Princess Anne County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1837-1860

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:

Princess Anne County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1837-1860, are digitized and available through Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website. Please use digital images.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Princess Anne County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1837-1860. Local government records collection, Princess Anne County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
3 items.
Creator:
Virginia Beach (Va.) Circuit Court.
Abstract:
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Princess Anne County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1837-1860. Local government records collection, Princess Anne County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Princess Anne County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1837-1860, consist of three petitions.

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 provided by white residents. Additional names of enslaved or free Black and multiracial individuals can be found in these records.

Petitions to remain in Virginia, 1837, 1858, and 1860, contain court orders, notices, and affidavits relating to the petitions of Jacob Boush and Toney Boush, 1837; George Boush 1858, and Adam Land, 1860. The records document the circumstances of the petitioner's emancipation and statements attesting to his character and reasons for wanting to remain in Virginia. [Digital images]

Biographical / historical:

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: Princess Anne County (extinct) was named for Anne, daughter of King James II, who became queen of England in 1702. The county was formed from Lower Norfolk County in 1691 and became extinct on 1 January 1963, after its consolidation with the city of Virginia Beach.

Acquisition information:
These records were transferred to the Library of Virginia from Princess Anne County (Va.) in an undated accession.
Processing information:

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

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1837-1860, arranged chronologically.

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.