Richmond County wills are extant only from 1699, but the compiler of this useful work has bridged the gap by substituting information from Order Books, 1692-1699, thereby extending the possibilities for genealogical enquiry. The entries, which consist mainly of abstracts of wills and inventories and refer to about 8,000 persons, are arranged throughout the work in chronological order.

Old Rappahannock County, originally embracing lands lying on both sides of the Rappahannock River, was organized in 1656 and was formerly a part of Lancaster County. In 1692 Old Rappahannock was abolished. The portion lying south of the river was taken to form Essex County, and the area north of the river formed the county of Richmond. Records of Old Rappahannock and Essex counties, on which this work is founded, date from 1655 and are on file at the courthouse in Tappahannock, Essex County. Some marriage bonds of the period 1804 to 1853 were previously copied into the marriage register, instituted as the official catalogue of marriages. In compiling this work, Mrs. Wilkerson used not only the marriage bonds found in the register and the marriage register itself, but also inferential marriage proofs derived from wills, deeds, and court order books. The result is a work of astonishing magnitude; the period covered runs to nearly 250 years and the number of persons namedΓ including brides, grooms, parents, and guardiansΓ touches 10,000. The text is arranged alphabetically throughout and includes the date of the marriage record and the source.

Information taken from order books, deed books, will books, marriage bonds, several published books, and other miscellaneous records.

BY: George Harrison Stafford King, Pub. 1966, reprinted 2021, 236 pages, Index, soft cover, ISBN #0-89308-580-4 Richmond County was created in 1692 from Old Rappahannock County. This is a very important research tool when working in Richmond County as it contains: Births, Baptisms, Marriages and Death records as recorded in their original order with a complete index.

This work contains a list of 7,000 marriages and boasts an additional 16,000 index entries. It contains all marriage references--including licenses, bonds, mentions in wills, deeds, order books, and Bible records--that the author could locate in both published and unpublished sources, and because it is so well sourced it offers far more than a simple list of marriages.

From ther Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the William and Mary College Quarterly, and Tyler's Quarterly.