Augusta County Circuit Court Historic Records Online Archive 

The Augusta County Clerk of Court is pleased to announce the creation of an online archival database housing many of Augusta’s historic records. To make more of Augusta County’s significant historic records available in digital form online, the Clerk’s Office developed the new historic record archive portal. The new link is hosted by archive.org, a free online archive service. This new portal will be updated by the Clerk’s Office Historic Records Assistant with records as they are formatted digitally.

Visit the historic records online archive. 

Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index

The Chancery Records Index is a result of archival processing and indexing projects overseen by the Library of Virginia and funded, in part, by the Virginia Circuit Court Records Preservation Program. Each of Virginia's circuit courts created chancery records that contain considerable historical and genealogical information. Because the records rely so heavily on testimony from witnesses, they offer a unique glimpse into the lives of Virginians from the early 18th century through the First World War. Many original court papers have been digitized and can be viewed through the index.  

Did you know?

The predominant record types stored at the Augusta County courthouse include deeds, law cases, criminal cases, land records, wills, and estate inventories that date back to the mid-1700’s. The Augusta County court records are the most voluminous and are one of the longest and most complete continuous collections of court records of any locality in the Commonwealth. They document an unusually large geographic area. For the period 1745 to 1770, the boundaries of Augusta County encompassed most of western Virginia and what became the states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, and Ohio, and parts of present-day Pennsylvania as far north as Pittsburgh. Between 1789 and 1808, Augusta County was the seat of a district court that heard lawsuits that originated in neighboring localities. They remain in the Augusta County courthouse to this day. Taken in totality, the records stored in the Augusta County courthouse are invaluable. They do not just document Augusta County history, but Virginia and the United States history as well.

Volunteering your time can help us preserve our historic records.

As you can see, we have much work to do to conserve and preserve our historic records for generations to come. Volunteer opportunities could include scanning and digitizing records, transcription, and inventory of records. If you have a passion for history and would like to help with the effort, please submit the form below. We appreciate your interest!