Powhatan County (Va.) Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Records, 1866

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

Summary

Creator:
Powhatan County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Powhatan County (Va.) Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Records, 1866, consist of Freedmen's Bureau Apprenticeship Indentures, 1866.

These Apprenticeship Indentures record the binding of emancipated Black and multiracial children to individuals for the purpose of learning a trade. They are contractual agreements between the indenture holder and agents of the Freedmen's Bureau. They stipulate the amount the indenture holder agreed to pay to the Freedmen's Bureau in exchange for the child to be bound to them by the Freedmen's Bureau; length of apprenticeship; and a statement of the obligations and responsibilities of each party. Information found in the apprenticeship indentures include names of the indenture holder and Freedmen's Bureau agents, bond amount, date of indenture, names and age of the apprentice, and name of trade.

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type:

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands

On March 3, 1865, the federal government created The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands using the Freedmen's Bureau Bill. Also known as the "Freedmen's Bureau," this agency was responsible for aiding refugees of the Civil War, especially formerly enslaved people in the areas of education, employment, and health care. Meant to last for only one year after the war, the Bureau was largely operational from June 1865 to December 1868, and officially abolished in 1872.

Freedmen's Apprenticeship Indentures

In the fall of 1865, the Freedmen's Bureau assumed responsibility as the governing body for apprenticeship indentures and oversaw the binding out of children of formerly enslaved people to indenture holders. Although these contracts were generated by the federal government, a few localities retained possession and they were filed in the courthouse as Freedmen's Bureau records. They typically contain the name of the person or institution binding out, the person to whom bound, the name of the person being indentured, the length of the apprenticeship, and the responsibilities of the person taking on the indenture.

Locality History: Locality History: Powhatan County was named for the paramount chief of the Powhatan Indians in the tidewater of Virginia in the late sixteenth and early years of the seventeenth century. It was formed from Cumberland County in 1777, and part of Chesterfield County was added in 1850. The county seat is Powhatan.

Acquisition information:
These records came to the Library of Virginia in transfer of court papers from Powhatan County in an undated accession.
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into

  • Series I: Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Records, 1866, and organized chronologically

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.45 cubic feet (1 box)