Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Goochland County (Va.) Deeds of Emancipation, 1782-1862, 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

Goochland County (Va.) Deeds of Emancipation, 1782-1862. Local government records collection, Goochland 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 Goochland County in an undated accession.

Processing Information

Deeds of Emancipation, 1782-1862 were removed from the larger Goochland County (Va.) Free and Enslaved records and moved to this Goochland County (Va.) Deeds of Emancipation, 1782-1862, in June 2024

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

Encoded by M. Mason, June 2024

Historical Information

Context for Record Type: Deeds of emancipation and manumission record an enslavers' intent to emancipate enslaved people from bondage. Some of the earliest legal manumissions in Virginia occurred in the early 1770s. However, there was a sharp rise following the 1782 manumission act that allowed enslavers to privately emancipate enslaved people "by last will and testament or other instrument in writing sealed." They were no longer required to seek a special act from the General Assembly. These documents sometimes include an enslavers' intent for emancipation ranging from religious and moral motivations to binding legal agreements.

Deeds of emancipation and manumission essentially provide the same information and there is little difference between the two. Both include the name of the enslaver, the name of the enslaved person to be freed, the date of anticipated freedom, the date the manumission was proved or certified, and as mentioned, sometimes a reason why the enslaver decided to emancipate the enslaved person. In a deed of manumission, an enslaver directly freed an enslaved person by manumission. In a deed of emancipation, an enslaved person could be freed after the enslaver's death by those executing a last will and testament. This collection also includes court orders that record the date or age when enslaved individuals were to be emancipated by deed as stipulated in an enslaver's will.

Locality History: Goochland County was named for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. It was formed from Henrico County in 1728.

Scope and Content

Goochland County (Va.) Deeds of Emancipation, 1782-1862, consists of deeds created as an instrument to free Black and multiracial individuals by their white enslavers. These deeds give the names of the enslaved individual, the name of the enslaver, and the ages of the enslaved individuals, the conditions that must be reached in order to be emancipated [for example, immediately or when the enslaved person reaches a certain age], and in some cases a reason for the emancipation.

One item is a list of Black and multiracial individuals, 1817, enslaved by Richard Cocke and due for emancipation, included are about twenty-nine names, familial relation [for example, Beck daughter of Aggy], and the date on which the enslaved person is to be emancipated.

One deed of emancipation, 1828, William Fulcher to Mary Fulcher is a photocopy and concerns the sale of Mary and her two children Harriet, and Dick.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Related Material

See also: Goochland County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1726-1867

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

Additional Goochland County (Va.) court records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia.Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Adjunct Descriptive Data