A Guide to the Charles City County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1821, 1835-1864

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

Charles City County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1821, 1835-1864, are digitized and available through Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website. Please use digital images.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Charles City County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1821, 1835-1864. Local government records collection, Charles City County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Creator:
Charles City County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Charles City County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1821, 1835-1864. Local government records collection, Charles City County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Charles City County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1821, 1835-1864, consist of a "Free Negro" register, 1835-1864, and "Free Negro" registrations and certificates, 1821, 1847-1854.

Charles City County (Va.) Register of "Free Negroes and Mulattoes," 1835-1864, records the registration of free Black and Multiracial people of Black descent in Charles City County and covers the years 1835 to 1864. The clerk recorded name, age, height, complexion, marks and scars, and whether the person was emancipated or born free. There is an index. It includes page numbers. In some instances, the clerk recorded information not required by law such as the name of the former enslaver, previous place of registration, or place of birth.

"Free Negro" registrations and certificates, 1821, 1847-1854, are comprised of five registrations related to the following individuals: Eliza Evans (1821), Austin Brown (1821), Ebenezer Pennington (1847), Eliza Evans (1852), and John (alias Jack) Coleman (1854). The registrations also include a brief physical description of each person, as well as their age and the locality in which the registration originated. Several registrations record whether the individual was born free or emancipated, and some include a register number, which corresponds to entry numbers in their respective localities' free register(s).

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type:

"Free Negro" Registers

In 1793, the Virginia General Assembly specified that "free Negroes or mulattoes" were required to be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the town clerk, which shall specify "age, name, colour, and stature, by whom, and in what court the said negro or mulatto was emancipated; or that such negro or mulatto was born free." The process was extended to counties in 1803. Although some clerks were already recording such features, an 1834 Act of Assembly made it a uniform requirement to record identifying marks and scars and the instrument of emancipation, whether by deed or will. This bound register often coincided with a loose certificate containing largely the same identifying information. Both the registration system and the process of renewal was enforced differently in the various Virginia localities. Thus, the information found in these registers may differ from year to year and across localities.

The register books resulting from the administration of the 1793 and 1803 Act of Assembly are evidence of Virginia legislators' reaction to a quickly growing free Black and Multiracial population in Virginia in the post Revolutionary War period. Acts such as these allowed white officials to police the activities and movement of free Black community members throughout the state thereby restricting their autonomy.

"Free Negro" Registrations

In 1793, the Virginia General Assembly specified that "free Negroes or mulattoes" were required to "be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the town clerk, which shall specify age, name, color, status and by whom, and in what court emancipated." These entries often coincided with the creation of a loose certificate containing largely the same identifying information.

Documents in this record group differ from the bound volumes referred to as "registers." These registration records typically appear in the form of certificates or handwritten statements recording the free status of a Black or Multiracial person. They can include the free person's name, sometimes age, a brief physical description, and the circumstances of the person's freedom or emancipation, parents, former enslaver, place or date of emancipation. There are also affidavits that were given by individuals affirming a free person's status, as well as written descriptions of free people. In some cases, a person would not have a registration to submit to the court. Instead, they produced some other form of identification proving their free status, for example, a deed of emancipation, a will, an apprenticeship indenture, or an affidavit of someone testifying to their character and status.

Locality History: Charles City County was named for King Charles I and was one of the original shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634. The county seat is Charles City. Part of James City County was added to Charles City in 1721.

Lost Locality Note: Records have been destroyed at various times. The most damage occurred during the Civil War when the records were strewn through the woods in a rainstorm. A few pre–Civil War volumes such as deed books, will books, minute books, and order books exist.

Acquisition information:

These records were transferred to the Library of Virginia from Charles City County (Va.) as part of an undated accession.

The microfilm of the register was created by the Library of Virginia’s Imaging Services Branch at an unknown date.

Digital images of the register were produced by Backstage Library Works in 2021 as part of a National Historic Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant.

Processing information:

"Free Negro" registrations and certificates, 1821, 1847-1854, were originally described as part of the Charles City County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1800-1859, but were removed to the present Charles City County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1821, 1835-1864, record to enhance the context between record types in October 2025.

The microfilm of the Register of "Free Negroes" was originally described as Charles City County (Va.) Free Negro Register, 1835-1864, but was removed to the present Charles City County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1821, 1835-1864, record to enhance the context between record types in October 2025.

These records have been processed, scanned, and indexed by L. Neuroth, C. Childs, and LVA staff for the purposes of digitizing them for the digital project Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative.

Encoded by C. Childs: January 2003; updated by C. Collins: October 2025.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: "Free Negro" Register, 1835-1864, arranged chronologically by entry date.
  • Series II: "Free Negro" registrations, 1821, 1847-1854, arranged chronologically.

Arranged chronologically by entry date

Arranged chronologically

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
1 volume; 1 folder [6 items]; 1 microfilm reel