A Guide to the Richmond (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1800-1864 Richmond (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1800-1864

A Guide to the Richmond (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1800-1864

A Collection in
the Library of Virginia


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Library of Virginia

The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference)
Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference)
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/

© 2014 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

Processed by: Greg Crawford and Lydia Neuroth

Repository
The Library of Virginia
Title
Richmond (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1800-1864
Physical Characteristics
.45 cubic feet (1 box)
Collector
Richmond (Va.) Hustings Court
Location
Library of Virginia
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

"Free Negro" Tax Records, 1854, 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

Richmond (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1800-1864. Local government records collection, Richmond (City) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These records came to the Library of Virginia in 1968 a transfer of court papers from the city of Richmond under accession number 26922 and in an undated accession.

Processing Information

Starting in 2023, Library of Virginia archival staff in partnership with the Virginia Untold Project Manager began efforts to describe records related to free and enslaved Black and multiracial people in a manner that improved the historical context of the records. In doing so, in some cases material once described within the "Free and Enslaved" record group for a locality may no longer be described within this record. When this has occurred, please see the Processing Information and Related Materials section for records that have been described separately.

Much of the material in the Richmond Free and Enslaved Records were removed from Richmond (Va.) Ended cases between 2014 and 2022.

Petitions to Remain were removed from this record in March 2024 and are now described in Richmond (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1816-1865.

"Free Negro" Registrations were removed from this record in March 2024 and are now described in Richmond (Va.) Records Related to the Registrations of Free Persons, 1822-1863.

Encoded by G. Crawford, 2014; Updated by M. Mason, March 2024.

Historical Information

Context for Record Type:

Free and Enslaved Records

The Free and Enslaved Records collection is comprised of miscellaneous records related to the regulation and policing of both enslaved and free Black and Multiracial people in Richmond (Va.). The localities/local government authorities were largely responsible for enforcing laws that restricted the movement of enslaved and free Black and multiracial people and the resulting documentation was often filed in the circuit courts. The ways in which local authorities enacted legal measures against or on behalf of enslaved and free Black and multiracial people varied from locality to locality; therefore, records were not necessarily standardized or filed and retained in a consistent manner. This collection is topical and a means by which to compile miscellaneous documents related to free and enslaved people that are not established local government record types.

"Free Negro Tax" Records

In 1801, the Virginia Legislature passed an act requiring commissioners of the revenue to annually return a complete list of all free Black Virginians within their districts, with their names, sex, place of abode, and trades.

Delinquent tax lists include names of free Black individuals returned delinquent and sometimes why they were returned, such as "no property," "removed," or "not found." In 1853, the General Assembly passed a law allowing the taxes raised on free Black men and women to be collected in a fund to be applied to the removal of these individuals as a part of the recolonization effort.

Requisitions for Public Use

These records include requisition lists filed in local courts and payroll records of the Virginia Engineer Department. Virginia enacted legislation as early as July 1, 1861 during the Civil War to requisition enslaved and free Black people to work on military fortifications and other defensive works around the commonwealth. From 1862 to 1863, at the request of the president of the Confederate States, the General Assembly passed three more laws that requisitioned enslaved laborers to work on fortifications and other works of the defense. Each county and city were given a certain number of enslaved laborers that had to be provided to the government under the requisition act. Payroll records of the Engineer Department include payrolls of enslaved people that worked on fortifications and other defenses as the result of an 1861 Act of Assembly calling for defense of the Commonwealth.

Locality History Note: The city of Richmond, located between Henrico and Chesterfield Counties, was named by William Byrd (1674-1744), who envisioned the development of a city at the falls of the James River and with the help of William Mayo laid out the town in 1737. The name probably came from the English borough of Richmond upon Thames, which Byrd visited on several occasions. Richmond was established in 1742 and in 1779 was designated the capital of Virginia effective 30 April 1780. It was incorporated as a town, although "stiled the city of Richmond," in 1782 and was incorporated as a city in 1842. It served as the capital of the Confederacy from mid-1861 to April 1865. Richmond was enlarged by the annexation of Manchester (or South Richmond) in 1910, and by the addition of Barton Heights, Fairmount, and Highland Park in 1914. Further annexations from Chesterfield County occurred in 1942 and 1970.

