Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Lunenburg County (Va.) Certificates of importation, 1812-1813, 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

Lunenburg County (Va.) Certificates of importation, 1812-1813. Local government records collection, Lunenburg County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Lunenburg County in an undated accession.

Processing Information

Lunenburg County (Va.) Certificates of Importation were previously described with the Lunenburg County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records but were removed to the present Lunenburg County (Va.) Certificates of Importation, 1812-1813 for discoverability purposes.

These records have been scanned 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: February 2024

Historical Information

Context of Record Type: In 1778, Governor Patrick Henry enacted legislation preventing importation of enslaved people into the commonwealth. Those that did bring their enslaved people were required to register them with the county court and sign a certificate of importation agreeing that they were not bringing enslaved people into the commonwealth with the intent to sell. The enslaved person is sometimes named, but not always, and occasionally information is given as to age, birthdate, and the state from which the individuals were moving. According to Section 3 of the act "every slave imported into this commonwealth contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, shall upon such importation become free." By this clause, those enslaved people who were brought into Virginia illegally could pursue their freedom in the local courts.

Locality History Note: Lunenburg County was named for George II, duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, a German possession of the Hanoverian kings of England. It was formed from Brunswick County in 1745.

Scope and Content

Lunenburg County (Va.) Certificates of Importation, 1812-1813, consists of five certificates containing information whereby an enslaver swears that they have not imported the recorded enslaved individual(s) from Africa and that the enslaver has not brought the enslaved individual(s) into Virginia for the purpose of selling them.

Enslaved individuals referenced in these certificates includes: Letty, Ciller [or Hiller], Mary, Rachel, Charles, and Hetty (brought to Virginia by Robert Love of North Carolina in 1812); Tiller, Chaney, Frederick, Ritter, Hanah, Julius, and Bartlet (brought by John Wood of Tennessee in 1813); and Jim (brought by Benjamin Hatchett of North Carolina in 1813).

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into

Related Material

See also: Lunenburg County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1802-1865

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

Additional Lunenburg 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