Orange County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1826-1843

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:

Orange County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1826-1843 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:

Orange County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1826-1843. Local government records collection, Orange Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Extent:
2 items
Creator:
Orange County (Va.) Circuit Court
Abstract:
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Orange County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1826-1843. Local government records collection, Orange Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Orange County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1826-1843, consist of two records. These petitions 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 again provided by white residents. Additional names of enslaved or free Black and multiracial individuals can be found in these records.

Consists of an affidavit, 1826, written by Hay Taliaferro in favor of Sally Tulip remain in the Commonwealth; and an order of the court, 1843, for Henderson, a free "boy of color," to be allowed to remain in the commonwealth.

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 Note: Orange County, according to most accounts, was named for William of Orange, the Dutch prince who became King William III of England in 1688. It is more probable, however, that it was named for William IV, prince of Orange-Nassau, who married Anne, eldest daughter of King George II, in 1734-the year that Orange County was formed from Spotsylvania County.

Acquisition information:
These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court records from Orange County in an undated accession.
Processing information:

The Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, were originally described as part of the Orange County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, but was removed to the present Orange County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, in 2024

These records have been scanned and indexed by LVA staff for the purposes of digitizing them for the digital project Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative.

It is believed the Peitions to Remain currently in this collection were removed from the Orange County (Va.) Judgments and processed by Jim Watkins around 2009.

Encoded by M. Mason, April 2024

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1826-1843, arranged chronologically

chronologically

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.