplement, and an earlier edition of this book). This second edition of Warwick County, Virginia, Court Records in Transcription covers eight more years than the first edition.

For this compilation Mr. Dunn examined original records at the Library of Virginia and two special collections at the Swem Library of the College of William and Mary, namely, the Virginia Counties collection and the Southall Papers. Arranged by repository and thereunder chronologically, the entries derive from court records, deeds, wills, writs, and a variety of miscellaneous records.

While the contents of the transcribed records vary, the wills and deeds, in particular, establish relationships between family members and, therefore, are of great value to Warwick County descendants. In the aggregate, moreover, these transcriptions identify thousands of additional residents of Warwick County between 1782 and 1851–with many of their antecedents. Thanks to Richard Dunn’s indefatigable efforts–and the complete name index at the back of the volume–these heretofore inaccessible ancestors have not only been rescued from oblivion but are now available to us at the turn of a page.