PUBLIC "-//Library of Virginia//TEXT (US::Vi::vi02607::A Guide to the Caroline County (Va.) Register of Children of Colored Persons whose Parents had ceased to cohabit which the Father recognizes to be his, 1866)//EN" "vi02607.xml" A Guide to the Caroline County (Va.) Register of Children of Colored Persons whose Parents had ceased to cohabit which the Father recognizes to be his, 1866 Caroline County (Va.) Register of Children of Colored Persons whose Parents had ceased to cohabit which the Father recognizes to be his, 1866 Caroline County (Va.) Reel 78 Sarah Nerney Library of Virginia © 2008 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

Conditions of Use

Machine-readable finding aid derived from MARC record, created by Sarah Nerney, 8 May 2008 Description is in English 2013-11-21 Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. A Guide to the Caroline County (Va.) Register of Children of Colored Persons whose Parents had ceased to cohabit which the Father recognizes to be his, 1866 A Collection in the Library of Virginia Caroline County (Va.) Reel 78 Sarah Nerney

Library of Virginia 2008 Sarah Nerney Library of Virginia Descriptive Summary The Library of Virginia Caroline County (Va.) Register of Children of Colored Persons whose Parents had ceased to cohabit which the Father recognizes to be his, 1866 Caroline County (Va.) Reel 78 Library of Virginia 1 microfilm reel (22 p.) and digital images English Caroline County (Va.) Circuit Court Administrative Information Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Patrons may also use digital images with searchable transcription available through the Library of Virginia's Virginia Unntold: the African American Narrative website.

Preferred Citation

Caroline County (Va.) Register of Children of Colored Persons whose Parents had ceased to cohabit which the Father recognizes to be his, 27th February 1866. Caroline County (Va.) Reel 78, Local government records collection, Caroline County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

This record was loaned for microfilming by the Caroline County clerk of circuit court. The microfilm was generated by OCLC through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program under the accession number 43747.

Digital images were created by the Library of Virginia's Photographic and Digital Imaging Services. Photolab numbers 08_1036_1-22.

 Historical Information

Caroline County was formed from Essex, King and Queen, and King William counties in 1728. Additional parts of King and Queen County were added to Caroline in 1742 and 1762.

The Virginia legislature passed an act on 27 February 1866 to legalize the marriages of former slaves and provided for the legitimization of children of couples no longer cohabiting as long as the father recognized the children to be his. See Virginia Acts of Assembly, 1866-1867, Chapter 18, An act to amend and re-enact the 14th section of chapter 108 of the Code of Virginia for 1860, in regard to registers of marriage; and to legalize the marriages of colored persons now cohabiting as husband and wife.

The federal Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands directed the Assistant Superintendents of the states to order the county clerks to make a registry of such children. See Circular No. 11, dated 19 March 1866, in Orders, Circulars, Circular Letters, and Letters of Instruction, vol. 2 (1866). Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Virginia, 1865-1869. Miscellaneous reel 3880, Library of Virginia. National Archives microfilm M1048 (reel 41), Record Group 105.

Most loose records and deed books prior to 1836 and will books prior to 1853 were stolen, mutilated, and/or destroyed by Union troops who ransacked the courthouse in May 1864. A near-complete run of order books exists.

Scope and Content

Caroline County (Va.) Register of Children of Colored Persons in Caroline County, State of Virginia, whose Parents had ceased to cohabit on 27th February, 1866, which the Father recognizes to be his. Also commonly called Caroline County (Va.) Cohabitation Register. The register lists the name of the child, age, place of birth, residence, last owner, residence of the last owner, residence of father, his age and last owner, residence of last owner of father, name of mother, her age, her residence if alive or noted if dead, last owner of mother, residence of last owner of mother, and the signature of the father. There is no index.

Adjunct Descriptive Data Related Material

See the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available at Virginia Memory.

For more information and a listing of lost records localities see Lost Records research note.

Additional cohabitation registers are available digitially with searchable transcriptions through the Library of Virginia's Virginia Unntold: the African American Narrative website.

Index Terms Corporate Names: Caroline County (Va.). Circuit Court. Subjects: African Americans -- Virginia -- Caroline County. Freedmen. -- Virginia -- Caroline County. Slaveholders -- Virginia -- Caroline County. Geographical Names: Caroline County (Va.) -- History -- 19th century. Genre and Form Terms: Birth registers -- Virginia -- Caroline County. Local government records -- Virginia -- Caroline County. Added Entry - Corporate Name: United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands.