PUBLIC "-//Library of Virginia//TEXT (US::Vi::vi04262::A Guide to the Madison Douglas Petition to Remain in Highland County, 1862, circa)//EN" "vi04262.xml" A Guide to the Petition of Madison Douglas to Remain in Highland County, 1862, circa Petition of Madison Douglas to Remain in Highland County, 1862, circa 1205104 Catherine G. OBrion Library of Virginia ©2010 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

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Machine-readable finding aid derived from being created directly into EAD, created by Catherine G. OBrion, 29 April 2010 Description is in English 2013-11-21 Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. A Guide to the Petition of Madison Douglas to Remain in Highland County, 1862, circa A Collection in the Library of Virginia 1205104 Catherine G. OBrion

Library of Virginia 2010 LVA staff Library of Virginia Descriptive Summary The Library of Virginia Petition of Madison Douglas to Remain in Highland County, 1862, circa 1205104 1 p. English Highland County (Va.) Circuit Court Administrative Information Access Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Petition of Madison Douglas to Remain in Highland County, 1862, circa. Local government records collection, Highland County (Va.) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Highland County (Va.).

Historical Information

Highland County was so named because of its mountainous terrain, and it is sometimes called the Little Switzerland of America. It was formed from Pendleton (now in West Virginia) and Bath Counties in 1847.

In 1806, the General Assembly moved to remove the free negro population from Virginia with a law that stated that all emancipated slaves, freed after May 1, 1806, who remained in the Commonwealth more than a year, would forfeit their right to freedom and be sold by the Overseers of the Poor for the benefit of the parish. Families wishing to stay were to petition the legislature through the local county court. Beginning in 1837, freed slaves could petition the local courts for permission to remain.

Scope and Content

Petition of Madison Douglas to Remain in Highland County, 1862, circa. The petition identifies Douglas as a free Negro of the age of 21 years. The petitioner also requests an opportunity to produce satisfactory proof of his being of good character, sober, peacable, orderly, and industrious.

Index Terms Personal Names: Madison, Douglas. Corporate Names: Highland County (Va.) Circuit Court Subjects: Free African Americans--Virginia--Highland County Slavery--Law and legislation--Virginia--Highland County Geographical Names: Highland County (Va.)--History--19th century. Genre and Form Terms: Free negro and slave records--Virginia--Highland County. Local government records--Virginia--Highland County. Petitions--Virginia--Highland County.