Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Nansemond County (Va.) Free Negro Certificates, 1827-1861. Local government records collection, Nansemond County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia under accession number 33984 in a transfer from Suffolk Public Library.

Historical Information

Nansemond County (extinct) was named for the Nansemond Indians, who lived in the area in the early seventeenth century. The word nansemond means fishing point or angle. When first established in 1637, the county was known as Upper Norfolk, but the name Nansemond was adopted in 1646. The county seat was Suffolk. The county became the independent city of Nansemond in July 1972, and on 1 January 1974 Nansemond merged with the city of Suffolk. The entire area is now known as Suffolk.

Nansemond County court records were destroyed in three separate fires: the earliest consumed the house of the court clerk in April 1734 (where the records were kept at that time), the second was set by British troops in 1779, and the last occurred on 7 February 1866.

An act passed by the Virginia legislature in 1803 required every free Negro or mulatto to be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the county clerk.

Scope and Content

Nansemond County (Va.) Free Negro Certificates, 1827-1861. The collection contains eight certificates issued by the court to indicate a person's free status. Free negro certificates generally include the free person's full name, sometimes age and a brief physical description, and the circumstances of the person's freedom or emancipation. Each of these certificates was issued to persons who were born free.

Related Material

Nansemond County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Nansemond County Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available at Virginia Memory.

For more information and a listing of lost records localities see Lost Records research note .

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Suffolk County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Free African Americans--Virginia--Nansemond County.

Geographical Names:

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

Genre and Form Terms:

• Certificates--Virginia--Nansemond County.
• Free negro and slave records--Virginia--Nansemond County.
• Free papers--Virginia--Nansemond County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Nansemond County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Nansemond County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data