Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Nelson County (Va.) Register of Marriages of Negroes, Volume 1, 1865-1877. Nelson County Reel 50, Local Government Records Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

This item was microfilmed by a field operator, from the Library of Virginia's Imaging Services Branch, in the Nelson County Circuit Court Clerk's Office.

Historical Information

Nelson County was formed in 1807 from Amherst County. The county was named for Thomas Nelson, Jr., governor of Virginia from June to November 1781.

According to the "Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia," Chapter 18, page 85, an act was passed on February 27th 1866 to legalize the marriages of colored persons. Colored persons who had agreed to live together as husband and wife before this date, whether they had a marriage ceremony, are considered to be legally married as of this date. Their children are considered legitimate as are the children of a couple who had stopped living together before that date due to the woman's death or other causes, but were recognized by the man to be his children. In addition, every minister and clerk must make a record of every marriage between both white and colored persons and stating in this record whether the parties are white or colored. A copy of this record must be returned to the clerk of the county within two months. The majority of marriages between free blacks, both before and after the Civil War, can be found in various county registers. The existence of a separate register, as in this county, is extremely rare.

Scope and Content

Register of Marriages of Negroes, Volume 1, 1865-1877, lists the date of the marriage license, the date of the marriage and the county where the marriage took place, the full names of both parties, their ages, their marital status before the marriage, their individual places of birth and residence, their parents' names, the groom's occupation, the name of the minister performing the ceremony and any additional remarks. The clerk issuing the marriage license had to obtain and include this information in the marriage certificate.

Arrangement

Alphabetically by groom's last name and by date of license.

Related Material

Additional Nelson County Marriage Records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Separated Material

The original register is found in the Nelson County Circuit Court Clerk's Office.

Access Terms

• African Americans--Employment--Virginia--Nelson County.
• African Americans--Marriage--Virginia--Nelson County.
• Clergy--Virginia--Nelson County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Nelson County.
• Marriage records--Virginia--Nelson County.
• Marriage registers--Virginia--Nelson County.
• Marriage--Virginia--Nelson County.
• Nelson County (Va.)--History--19th century.
• Nelson County (Va.). Circuit Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data