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Library of Virginia
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Processed by: Callie Freed
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Louisa County (Va.) Free Negro and Slave Records, 1770-1865. Local government records collection, Louisa County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.
These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Louisa County.
Louisa County was formed in 1742 from Hanover County.
Beginning in 1778, slaveholders who brought slaves into Virginia were required to register the slaves with the county court and sign an oath agreeing not to bring slaves into the commonwealth with the intent of selling them.
Louisa County (Va.) Free Negro and Slave Records, 1770-1865 consists of deeds of manumission (1783-1859); lists of free negroes (1851-1864), patrol claims (1770-1863); orders regarding patrols (1865); free negro registrations (1809-1861), a photocopy of the register of colored persons who have been cohabiting as man and wife and who are married legally by virtue of the act of the General Assembly passed February 27th, 1865 (1865); and miscellaneous records (1773-1865).
Deeds of manumission (1783, 1794-1798, 1800-1807, 1814, 1816, 1836, 1850, 1859) state the name of the slaveowner, the name of the slave to be freed, the date the slave shall achieve freedom, the date the manumission was proved or certified, and sometimes a reason why the owner decided to emancipate the slave.
Lists of free negroes are both lists of free negroes over the age of 12 and lists of free negroes returned who have not paid their taxes. The lists of free negroes over the age of 12 (1851-1864) give full name, age and occupation. Lists of free negroes returned who have not paid their taxes (1852-1853) lists full name, male free negroes between 21 and 55 years subject to tax of $1.00, male free negroes above 16 years of age, slaves above 16 years of age, slaves above 12 years of age, horses mules etc., why returned insolvent, and amount of tax. Both kinds of lists were compiled by the Commissioner of Revenue for tax purposes.
Patrol claims include the names of persons appointed to serve and the amount of pay they claimed against the city for doing the patrol work. Sometimes the number of hours worked is given instead of the amount of money owed.
Registrations of free negroes (1809, 1833, 1847-1848, 1850, 1853, 1857, 1861) contain the name of the free person, sometimes the individual's age and a brief physical description, and a statement or affidavit based either on another person's knowledge or on other official documentary evidence seen by the certifier that this person was either born free or was emancipated. If born free, reference is sometimes made to parents. If emancipated, emancipating owner, place and date of emancipation, and prior registration as a free negro are usually mentioned. Occasionally the register number is given; this number corresponds to the entry number in the register of free negroes kept by the clerk of court at the courthouse.
Miscellaneous records include bond for the hire of slave Jeffery (1773); summons for William Snelson to show cause why he sold or offered for sale the children of Sarah Martin (1776); bond to keep emancipated slave Rachel from accruing any public expense (1788); certificate of non-importation of slaves of Benjamin Litchworth (1792); bond for hire of slave Sarah and two children (1803); request of William Captain to clerk of court for a copy of his articles of freedom (1803); will of John Mead and some papers related to slave hires from his estate (1808); certificate of non-importation of slaves by Unity Turner and Thomas Turner (1813); depositions and certifications about slave hires from Robert Thurston (1813); bond for hire of slave Salley (1817); affidavit of freedom of Wilson Kinney (1821); certification of free status of Franky and Indy, children of Franky (1833); slave pass (1833); papers related to the sale of Nancy, in jail as a runaway (1840); report of jailor on Mary Ann Collins, held in jail for want of free papers (ca. 1850s); certification of free status of Thomas Jackson and his sister Caroline Jackson (1850); certification of free status of Nancy White (1853); agreement between free negro James Nelson and Burwell B. Dickinson (1855); letter from Thomas B. Brooks regarding two elderly negroes who cannot support themselves (1855); certification of slave Fanny that she lost the free papers of her husband Thomas Dickerson (1856); order to provide Ann Jackson another copy of her free negro registration (n.d.); refusal to register Frederick Taylor of Goochland as a free negro (n.d.)