Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Chesterfield County (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1847. Local government records collection, Chesterfield County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Chesterfield County.

Historical Information

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)

Chesterfield County was named for Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth earl of Chesterfield, British statesman and diplomat, and was formed from Henrico County in 1749. The county seat is Chesterfield Court House. Part of Henrico County was added to Chesterfield in 1922.

Scope and Content

Chesterfield County (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1847, consist of one suit for freedom initiated by Baker Parham. He filed a writ of habeas corpus claiming to be a free person of color unlawfully detained in the county jail. He wasa native of Sussex County who had lost his free papers

Judgments (Freedom Suits) are useful when researching local history and genealogical information, particularly for African Americans. They are a valuable source of local, state, social, and legal history and serve as a primary source for understanding a locality's history.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Related Material

Additional Chesterfield County Court Records are found at the Library of Virginia.

Additional Chesterfield County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia. See A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm

Additional freedom suits may be found in the Chesterfield County Chancery Causes. Search the the Chancery Records Index found on the Library of Virginia web site. Enter the tilde symbol in the plaintiff surname field.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Chesterfield County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• African Americans -- Virginia.
• Free African Americans -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.

Geographical Names:

• Chesterfield County (Va.) -- Genealogy
• Chesterfield County (Va.) -- History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Civil actions -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Freedom suits -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Judicial records -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.
• Petitions -- Virginia -- Chesterfield County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data