Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Lynchburg (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1827-1851, are digitized and available through Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website. Please use digital images.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Lynchburg (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1827-1851. Local government records collection, Goochland County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

Acquisition Information

These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Lynchburg (Va.) in an undated accession.

Processing Information

Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, were originally described as part of the Lynchburg (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records but were removed to the present Lynchburg (Va.) Petitions to remain in the Commonwealth, to enhance discoverability in October 2024.

These records have been processed, scanned, and indexed by G. Crawford and L. Neuroth for the purposes of digitizing them for the digital project Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative.

Encoded by M. Mason, October 2024

Historical Information

Context for Record Type: Sometimes referred to as "Applications to Remain," these records are applications that formerly enslaved individuals submitted to state and local courts for permission to remain in Virginia with their free status. The Virginia General Assembly passed a law stating that all formerly enslaved people freed after 1 May 1806 who remained in Virginia more than twelve months could be put on trial by the state. Individuals who wished to remain in the commonwealth were to petition the state legislature. In 1816, a new Act of Assembly gave the local courts power to grant permission to remain. The documents in these cases will include: the name(s) of the petitioner(s), the circumstances of free status, and a request to remain in the county. Individuals needed to prove that they had in fact been emancipated. Therefore, application packets might also include supporting documents such as the formerly enslaved person's register, a copy of a will or deed of emancipation, or witness statements known as affidavits.

Locality History: The city of Lynchburg was established in 1786. It was incorporated as a town in 1805 and as a city in 1852. Parts of Campbell and Bedford counties were annexed in 1976.

Scope and Content

Lynchburg (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1827-1851, consist of five items. These petitions are applications that formerly enslaved individuals submitted to state and local courts for permission to remain in Virginia with their free status. The petitions often include the formerly enslaved individual's name, their method of emancipation, name of their former enslaver, and whether the application/ petition was successful or not. Petitions may also include affidavits signed mainly by white residents or witness statements again provided by white residents. Additional names of enslaved or free Black and multiracial individuals can be found in these records.

Petitions 1827-1851, include Archey Crey, 1827, petition to remain which includes a statement from Maria Tucker and Abram North of his behalf; Isaac Harrison, 1836, petition includes a letter, affidavit, and deed of emancipation from Bailey family of Bedford County (Va.) ; Maria Dunn, 1839; includes a certificate of support signed by various citizen of Lynchburg; Leander Harrison, 1851; only contains summons for justices of the locality to hear Harrison's application; and Eliza Higginbotham and Martha Higginbotham, 1851, only contains summons for justices of the locality to hear the Higginbothams' applications.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Related Material

See also: Lynchburg (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1834-1837, undated

Records related to free and enslaved people of Lynchburg (Va.) and other localities are available through the Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website.

Additional Lynchburg Land Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Adjunct Descriptive Data