Daily AncestorVestry book
A vestry book is the minute book of a parish vestry, recording its meetings, officers, levies, pew rents, poor relief, orphan apprenticeships and processioning.
For colonial Virginia, vestry books are among the earliest and most informative local records. They name officers, people paid to keep the poor, children bound out as apprentices and the men who walked land lines.
Many originals or copies are at the Library of Virginia, and a number have been transcribed and printed. Survival is patchy: some parishes have nothing for whole decades after the Revolution.
As seen in a recordVirginia vestry book, 1700s
To Sarah Kemp for keeping Eliz. Hall a poor woman 6 months, 300 lbs. tobo.
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Vestry book." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/church/vestry-book. Last checked 2026-10-03.