Nansemond County (Va.) Free Negro Certificates, 1827-1861

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
Restrictions:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Nansemond County (Va.) Free Negro Certificates, 1827-1861. Local government records collection, Nansemond County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Creator:
Suffolk (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Nansemond County (Va.) Free Negro Certificates, 1827-1861. Local government records collection, Nansemond County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Nansemond County (Va.) Free Negro Certificates, 1827-1861. The collection contains eight certificates issued by the court to indicate a person's free status. Free negro certificates generally include the free person's full name, sometimes age and a brief physical description, and the circumstances of the person's freedom or emancipation. Each of these certificates was issued to persons who were born free.

Biographical / historical:

Nansemond County (extinct) was named for the Nansemond Indians, who lived in the area in the early seventeenth century. The word nansemond means fishing point or angle. When first established in 1637, the county was known as Upper Norfolk, but the name Nansemond was adopted in 1646. The county seat was Suffolk. The county became the independent city of Nansemond in July 1972, and on 1 January 1974 Nansemond merged with the city of Suffolk. The entire area is now known as Suffolk.

Nansemond County court records were destroyed in three separate fires: the earliest consumed the house of the court clerk in April 1734 (where the records were kept at that time), the second was set by British troops in 1779, and the last occurred on 7 February 1866.

An act passed by the Virginia legislature in 1803 required every free Negro or mulatto to be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the county clerk.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia under accession number 33984 in a transfer from Suffolk Public Library.
Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
8 p.