Surry County (Va.) Free Negro and Slave Records, 1742-1862

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

Collection is open to research.

Terms of access:

Use microfilm copy, York County (Va.) Reel 51.

Preferred citation:

Surry County (Va.) Free Negro and Slave Records, 1742-1862, Surry County Reel Numbers 49, 57, and 61, Local Government Records Collection, Surry County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Creator:
Surry County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Surry County (Va.) Free Negro and Slave Records, 1742-1862, Surry County Reel Numbers 49, 57, and 61, Local Government Records Collection, Surry County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Surry County (Va.) Free Negro and Slave Records, 1742-1862. The collection contains Free Negro Registers, 1794 to 1862, and Criminal Proceedings Against Free Persons, Slaves, etc., 1742-1822. Free negro registers document the name, age, physical appearance, and evidence of free birth or emancipation for free African Americans living in Surry County from 1794 to 1862. Additional information, such as names of spouses or parents or county of birth, is sometimes included. Criminal Proceedings are a summary record of criminal proceedings brought against slaves and free African Americans from 1742 to 1822.

Reel 49 contains a Register of Free Negro for the years 1794-1803 (18 images); Reel 57 contains a Register of Free Negroes for the years 1847-1862 (126 images), and Reel 61 contains the Criminal Proceedings, 1742-1822 (132 images) and a Register of Free Negroes for the years 1803-1847 (229 images).

Biographical / historical:

Surry County formed from James City County about 1652.

An act passed by the Virginia legislature in 1803 required every free negro or mulatto to be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the city clerk.

Created in 1652. Order books for 1718–1741 and various other early volumes are fragmentary. Most loose records prior to 1806 are missing. Courthouse fires in 1906 and 1922 did not result in loss of records, however, because at that time records were housed in a separate clerk’s office.

Acquisition information:
The microfilm copy of these records was generated by The Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah (Reel 49) and the Library of Virginia's Imaging Services Branch (Reels 57 and 61).
Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
3 microfilm reels (373 images)