Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Tax records "List of Free Negroes and Mulattoes," 1801-1850 and selected records concerning requisitions for public use, 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

Fluvanna County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1801-1865, undated. Local government records collection, Fluvanna County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

Acquisition Information

Digital images of "Free Negro" tax records 1801-1850 , were scanned at the Fluvanna Historical Society by Library of Virginia Staff in 2023.

These records came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Fluvanna County in 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.

Petitions to Remain were removed from this record in April 2025 and are now described in Fluvanna County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth.

"Free Negro" Registrations were removed from this record in April 2025 and are now described in Fluvanna County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons.

Original Free and Enslaved EAD Encoded by S. Nerney, 2010; updated by M. Mason: April 2025

Historical Information

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 Staunton. 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.

Locality History: Fluvanna County was named after the eighteenth-century term for the upper James River. The name, meaning river of Anne, was given in honor of Queen Anne of England. The county was formed from Albemarle County in 1777.

Scope and Content

Fluvanna County (Va.) Free Negro and Enslaved Records, 1801-1865, undated, includes a criminal record, 1849; "Free Negro" tax records, 1801-1859; Records concerning requisitions for public use, 1864-1865; and a list, undated.

Criminal records, 1849, include the arrest of John Waston, a free person in want of papers. Waston's papers are granted but he is hired out to pay court fees.

"Free Negro" tax records, 1801-1859, includes digital images for tax records 1801-1850. These digital records include "List of Free Negroes and Mulattoes," 1801-1802,1804-1807,1809-1826, 1828-1842, 1847-1850, kept by the commissioner of revenue contains name, residence, and occupation [sometimes additional information like sex and names of children].

Physical records include, a "list of free negroes to be hired for payment of the Revenue tax," 1855 [photocopy]; a "list of delinquent free negroes," 1856; and a "list of delinquent free negroes and mulattoes,"1859.

Records concerning requisitions for public use, 1864-1865, consists of a requisition for public use, 1864, for Henry, an enslaved man, and includes additional letters and documents; an Appraisement of enslaved individuals sent to labor on fortifications, 1864 March; and an Appraisement of enslaved individuals drafted in Janry 1865 to labor on fortifications.

These appraisement lists include the name of the enslaved person, their enslaver's name, monetary value of the enslaved person, and whether they were accepted or rejected for requisition. Includes one additional appraisement, 1864 July, for enslaved individuals but does not include names of the enslaved.

Various other record types include:

List, undated [ca. 1805], of the "ages and names of slaves" enslaved by the estates of John Shephard. Names include: Stephen, Charles, Rachel, Beck, Sam, Lucy, Winston, Hack, Henny, and Charles.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Related Material

See also: Fluvanna County (Va.) Records Related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1802-1864

See also: Fluvanna County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth,1841

See also: Fluvanna County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures 1793-1893

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

Additional Fluvanna 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

Original "List of Free Negroes and Mulattoes," 1801-1850, are located at the Fluvanna County Historical Society.