Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Northampton County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1849-1866, 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

Northampton County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1849-1866. Local government records collection, Northampton 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 Northampton County (Va.) as part of an undated accession.

Processing Information

Northampton County Petitions to Remain were originally described as part of the Northampton County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1737-1860, but were removed to the present Northampton County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1849-1866, record to enhance discoverability in July 2024.

It is believed the petitions to remain currently in this collection were removed from Northampton County (Va.) Judgments and processed by LVA staff around 2007.

These   records   were scanned and indexed by LVA staff for the purposes of   digitizing   them for the digital project Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative at an unknown   date  .

Encoded by C. Collins: July 2024.

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: Northampton County was named probably for the English county, of which Obedience Robins, a prominent early resident of the Eastern Shore, was a native. The county, which originally included all of the peninsula south of Maryland and which was one of the eight shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634, was first called Accomack. The General Assembly changed the name to Northampton County in 1643. Accomack County was created from Northampton County about 1663, but in October 1670, the General Assembly temporarily reunited the two counties as Northampton County. In November 1673, Accomack County was again separated from Northampton. The county seat is Eastville.

Scope and Content

Northampton County (Va.) Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth, 1849-1866, consist of records related to the petitions of 6 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.

These records consist of a petition, 1849-1850, undated, submitted by Parker Pitts, who was emancipated by the will of John Pitts in 1806. The petition includes two orders and two petitions signed by citizens of Northampton County in support of Pitts. Pitts, who in 1849 resided in Philadelphia, received permission to remain in, or return to, the Commonwealth.

Two   petitions  , 1857, undated, submitted by David Heath and Lewis Fisher, who were both formerly enslaved by Arthur R. Savage. The petitions include orders and petitions signed by citizens of Northampton County in support of Health and Fisher. Heath and Fisher were permitted to remain in the Commonwealth.

A petition, 1860-1866, submitted by Michael Roane. The petition consists of an order and a petition signed by citizens of Northampton County in support of Roane, who was employed by James T. Nottingham. Roane's application was   dismissed   in 1866, [most likely due to the end of the Civil War].

Orders, 1860, related to petitions to remain in the Commonwealth submitted by Jake Matthews and Mary Wilmer. The petitions of both Matthews and Wilmer were ultimately refused.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Related Material

See also: Northampton County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1737-1860

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

Additional Northampton 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