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Richmond County (Va.) Register of Children of Colored Persons in Richmond County, State of Virginia, whose Parents had Ceased to Cohabit on 27th February, 1866. Local Government Records Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Richmond County.
Richmond County may have been named for Richmond borough in Surrey, England, or for Charles Lennox, first duke of Richmond and a son of King Charles II. It was formed from Old Rappahannock County in 1692. The county seat is Warsaw.
Some volumes were burned and mutilated through unknown causes; in addition, the will books prior to 1699 were missing as early as 1793, and order books for the period 1794-1816 are also missing. Numerous loose records prior to 1781 are missing as well.
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.
Richmond County (Va.) Register of Children of Colored Persons in Richmond County, State of Virginia, Whose Parents had Ceased to Cohabit on 27th February, 1866, which the Father Recognizes to be His, records the name of the child, along with the child's age, place of birth, residence, last owner, and last owner's residence; the signature and name of the father, along with the father's age, residence, last owner, and last owner's residence; the name of the mother, along with the mother's age, residence (if alive or if dead), last owner, and last owner's residence.
Additional Richmond County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."
Additional cohabitation registers are available digitially with searchable transcriptions through the Library of Virginia's Virginia Untold: the African American Narrative website.
Richmond County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Richmond County Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search 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 .