Caroline County, Virginia was established in 1728 from the upper portions of Essex, King and Queen, and King William counties. Its name honored Caroline of Anspach, consort of King George II. Some further territory from King and Queen County was added in 1742 and 1762. There have been no further boundary changes since then. Adjoining Caroline is Spotsylvania to the northwest, King George on the northeast, Hanover to the southwest, and King William, King and Queen, and Essex to the southeast. The earliest settlers to the region came in the 1650s, attracted by the cheap land and access to the deepwater wharves of the Rappahannock River. Its population increased rapidly, and throughout the eighteenth century, Caroline county was one of the most populated counties in all of Virginia. Like many counties in Virginia during the Civil War, a number of court and official records were burned or lost during the conflict. The irony is that only a complete set of Court Order books have survived. These were not sent to Richmond for "safe-keeping" by Confederate authorities and consequently were not among the great mass of Virginia county archives which went up in flames during the retreat from Richmond in April, 1865.
Ray Campbell
2023, 8"x 11", index, 431 pp.
107-CLB17
