Mutual Assurance Society Policies for Richmond City and Henrico County, 1796–1867

Overview

This is a collection of policies (declarations) and revaluations issued by the Mutual Assurance Society between 1796 and 1867 for buildings in Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. Policies include the name of the insured, place of residence, location of the insured property (with references to contiguous property), the name of the occupant of the property, a description and estimated value of each structure insured, and the date and signature of the insured. An appraiser's statement regarding the value of the property is also included. Revaluations contain the same information as declarations and give the prior declaration number. 

At the bottom of each policy appears a sketch of the insured property. In most instances the sketches are rough outlines of the buildings as if viewed from above, with roofing material and distance from streets and from other structures noted. Revaluations of insured property were required every seven years (or whenever additions were made to a policy), so succeeding declarations often show additions to the original building, new outbuildings, and new uses for old buildings. 

Search Tips

• Entries may be searched by name (owner/occupant), year policy was issued, building location (Richmond or Henrico County), and policy number.
• Using quotes around phrases may return fewer, more relevant results.
• Boolean operators OR, NOT and AND written in ALL CAPS may be used.  By default, all search terms will be combined with the AND operator. To exclude terms, use the NOT operator before a term.
• Wildcards can be used to find variant spellings or words. The question mark (?) will match any one character. For instance, "Ols?n" will match "Olsen" or "Olson". The asterisk (*) will match any number of characters (including zero). "Ch*ter" will match "Charter", "Character", and "Chapter", and "Temp*" will match "Temptation", "Temple", and "Temporary".

Archival Collections

• Mutual Assurance Society Against Fire on Buildings of the State of Virginia. Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia Index [photocopy]. Richmond: Library of Virginia, 2002. This index is for policies issued from 1796 to 1821. It is arranged alphabetically by surname and is available on microfilm (Miscellaneous Reel 433) or as a bound volume. HG9780.M78 M88 1900.
• Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia. Declarations and Revaluations of Assurance, 1796–1966. Acc. 30177, Business records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Available on microfilm, Miscellaneous Reels 4121–4143. See Finding Aid.
• Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission. Mutual Assurance Society Policy Index, 1796–1867. Acc. 30790. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Available on microfilm, Miscellaneous Reels 776–780. The index is arranged alphabetically by city and county, plantations, estates, taverns, hotels, and other buildings.

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