Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Clarke County (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1849, Local Government Records Collection, Clarke County Court Records, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Clarke County under accession number 53404.

Historical Information

Clarke County was named for Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, who commanded the Virginia forces that secured control of the Northwest Territory for Virginia during the Revolution. He spelled his name without the terminal e. The county was formed from Frederick County in 1836. The county seat is Berryville.

Pre-Civil War court records were badly damaged or lost during the war. After the Civil War ended, court papers were found scattered all over the courthouse grounds. Efforts were made to organize the surviving records, but many were discovered to be missing.

Slaves sued for emancipation in freedom suits based on the following: they were descendant(s) of a free female ancestor, typically a Native American (Hening Statutes, volume 2, p.170); failure of slaveowner(s) to abide by the 1778 slave nonimportation act (Henings Statutes, volume 9, pp. 471-472); or claimed to have been freed by slaveowner(s) by deed of emancipation or last will and testament (Henings Statutes volume 11, pp. 39-40)

Scope and Content

Clarke County (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1849, consist of one suit: Richard Fractious versus Otoiray McCormick and George Knight. The petitionersclaimed to be illegally held in enslavement. The plaintiff claimed his term of apprenticeship to McCormick had ended but he was still held in bondage. Also, the plaintiff claimed he was born free to a free woman.

Originals were retuned to Clarke County Circuit Court. Facsmiles are available at the Library of Virginia.

Arrangement

Chronological by record type.