Fluvanna County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1801-1865, undated

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:

Tax records "List of Free Negroes and Mulattoes," 1801-1850 and selected records containing named enslaved and free Black and Multiacial people, 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:

Fluvanna County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1801-1865, undated. Local government records collection, Fluvanna County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

Summary

Extent:
Digital images; 3 folders
Creator:
Fluvanna County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English
Abstract:
Preferred citation:

Fluvanna County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1801-1865, undated. Local government records collection, Fluvanna County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

Background

Scope and content:

Fluvanna County (Va.) Free Negro and Enslaved Records, 1801-1865, undated, includes a criminal record, 1849; "Free Negro" tax records, 1801-1859; Records concerning requisitions for public use, 1864-1865; and a list, undated.

Criminal records, 1849, include the arrest of John Waston, a free person in want of papers. Waston's papers are granted but he is hired out to pay court fees. [Digitized]

"Free Negro" tax records, 1801-1859, includes digital images for tax records 1801-1850. These digital records include "List of Free Negroes and Mulattoes," 1801-1802,1804-1807,1809-1826, 1828-1842, 1847-1850, kept by the commissioner of revenue contains name, residence, and occupation [sometimes additional information like sex and names of children].Lists from 1801 and 1817 have two copies. Presumably one submitted by the commissioner of the revenue and one filed by the clerk as the 1801 Acts of Assembly required the Commissioner to file one with the clerk and for the clerk to post a copy of said list to the courthouse door.

Physical "Free Negro" tax records include, a "list of free negroes to be hired for payment of the Revenue tax," 1855 [photocopy]; a "list of delinquent free negroes," 1856; and a "list of delinquent free negroes and mulattoes," 1859 [originals digitized, not photocopy].

Records concerning requisitions for public use, 1864-1865, consists of a requisition for public use, 1864, for Henry, an enslaved man, and includes additional letters and documents; an Appraisement of enslaved individuals sent to labor on fortifications, 1864 March; and an Appraisement of enslaved individuals drafted in Janry 1865 to labor on fortifications.These appraisement lists include the name of the enslaved person, their enslaver's name, monetary value of the enslaved person, and whether they were accepted or rejected for requisition. Includes one additional appraisement, 1864 July, for enslaved individuals but does not include names of the enslaved. [not digitized]

Various other record types include:

Affidavit, 1863, of Hillman L. [Ashburn?] concerning the employment of William Cousins, a free Black man, as a lock keeper on the Rivanna Canal, part of the James River and Kanawha Company.[Digitized]

List, undated [ca. 1805], of the "ages and names of slaves" enslaved by the estates of John Shephard. Names include: Stephen, Charles, Rachel, Beck, Sam, Lucy, Winston, Hack, Henny, and Charles. [Digitized]

Biographical / historical:

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 Staunton. 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.

See: the Virginia Untold Record Types on the Library of Virginia website for additional context.

Locality History: Fluvanna County was named after the eighteenth-century term for the upper James River. The name, meaning river of Anne, was given in honor of Queen Anne of England. The county was formed from Albemarle County in 1777.

Acquisition information:

Digital images of "Free Negro" tax records 1801-1850 , were scanned at the Fluvanna Historical Society by Library of Virginia Staff in 2023 and transfered to the Library of Virginia under accession 54545

These records came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Fluvanna County 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.

Petitions to Remain were removed from this record in April 2025 and are now described in Fluvanna County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth.

"Free Negro" Registrations were removed from this record in April 2025 and are now described in Fluvanna County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons.

Original Free and Enslaved EAD Encoded by S. Nerney, 2010; updated by M. Mason: April 2025

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: Free and Enslaved Records, 1801-1865, arranged by records type then chronologically

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.