Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Patrons are to use inkjet copies (barcode number 0007432760) or digital images with searchable transcription available through the Library of Virginia's Virginia Unntold: the African American Narrative website.

Preferred Citation

Lunenburg County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons cohabiting together as Husband and Wife, 27th February 1866. Local government records collection, Lunenburg County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

This item came to the Library of Virginia in a shipment of court papers from Lunenburg County under the accession number 42147.

Digital images were created by the Library of Virginia's Photographic and Digital Imaging Services. Photolab number 06_1087_01-025.tif.

Historical Information

Lunenburg County was formed in 1745 from Brunswick County. Part of Charlotte County was added in 1777.

The Virginia legislature passed an act on 27 February 1866 to legalize the marriages of former slaves who had been cohabiting as of that date. 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 cohabiting couples. 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.

Scope and Content

Lunenburg County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons of Lunenburg County, State of Virginia, cohabiting together as Husband and Wife on 27th February 1866. This register records the name of the husband, his age, place of birth, residence, occupation, last owner, last owner's residence, name of the wife, her age, place of birth, residence, last owner, last owner's residence, name of children with the ages of each, and the date of commencement of cohabitation.

Arrangement

Alphabetical by surname.

Related Material

Additional Lunenburg County Marriage Records and Vital Statistics 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.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Lunenburg County (Va.). Circuit Court.
• United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands.

Subjects:

• African Americans--Employment--Virginia--Lunenburg County.
• African Americans--Virginia--Lunenburg County.
• Freedmen--Virginia--Lunenburg County.
• Slaveholders--Virginia--Lunenburg County.

Geographical Names:

• Lunenburg County (Va.)--History--19th Century.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Local government records--Virginia--Lunenburg County.
• Marriage records--Virginia--Lunenburg County.
• Marriage registers--Virginia--Lunenburg County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data