Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Fluvanna County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1841, 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

Fluvanna County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1841. Local government records collection, Amelia County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These records were transferred to the Library of Virginia from Fluvanna County (Va.) in an undated accession.

Processing Information

Fluvanna County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth were originally described as part of the Fluvanna County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records but were removed to the present Fluvanna County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1841, record to enhance discoverability in April 2025.

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

Encoded by M. Mason: April 2025.

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: Fluvanna County was named after the eighteenth-century term for the upper James River. The name, meaning river of Anne, was given in honor of Queen Anne of England. The county was formed from Albemarle County in 1777.

Scope and Content

Fluvanna County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1841, consist of one petition submitted by Bob Williams.

Petitions to remain 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.

These records include a petition to remain, 1841, filed by Bob Williams in 1838 consists of an affidavit of Elizabeth Haden, several court orders, and summons. Records indicate that Bob was the child of Jenny, formerly enslaved by John Vest, Elizabeth Haden's late husband. The court dismisses the petition in 1841.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Related Material

See also: Fluvanna County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records

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

Additional Fluvanna County (Va.) court 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