New Kent County Probate Records

Captain John Smith visited this area in 1607 and since that time many Europeans began immigrating into Virginia. New Kent County once formed part of Charles River County, one of the eight shires into which the colony of Virginia was divided in 1634. It originally included part or all of the present day counties of King & Queen, King William, Spotsylvania and Hanover, the modern day borders of New Kent took place in 1766 through exchange of land with James City County. Actually, researchers will see the mention of "Brick House". This was the first town and this was the seat of the first government. The village of New Kent appears to have been the County seat since 1691. Most of the County's colonial records were destroyed in the burning of the office of the clerk in 1787, and later records were destroyed in the burning of Richmond during the Civil War. Providence Forge was one of the earliest settlements and the site of a colonial forge that was destroyed by British Colonel Banister Tarleton during the Revolutionary War. Another site, St. Peter's Church at Talleysville was established in 1678 and built in 1701. It was enlarged in 1740 by the addition of a tower and vestry room and in the 1760s by the building of a north wing, believed to have been torn down in 1854. Martha Dandridge Custis who lived in White House on the Pamunkey, worshiped here at the time of her marriage to George Washington. The road leading from Richmond to Williamsburg is one oldest roads in America.