Caroline County (Va.) Criminal Records, 1724-1947

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:

Identified Free Persons in Want of Registration, and Commonwealth Causes involving enslaved and free Black and Multiracial individuals 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:

Caroline County (Va.) Criminal Records, 1724-1947 [Include series information]. Local government records collection, Caroline County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

Summary

Extent:
15 boxes 3 volumes digital images
Creator:
Caroline County (Va.) Circuit Court
Abstract:
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Caroline County (Va.) Criminal Records, 1724-1947 [Include series information]. Local government records collection, Caroline County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

Caroline County (Va.) Criminal Records, 1724-1947, consists of Free Persons in Want of Registration, 1841; Commonwealth Causes,1802-1836 , involving free and enslaved Black and Multiracial people; Commonwealth cases,1800-1900 ; and various criminal records, 1724-1947

Free Persons in Want of Registration,1841, concerning John Jackson in which a Petersburg jailer writes to Caroline County clerk for a copy of certificate/free papers for John Jackson currently in jail who claims to have lost his but has been registered previously in Caroline County.

Commonwealth Causes, 1802-1836, related to free and enslaved Black and multiracial people consist of criminal cases heard where the defendants themselves are either free or enslaved individuals.

Causes commonly found against free Black and enslaved people include breaking and entering, stealing, assault, murder, and arson. Commonwealth causes also include several cases, 1808, where the court charge several Black and multiracial enslaved individuals with "consult, advise, or conspire to rebel or make insurrection." Enslaved individuals named in these causes include: Arch, Lewey, and Daniel

Commonwealth causes, 1800-1900, pertaining to white and non-Black individuals as well as all post-1866 commonwealth causes are loosely arranged chronologically but are otherwise unprocessed.

Criminal records, 1724-1947, consists of unprocessed records which include possible commonwealth causes, Justices' criminal records, and criminal reports.

Biographical / historical:

Context for Records Type:

Free People in Want of Registration

Consists of lists of free Black and multiracial people confined to jail because they were without a free registration document or certificate proving their free status. In some localities, city sergeants or county sheriffs created reports for the court of individuals confined to jail. These documents serve as a certification record of who was in jail. Prisoners were required to pay the jail fees accrued during their time in jail. If they could not pay, they were hired out to cover the cost of their expenses. If this was the case, the document may indicate if they were hired out along with a totaling of expenses. For further research, search the minute books or court order books for the locality of interest.

Commonwealth Causes

Commonwealth causes are criminal court cases filed by the state government that consist primarily of warrants, summons, subpoenas, indictments, recognizances, and verdicts handed down by juries and other legal authorities in order to prosecute individuals who violated the penal code.

The commonwealth causes reveal an inconsistency in forms of conviction and punishment for white versus Black and multiracial individuals. Throughout the early nineteenth century, Virginia legislators revised the laws in ways that reduced the legal status of free Black and multiracial people to that of enslaved, thereby creating a legal system based on race. White Virginians and legislators feared insurrection and passed laws restricting the number of Black and multiracial people allowed to gather in groups. Enslavers could be fined for permitting their enslaved people to hire themselves out for work and enslaved people were jailed on these occasions. While public whipping originated as a form of punishment for all those convicted, in Virginia, it was retained for those who were Black, free or enslaved, and officially outlawed as a punishment for white criminals in 1848. Often, Black individuals served much longer penitentiary sentences while the cases of white men, who had committed the same or similar crimes, were dismissed.

Locality History:Caroline County was named for Caroline of Anspach, wife of King George II. It was formed from Essex, King and Queen, and King William Counties on 1 May 1728, and additional parts of King and Queen County were added in 1742 and in 1763.

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

Encoded by M. Mason, June 2026

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: Free People in Want of Registration, 1841
  • Series II: commonwealth causes,1802-1836, pertaining to free and enslaved persons, and are arranged chronologically.
  • Series III: Commonwealth causes, 1800-1900, arranged chronologically.
  • Series IV: Criminal records, 1724-1947, unprocessed

Physical location:
Library of Virginia; State Records Center
Physical description:
.