Coroners’ inquisitions document investigations into deaths that took place in a sudden, violent, unnatural or suspicious manner or without medical attendance. This digital collection consists of a selection of coroners’ inquisitions found in the Library of Virginia’s collections.
Causes of death found in these records include homicide (including racial and domestic violence), infanticide, suicide, exposure to elements, drownings, alcohol-related deaths, accidental injuries, medical conditions, and natural causes (commonly referred to in the nineteenth century as "visitation by God”).
The Library of Virginia has coroners’ inquisitions from the colonial period until 1950; however, our holdings for individual counties and cities rarely encompass this full time range. For a list of dates and localities included in the Coroners’ Inquisitions Digital Collection, visit the Digital Availability page.
Documents commonly found in coroners' inquisitions:
Inquisition or Inquest
The official ruling on the cause of death determined by the coroner.
Depositions
Testimony of witnesses interviewed by the coroner, coroner's jury members, or other local government officials.
Summons
Orders from the court the call upon citizens to report to serve for the coroner jury
Additional documents often included as supporting evidence in the inquisition:
Exhibits (letters, drawings, photographs, items found with the body, etc.)
Autopsies
Death certificates
Coroners’ inquisitions typically include the name of the coroner, names of the jurors, name and age of the deceased (if known), sex and race of the deceased, and when, how, and by what means the deceased came to their death.
Before 1865, inquests state if the deceased person was enslaved (if known). Inquests generally include the enslaver’s name and place of residence. If a coroner knew the deceased person to be a free Black or Multiracial person, the inquest generally describes them as a “free Negro,” a “person of color,” or a “mulatto.”
After 1865, coroners did not consistently state the deceased’s race. The deceased’s race, sex, and often age was more consistently noted starting in the late 1920s. Inclusion of this information became standard by the 1940s.
Depositions may list the name of the deponent (witness), age, residence, profession, relation to the deceased, and their account of the circumstances that led to the death of the deceased.
For more information about the creation of these records, see Duties of the Coroner and Coroner's Jury.
Select a cause or causes of death from the list found under Subject. See Search Causes of Death for more information about the categories and uses of this filter.
Select one or more county or city listed under Coverage. Filters only display the top 25 results. If a locality does not display as a filter, try including your desired locality as an additional search term. Visit Digital Availability to learn more about localities available through the digital collection.
Enter desired date range into the From and To text fields located under Publication Date, then click Refine.
To explore an item, you can go directly to the digitized record by clicking on the Available Online link. Before viewing the record, you will see a content warning advising you on the potentially harmful contents of the material.
You can choose to view the record details by clicking on the title. In the record view, you can find a link to the finding aid, which provides a more detailed description of coroners' inquisitions available for the locality at the Library of Virginia.
You can also use the hyperlinked causes of death (found under the Subject heading) to find related inquests.
To make records searchable by cause of death, the archivist assigned standardized cause of death terms (up to five terms). These terms function as tags or subject headings. Clicking on a term in the Library Catalog view will return all coroners’ inquisitions associated with that cause of death.
| Term | General Explanation of Use |
|---|---|
| Accidental | The act that caused the death was accidental—perhaps accidentally caused by the actions of the deceased or the result of the actions of another individual. |
| Alcohol | Consumption of alcohol is a major contributor to death of the deceased. |
| Animal predation | An animal is a presumed or known cause of death. |
| Drowning | Cause of death was drowning, but other factors could have contributed to the drowning (i.e. alcohol; medical condition). |
| Exposure | A primary cause of death was exposure to elements (i.e. extreme cold, heat, or snow). |
| Homicide | An individual is described as causing the death, even if the death was accidental. |
| Inconclusive | Used if the coroner determined no definitive cause. May also be used if a cause is not indicated at all in the inquisition. |
| Infanticide | Even if the explicit cause is not known, the action of a parent or other individual resulted in the death of a young child. |
| Injuries | Acts of violence or force are the cause of death, but intentionality is not specified or is unknown to the coroner and deponents. |
| Medical condition | Cause of death is the result of a medical condition (i.e. heart attack, hemorrhage, apoplexy). This may include disease, mental health struggles, and other factors that have a medical diagnosis. |
| Mistreatment | Death caused by physical abuse, neglect, or intentional malnourishment. |
| Natural causes | Cause of death is determined to be by a natural action of the body, not by a disease or other identified malfunction of the normal operations of the body. |
| Suicide | Cause of death was determined to be the result of intentional actions of the deceased. |
It should not be surprising that much of the material in this collection contains graphic depictions of death, given that the purpose of the inquisition was to determine cause of death.
The reports communicating these causes of death can be emotional to read, and the context surrounding the deaths can be even more affecting. Some of these records contain descriptions of violence against children and partner abuse, as well as racial violence, self-harm, and overdose deaths. Additionally, due to the historical nature of records, material may contain outdated and harmful language, particularly regarding race and ethnicity. We recommend researchers take care when engaging with these records.
Before viewing a coroner’s inquisition in the digital collection, you will see a box appear with a content warning to better advise of the potential contents of the material.
We also recommend checking the causes of death attached to the descriptive records to help prepare yourself for potentially harmful content.
For assistance locating any of these records, ask us.
County Claims
These are claims for payment of services brought by a worker or an official employed by the locality to perform a duty. County claims may include payments made to the coroner, constable, justice of the peace or others tasked with assisting in the coroner’s inquisition. These claims may also include the cause of death or additional information related to the deceased. If the deceased did not have enough funds in their estate for burial costs, there may be county claims submitted by carpenters, grave diggers, or cemetery workers for compensation.
Criminal Records [Commonwealth Causes]
In some cases, if coroner found a person(s) responsible for the death and recommended charges, the coroner’s inquest may be filed in the resulting criminal case. Even if the inquest is not present in the case, criminal cases may provide additional information absent from the inquest.
Minute Books and Order Books
The coroner filed the inquest in the circuit court for the locality. There may be a notation or extensive information from the inquest presented in the minute book or order book.
Newspapers
Newspapers may document unusual deaths, including those after 1950.
Undigitized Records
Not all coroners’ inquisitions are digitized. To access records not listed as available online on the Digital Availability page, ask us.
Last updated August 2025