Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Richmond (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1797-1848 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

Richmond (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1797-1848. Local Government Records Collection, Richmond City Court Records, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from City of Richmond under an undated accession.

Processing Information

Richmond (Va.) Freedom suits removed from the Richmond (Va.) Ended Causes and then processed and indexed as a distinct unit by Lydia Neuroth for the purposes of digitizing them for the digital project Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative. All other judgments are still unprocessed and filed with the Richmond (Va.) Ended Causes.

Encoded by M. Mason, December 2023

Biographical Information

Context for Record Type: Freedom suits are lawsuits initiated by enslaved people seeking to gain their freedom. This collection includes petitions, records of suits, depositions, affidavits, and wills. They record enslaved peoples' arguments for freedom, how the individual came to be enslaved, ancestry of the enslaved person, and relationships between enslaved individuals and enslavers. Enslaved men and women sued for emancipation in freedom suits based on the following: they were descendant(s) of a free woman, sometimes either a white or Native American woman; failure of enslaver(s) to abide by the 1778 slave nonimportation act [see Certificates of Importation]; or claimed to have been freed by their enslaver(s) by deed of emancipation or last will and testament. Petitioners suing for their freedom on the grounds they had a free mother applied the 1662 law passed by the General Assembly stating that "all children born in this country, shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother."

Types of Courts: Richmond (Va.) Hustings court created by the General Assembly in 1782 at the time Richmond was granted it's charter. The court was created to handle all criminal cases, civil law cases, probate of wills, fiduciary accounts, deed recordings, all licenses (business, marriage, etc.), citizenship applications, etc. It also included the Mayor's Court.

Locality History Note: The city of Richmond, located between Henrico and Chesterfield Counties, was named by William Byrd (1674-1744), who envisioned the development of a city at the falls of the James River and with the help of William Mayo laid out the town in 1737. The name probably came from the English borough of Richmond upon Thames, which Byrd visited on several occasions. Richmond was established in 1742 and in 1779 was designated the capital of Virginia effective 30 April 1780. It was incorporated as a town, although "stiled the city of Richmond," in 1782 and was incorporated as a city in 1842. It served as the capital of the Confederacy from mid-1861 to April 1865. Richmond was enlarged by the annexation of Manchester (or South Richmond) in 1910, and by the addition of Barton Heights, Fairmount, and Highland Park in 1914. Further annexations from Chesterfield County occurred in 1942 and 1970.

Lost Locality Note: During the burning of Richmond on April 3, 1865, during the Civil War, Richmond circuit court judge John A. Meredith led efforts to save the circuit court records found at the State Court House. Rescuers successfully removed all the papers that were necessary to pending suits and many of the order books, but all of the wills and deed books were lost. Records of the superior court and circuit superior court of law and chancery were also destroyed. Most of the pre-Civil War Hustings Court records exist.

Scope and Content

Richmond (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1797-1848, consists of suits initiated by enslaved persons seeking to gain their freedom on the law side of the court. Cases are identified by style of suit consisting of plaintiff and defendant names.

Richmond City freedom suits contain about nineteen suits. In the majority of the cases the plaintiff is awarded their freedom; however, there are several cases which the plaintiff is denied freedom by the court. In some cases the court dismissed, abated the case, or there was an unclear/ incomplete ruling.

Many of the plaintiffs claim they are being illegally held in enslavement by their enslaver on the grounds that they or their mother was born free (some born internationally including Jamaica and the Island of Domingo). One family comprised of Sarah, Leah, Saba, and Sam, all claim freedom by being descendant from an "Indian woman." Others claim they were brought illegally from a free state to Virginia and enslaved. Still others argue they rightfully obtained freedom per a will or other action of their enslaver and were then illegally enslaved or held.

Plaintiffs represented in these cases include Frank; Sarah, Leah, Saba, and Sam; Agnes, Leah, Frank, Milly, Jenny, Mary, Sam, Perry; Stephen Phillips; Sam Nighten; Elizabeth Wallace; Michael Brooks; George Diamond; Roger; Thomas; Jim Vanauker; Frank Bird; Sambo Battis; William Muse; George Hunter; Katy Wandford; Priscillia Taylor; Peter Butler; and Kitty.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged chronologically by the date the suit ended.

Related Material

See also: Richmond (Va.) Ended Causes, 1782-1951 (bulk 1900-1951) for Judgments

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

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

Richmond City is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Richmond City Court Records may be found in the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website.

Adjunct Descriptive Data