Fairfax County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1822-1861

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

Summary

Creator:
Fairfax County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Fairfax County (Va.) Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1822-1861, consist of two “Free Negro” registers, 1822-1861.

Fairfax County (Va.) Register of "Free Negroes," 1822-1835, records the registration of free Black and multiracial people of Black descent in Fairfax County and covers the years 1822 to 1835. The clerk recorded name, age, height, complexion, marks and scars, and in what court the person was emancipated or if the person was born free. There is no 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.

Fairfax County (Va.) Register of "Free Negroes," 1835-1861, records the registration of free Black and multiracial people of Black descent in Fairfax County and covers the years 1835 to 1861. The clerk recorded name, age, height, complexion, marks and scars, and in what court the person was emancipated or if the person was born free. There is no 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.

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.

Locality History: Fairfax County was named for Thomas Fairfax, sixth baron Fairfax of Cameron, proprietor of the Northern Neck. It was formed from Prince William County in 1742. Part of Loudoun County was added in 1798. The county seat is the city of Fairfax.

Lost Locality Note: Original wills and deeds as well as many other loose papers were destroyed during the Civil War; deed books for twenty-six of the fifty-six years between 1763 and 1819 are missing. Numerous pre–Civil War minute books are missing as well.

Acquisition information:

Fairfax County (Va.) Reel No. 56 was generated by the Administrative Services Department, Department of Environmental Management, Fairfax County, Virginia, at an unknown date.

Digital images of the registers were given to the Library of Virginia by the clerk of the Fairfax County Circuit Court in July 2021.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: Records related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1822-1861, arranged loosely by record type then chronologically.

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
1 microfilm reel