Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Arlington County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1850-1856, are digitized and available through Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website. Please use digital images.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Arlington County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1850-1856. Local government records collection, Arlington County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Arlington County (Va.) as part of an undated accession.

Processing Information

Arlington County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth were originally described as part of the Arlington County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1788, 1801-1802, 1850-1860, but were removed to the present Arlington County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1850-1856, record to enhance discoverability in February 2025.

These records have been processed, scanned, and indexed by L. Neuroth and LVA staff for the purposes of digitizing them for the digital project Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative.

Encoded by C. Collins: February 2025.

Historical Information

Context for Record Type: Sometimes referred to as "Applications to Remain," these records are applications that formerly enslaved individuals submitted to state and local courts for permission to remain in Virginia with their free status. The Virginia General Assembly passed a law stating that all formerly enslaved people freed after 1 May 1806 who remained in Virginia more than twelve months could be put on trial by the state. Individuals who wished to remain in the commonwealth were to petition the state legislature. In 1816, a new Act of Assembly gave the local courts power to grant permission to remain. The documents in these cases will include: the name(s) of the petitioner(s), the circumstances of free status, and a request to remain in the county. Individuals needed to prove that they had in fact been emancipated. Therefore, application packets might also include supporting documents such as the formerly enslaved person's register, a copy of a will or deed of emancipation, or witness statements known as affidavits.

Locality History: Arlington County was originally named Alexandria County. It was formed from a portion of Fairfax County that Virginia in 1789 ceded to the federal government for use as the site of a new national capital. In 1801 the area officially became part of the District of Columbia, although Congress named it Alexandria County. By an act of 9 July 1846, Congress returned the county to Virginia, and the General Assembly extended the commonwealth's jurisdiction over the region effective 20 March 1847. By an act of assembly passed 16 March 1920, the county's name was changed to Arlington, the name of the Custis family mansion (the home of Robert E. Lee), which is located in the county. An urban county, Arlington contains no incorporated towns or cities. The county courthouse is in the county.

Scope and Content

Arlington County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1850-1856, consist of records related to the petitions of six Black and Multiracial individuals. These petitions are applications that formerly enslaved individuals submitted to state and local courts for permission to remain in Virginia with their free status. The petitions often include the formerly enslaved individual's name, their method of emancipation, name of their former enslaver, and whether the application/petition was successful or not. Petitions may also include affidavits signed mainly by white residents or witness statements again provided by white residents. Additional names of enslaved or free Black and Multiracial individuals can be found in these records. Supplemental information, especially about those who remained in Arlington County, may be found in the Arlington County "Free Negro" registers, 1797-1861.

These records contain the petitions or records related to the petitions of William Henry Burke, 1850, who cited "circumstances beyond his control preventing him from taking his family out of the state," and was granted permission by the court to remain; Charles Ward, 1851, who was formerly enslaved by William H. Fitzhugh, though it is unclear based on the extant documentation if he was allowed to remain; Thomas Anderson and Sally Dixon, 1852, who were both given leave to remain in the state (Sally Dixon was emancipated by the will of William H. Fitzhugh); John Burke, 1853, emancipated by William H. Fitzhugh, who was granted permission to remain; and Thomas Lewis, 1856, whose application, which was at one point reconsidered by the court, was ultimately refused.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Related Material

See also: Arlington County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1788, 1801-1802, 1850-1860

Records related to free and enslaved people of Arlington County (Va.) and other localities are available through the Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website.

Additional Arlington County (Va.) Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Adjunct Descriptive Data