Lost Records Note: During the burning of Richmond on April 3, 1865, during the Civil War, Richmond circuit court judge John A. Meredith led efforts to save the circuit court records found at the State Court House. Rescuers successfully removed all the papers that were necessary to pending suits and many of the order books, but all of the wills and deed books were lost. Records of the superior court and circuit superior court of law and chancery were also destroyed. Most of the pre-Civil War Hustings Court records exist.

Scope and Content

Richmond (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1800-1864, includes Colonization Records, 1833; Fiduciary Records, 1818-1848; "Free Negro" Tax Records, 1854; Requisitions for public defense, 1864; and "Runaway" records, 1800-1864; and a warrant.

Colonization Records, 1833, consists of a report of the Committee Concerning Emigration to Africa, 1833 July 16, to the Richmond Hustings Court explaining that although they attempted to solicit "free person of color" to agree to remove to Africa per the 1833 March 4 Act of the Generally Assembly they could not find a single individual willing to accept (includes type printed of "An Act, Making Appropriations for the Removal of Free Persons of Color").

Fiduciary Records, 1818-1848, consists of an estate division, 1818 November 13, of Samuel Scherer's estate (division of enslaved individuals to various hires, includes 43 enslaved names); administrator qualification of Peter Coleman, 1832 April 27, as administrator to the estate of James Layfette of Richmond, Va. and Baltimore, Md.; and a bond, 1848 August 18, of Rebecca Johnson, "a free woman of colour," concerning the appointment of her brother William Johnson as her power of attorney in Rebecca's capacity as security of her mother Nancy, serving as administratrix for William Johnson, Rebecca's father.

"Free Negro" Tax Records, 1854, consists of a "List of Free Negroes, Delinquent," 1854 August 15, compiled by Philip P. Winston, Deputy Sergeant noting free Black and multiracial residents who are delinquent on their state tax/ revenue tax (generally in the amount is $1). The lists include the names of free Black and multiracial individuals, and the amount due. It also includes a list, 1854 August, of "free negroes were offered for hire on the [blank] July 1854 under order of the Richmond Husting Court" containing the names of free Black and multiracial individuals, and the amount due.

Requisitions for public defense, 1864, consists of various record types concerning the requisition of enslaved labor for the fortifications in Richmond (Va.). These include correspondence, 1864 October, concerning the required requisition of enslaved persons from Richmond per order of the Hustings Court (includes type print copy of Act, 1864 March 13, "To amend and re-enact an Act further to provide for the Public Defense , passed October 3, 1862"; three reports, 1864, compiled by commissioners for the Husting Court concerning male enslaved persons between 18-45 employed in the city (contains names of enslaver, number of enslaved individuals enslaved or hired, the total, and nature of the occupation of the enslaved laborers) and a summons, 1864 October 4, calling on local officials to arrive at court "to aid the magistrates in complying with a requisition."

"Runaway" records, 1800-1864, consists of 34 items of various record types documenting alleged self-emancipating Black and multiracial individuals. The majority of records are the result of the alleged enslaved individual being arrested and held as a "runaway." Other records include lists, summons, and reports. The records contain information such as the self-emancipated individual's name, enslaver's name, sex, age, locality and state of origin, physical descriptors, occupation, and place of imprisonment. Some records include information include newspaper advertisements, questions as to the individual's legal status, and remarks on the outcome.

Lastly, a warrant, 1821 May 23, for William Johnson who was brought to Richmond illegally as an enslaved person by Terrance Fagan, authorizing deputy Walter Thorpe to carry him back to New York.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

This collection is arranged into Series I: Free and Enslaved Records,1800-1864, arranged by record type then chronologically

Related Material

See also: Richmond (Va.) Certificates of Importation, 1813-1818

See also: Richmond (Va.) Records Related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1822-1863

See also: Richmond (Va.) Criminal Records, 1782-1963 (bulk 1945-1963)

See also: Richmond (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1793-1861

See also: Richmond (Va.) Freedom Suits, 1794-1848

See also: Richmond (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1816-1865

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

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

Richmond City is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Richmond City Court Records may be found in the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website.

Contents List

Series I: Free and Enslaved Records 1800-1864
Physical Location: Library of Virginia
.45 cubic feet (1 box )

arranged by record type then chronological

  • Barcode number 0007479905: Free and Enslaved Records, 1800-1864