Northampton County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1849-1866, consist of records related to the petitions of 6 individuals. 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.

These records consist of a petition, 1849-1850, undated, submitted by Parker Pitts, who was emancipated by the will of John Pitts in 1806. The petition includes two orders and two petitions signed by citizens of Northampton County in support of Pitts. Pitts, who in 1849 resided in Philadelphia, received permission to remain in, or return to, the Commonwealth.

Two petitions, 1857, undated, submitted by David Heath and Lewis Fisher, who were both formerly enslaved by Arthur R. Savage. The petitions include orders and petitions signed by citizens of Northampton County in support of Health and Fisher. Heath and Fisher were permitted to remain in the Commonwealth.

A petition, 1860-1866, submitted by Michael Roane. The petition consists of an order and a petition signed by citizens of Northampton County in support of Roane, who was employed by James T. Nottingham. Roane's application was dismissed in 1866, [most likely due to the end of the Civil War].

Orders, 1860, related to petitions to remain in the Commonwealth submitted by Jake Matthews and Mary Wilmer. The petitions of both Matthews and Wilmer were ultimately refused.