Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Patrons are to use digital images with searchable transcription available through the Library of Virginia's Virginia Unntold: the African American Narrative website.

Preferred Citation

Henry County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons cohabiting together as Husband and Wife, 27th February 1866, Henry County (Va.) Reel 55. Local government records collection, Henry County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

This item was microfilmed by the Library of Virginia's Imaging Services Division. Digital images were created by the Library of Virginia’s Photographic and Digital Imaging Services. Photolab number 13_1224. This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer from Henry County under the accession number 51247.

Historical Information

Henry County was formed in 1776 from Pittsylvania County.

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

Henry County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons cohabiting together as Husband and Wife, 1866. Also commonly called Henry County (Va.) Cohabitation Register. This register records on thirty three pages 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. There is no index.

In the microfilmed version, interspersed between the pages of the original register are transcriptions. Usually two or so pages of the original register will be followed by the transcription pages but this arrangement varies especially towards the end of the film. At the end of the register on frames 286 and 287 are two sheets titled "corrections or possible corrections for the cohabitation lists" which were compiled by the transcriber.

Related Material

Additional Henry 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:

• Henry County (Va.). Circuit Court.

Subjects:

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

Geographical Names:

• Henry County (Va.) -- History -- 19th century.

Genre and Form Terms:

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

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands.

Adjunct Descriptive Data