Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Nelson County (Va.) Register of Free Negroes and Affidavits for the Valuation of Formerly Enslaved Persons, 1853-1867, 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

Nelson County (Va.) Records Related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1853-1867. Local government records collection, Nelson County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information

This item was microfilmed 10 Jan. 1985 by the Library of Virginia's Imaging Services Division.

Alternative Form Available

"Register of Free Negroes" and Affidavits for the Valuation of Formerly Enslaved Persons, 1853-1867 1853-1867 is available on microfilm Nelson County (Va.) Reel No. 50

Custodial History

"Register of Free Negroes" and Affidavits for the Valuation of Formerly Enslaved Persons, 1853-1867 came to the Library of Virginia as a loan for digitization in 2025 under accession 54434 and was then returned to locality by request of the Clerk.

Processing Information

The Register volumes was previously given the title of "Nelson County (Va.) Register of Free Negroes and Civil War Claims, 1853-1867" but changes to "Nelson County (Va.) Register of Free Negroes"and Affidavits for the Valuation of Formerly Enslaved Persons, 1853-1867" in July 2025 to more accurately reflect the records.

"Register of Free Negroes" and Affidavits for the Valuation of Formerly Enslaved Persons, 1853-1867 was microfilmed 10 Jan. 1985 by the Library of Virginia's Imaging Services Division.

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

Encoded by C. OBrion, 2007; Updated by M. Mason, July 2025

Historical Information

Context for Record Type:

"Free Negro" Registers

In 1793, the Virginia General Assembly specified that "free Negroes or mulattoes" were required to be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the town clerk, which shall specify "age, name, colour, and stature, by whom, and in what court the said negro or mulatto was emancipated; or that such negro or mulatto was born free." The process was extended to counties in 1803. Although some clerks were already recording such features, an 1834 Act of Assembly made it a uniform requirement to record identifying marks and scars and the instrument of emancipation, whether by deed or will. This bound register often coincided with a loose certificate containing largely the same identifying information. Both the registration system and the process of renewal was enforced differently in the various Virginia localities. Thus, the information found in these registers may differ from year to year and across localities.

The register books resulting from the administration of the 1793 and 1803 Act of Assembly are evidence of Virginia legislators' reaction to a quickly growing free Black and multiracial population in Virginia in the post Revolutionary War period. Acts such as these allowed white officials to police the activities and movement of free Black community members throughout the state thereby restricting their autonomy.

Locality History: Nelson County was named for Thomas Nelson Jr., governor of Virginia from June to November 1781. It was formed in 1807 from Amherst County.

Scope and Content

Nelson County (Va.) Records Related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1853-1867, consists of one "Register of Free Negroes", 1853-1867, "Register of Free Negroes" and Civil War Claims, 1853-1867, contains the "Free Negro Register", 1853-1865, and three Civil War Claims with lists and valuations of enslaved persons, 1866-1867. Original volume is fragile with much of the pages loose from the binding. There is an index for the volume.

"Register of Free Negroes" documents the name and age of free Black and Multiracial persons who registered with the county court from 1853 to 1867. There about 46 entries. Each entry also includes a brief physical description and a reference to whether the person was born free, and where, or the circumstances of the person's emancipation. Additional information, such as names of spouses or parents or county of birth, is sometimes included [pages 1-6]

Additional entries in the volume include affidavits of Robert T. Hubbard, Seaton H. Loving, and William Gordon former enslavers listing the names of the Black and Multiracial individuals they enslaved as property lost as a result of the Civil War. [pagination restarts pages 1-13]

Robert T. Hubbard's affidavit, 1866 September, contains a list of 94 individuals he enslaved in the vicinity of Nelson County, on the Upper Quarter of his Tye River Estate, valued at an estimated total of $57,000.00 in 1861.Hubbard also testified that several houses he owned were burned by the Union Army. The list of Black individuals Hubbard enslaved includes name, age, and the estimated value of each person.

Seaton Loving's affidavit, 1866 October 18, contains a list of 8 individuals he enslaved, including the name, age, date of birth, and estimated value of each person in 1861.

William Gordon's affidavit, 1867 December, contains a list of 43 individuals he enslaved, including the name, age, date of birth, and estimated value of each person in 1861.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Related Material

See also: Nelson County (Va.) Register of Negro Marriages, 1865-1877,

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

Additional Nelson County (Va.) court records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia.Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Original "Register of Free Negroes," 1853-1867, volume retained in locality by Clerk of the Circuit Court for Nelson County.