Goochland County (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1763

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:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Goochland County (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1763. Local government records collection, Goochland County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Summary

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

Goochland County (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1763. Local government records collection, Goochland County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Goochland County (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1763, consist of suits initiated by slaves seeking to gain their freedom on the law side of the court. Cases are identified by style of suit consisting of plaintiff and defendant names. Surnames of others involved in a suit, including secondary plaintiffs and defendants, witnesses, deponents and affiants, and family members with surnames different from the plaintiff or defendant are indexed. Also identified are names of slaves and slaveowners found in suit as well as whether slave(s) won their freedom. Predominant documents found in freedom suits include petitions, records of suits, depositions, affidavits, wills, among other items. Information found in documents include slave's argument for freedom, acquisition of slaves by slaveowners, slave ancestry, and relationship between slaves and slaveowners.

The collection consists of a freedom suit titled Jane Banks vs. Judith Leak heard in 1763 May. The plaintiff claimed to be the daughter of a free mulatto named Mary Brooks. She was an indenture servant for the defendant. The defendant refused to release Jane Banks from service.

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.

Biographical / historical:

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)

Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728. The county seat is Goochland.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from the circuit court of Goochland County.
Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically.

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.05 cu. ft.