Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

[IN PROGRESS:] The bulk of the Albemarle County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1799-1870, are digitized and available through Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website. Please use digital images where possible.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Albemarle County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1799-1870. Local government records collection, Albemarle 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 Albemarle County (Va.) as part of an undated accession.

Processing Information

Starting in 2023, Library of Virginia archival staff in partnership with the Virginia Untold Project Manager began efforts to describe records related to free and enslaved Black and Multiracial people in a manner that improved the historical context of the records. In doing so, in some cases material once described within the "Free and Enslaved" record group for a locality may no longer be described within this record. When this has occurred, please see the Processing Information and Related Materials section for records that have been described separately.

Deeds of Emancipation were removed from this record in March 2025 and are now described in Albemarle County (Va.) Deeds of Emancipation, 1841-1864.

"Free Negro" registrations, affidavits, and certificates were removed from this record in March 2025 and are now described in Albemarle County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1802-1865.

Petitions for Re-Enslavement were removed from this record in March 2025 and are now described in Albemarle County (Va.) Petitions for Re-Enslavement, 1858-1864.

Petitions to Remain were removed from this record in March 2025 and are now described in Albemarle County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1816-1819, 1852-1859.

These records were 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 at an unknown date.

Encoded by E. Woodward: October 2005; updated by G. Crawford: October 2005; updated by C. Collins, March 2025.

Historical Information

Context for Record Type:

Free and Enslaved Records

The Free and Enslaved Records collection is comprised of miscellaneous records related to the regulation and policing of both enslaved and free Black and Multiracial people in Albemarle County The localities/local government authorities were largely responsible for enforcing laws that restricted the movement of enslaved and free Black and Multiracial people and the resulting documentation was often filed in the circuit courts. The ways in which local authorities enacted legal measures against or on behalf of enslaved and free Black and Multiracial people varied from locality to locality; therefore, records were not necessarily standardized or filed and retained in a consistent manner. This collection is topical and a means by which to compile miscellaneous documents related to free and enslaved people that are not established local government record types.

See: the Virginia Untold Record Types on the Library of Virginia website for additional context concerning "Free Negro" Tax Records and Runaway Records.

Locality History: Albemarle County was named for William Anne Keppel, second earl of Albemarle, and governor of Virginia from 1737 to 1754. It was created by a statute of 1744 and formed from Goochland County; part of Louisa County was added in 1761 and islands in the Fluvanna (now the James) River in 1770. The court met for the first time on 8 February 1745. The county seat is the city of Charlottesville.

Lost Locality Note: All order books except the first and many loose papers between 1748 and 1781 were destroyed by British general Banastre Tarleton's raid on Charlottesville in 1781 during the Revolutionary War.

Scope and Content

Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Albemarle County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1799-1870, consist of “Free Negro” Tax Records, 1833, 1853, 1863; Patrol Records, 1799-1864; Runaway Records, 1845, 1865; and additional records of various types, 1843-1870.

“Free Negro” Tax Records, 1833, 1853, 1863, are comprised of an order, 1833, directing the creation of a list of “free negroes or mulattoes” in each Albemarle County district that notes, among other things, the willingness of each individual to relocate to the “Western Coast of Africa” [see the Albemarle County (Va.) Colonization Records on Virginia Untold]; an order, 1863, in which the sheriff of Albemarle County is instructed to make a list of the “free negroes” between 18 and 50 years old; and four lists of delinquent “free negroes,” 1853, which record the each individual’s name and the amount owed. One list records the names of individuals who were considered non-residents of the county in 1852.

Patrol Records, 1799-1864, are comprised of patrol accounts, 1832-1833; patrol appointments, 1825-1864; patrol orders, 1808, 1842-1858; and patrol returns, 1799-1851, 1862, undated. The patrol accounts and returns include the names each patrol member and the number of hours they served. Additionally, they sometimes record the dates each individual patrolled and the amount owed them for their service. The patrol appointments and orders contain the names of individuals selected “to patrole and visit all negroe quarters and other places suspected of entertaining unlawful assemblies of slaves, servants, or other disorderly persons...or any others stroling from one Plantation to another without a pass from his or her master or mistress or Overseer.”

Runaway Records, 1845, 1865, include a valuation, 1845, and an affidavit and order, 1865. The valuation concerns Nancy, who was enslaved by James Gary of Bath County and had been confined in the Albemarle County jail for self-emancipating. Additionally, these records include an affidavit and an order, wherein Allen Bacon, the jailor of Albemarle County, sought permission to sell Mary. Mary had been confined in the Albemarle County jail for six months and had yet to be claimed by Thomas Crittenden of Culpepper County, her enslaver.

Additional single items relating to the documentation of free and enslaved Black and Multiracial individuals in and around Albemarle County, Va., include:

An account, 1843, documenting the sale of five persons enslaved by Richard Fretwell, namely [Wandson?], Anderson, James, Nancy, and Matilda.

Two advertisements, [1863], placed by David Poindexter and Daniel Ruffin seeking information about the location of their free papers. The title of the newspaper in which the advertisements were placed is unknown.

A bond, 1850, involving Anthony Gray, a free man of color, who was “not entitled to be in this Commonwealth” after having moved to Albemarle County and remained there contrary to the laws of the time.

A petition, 1870, submitted by Thomas Littlepage (alias Tom Page) seeking to be declared “not a negro” due to his “Indian blood.” He claimed to be the son of Carter Littlepage, a white man, and a enslaved woman of “3/4 Indian blood.”

An order, 1865, appointing a committee "to confer with the Military Authorities in regard to the carrying of arms by the negroes.”

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Related Material

See also: Albemarle County (Va.) Deeds of Emancipation, 1841-1864

See also: Albemarle County (Va.) Petitions for Re-Enslavement, 1858-1864

See also: Albemarle County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1816-1819, 1852-1859

See also: Albemarle County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1802-1865

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

Additional Albemarle 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."

Albemarle County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Albemarle County records may be found in the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available on the Library of Virginia website.

Adjunct Descriptive Data