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The parish of St. Peter was established around the time that New Kent County was formed from York County in 1654. "St. Peter's Church still stands (the present edifice was built in 1703), and cost one hundred and forty-six thousand weight of tobacco. The steeple was added to the church twelve years after it was erected. As the place where the Widow Custis worshipped, and where, it is supposed, she was sometimes attended by George Washington, it possesses a peculiar interest." Saint Peter's Parish was the heart of its community, and its records are a rich source of names, personal relationships, and community interactions. These records are arranged chronologically, and include a wide variety of details regarding members: parish officials, parish levies, fees for goods and services, fines imposed, alms given to the needy, orphans and other custody issues, marriages, burials, and more. The original surname plus subject index is a bonus for researchers.

By: NSCD of Virginia, Pub. 1905, Reprinted 2021, 242 pages, Index, ISBN #0-89308-738-6. Considering the fact that New Kent County is a "BURNED" county prior to 1865, makes this book one of only a few sources of information about this county during this colonial period. This BURNED county was formed from York County in 1654 and is the parent county of: Hanover, King William, and King & Queen counties. When the parishes were formed by the General Assembly of Virginia, the Vestries were assigned some of the civil administrative functions and all such civil functions were official in nature and the records of actions taken were recorded in the vestry books. Such records contained in the Vestry book contained among other things such things as: upkeep of bastard children; payment for the upkeep of the ferry; prosecution of fornicators; appointment of road work crews; apprentice young people to others in the parish for training in crafts or other livelihoods; providing clothing, food and shelter for the poor and elderly; burial of the dead and many, many other similar duties.

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