Montgomery County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1806-1813

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:

Montgomery County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1806-1813, 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:

Montgomery County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1806-1813. Local Government Records Collection, Montgomery County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

Summary

Extent:
digital images
Creator:
Montgomery County (Va.) Circuit Court
Abstract:
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Montgomery County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1806-1813. Local Government Records Collection, Montgomery County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

Montgomery County (Va.) Free and Enslaved Records, 1806-1813, consists of "Free Negro" Tax Records, 1806-1813.

"Free Negro" Tax Records, 1806-1813, consists of three "List of Free Negroes and Mulattoes," 1806, 1808, and 1813, in the county of Montgomery created by the Commissioner of Revenue for the county (lists record the name, occupation, and "abode" of the individual) [digital images].

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type:

Free and Enslaved Records

The Free and Enslaved Records collection is comprised of miscellaneous records related to the regulation and policing of both enslaved and free Black and Multiracial people in Staunton. The localities/local government authorities were largely responsible for enforcing laws that restricted the movement of enslaved and free Black and multiracial people and the resulting documentation was often filed in the circuit courts. The ways in which local authorities enacted legal measures against or on behalf of enslaved and free Black and multiracial people varied from locality to locality; therefore, records were not necessarily standardized or filed and retained in a consistent manner. This collection is topical and a means by which to compile miscellaneous documents related to free and enslaved people that are not established local government record types.

"Free Negro" Tax Records"

In 1801, the Virginia Legislature passed an act requiring commissioners of the revenue to annually return a complete list of all free Black Virginians within their districts, with their names, sex, place of abode, and trades.

Locality History:Montgomery County was formed from Fincastle County in 1776, and the county court first met on 7 January 1777. Part of Botetourt County was added in 1790. Part of Pulaski County was added in 1842. The county was named for Richard Montgomery, who was killed in the American assault on Quebec late in 1775.

Fincastle County was created from Botetourt County in 1772, and the county court first met on 5 January 1773. Fincastle County became extinct on 31 December 1776 when it was divided to form Montgomery, Washington and Kentucky Counties. The county was named probably for George, Viscount Fincastle, Lord Dunmore's son; for John Murray, fourth earl of Dunmore, Viscount Fincastle; or for the town of Fincastle, Virginia, which was established in 1772 and named for George, Viscount Fincastle.

Acquisition information:
Digital images of "Free Negro" Tax records came to the Library of Virginia in December 2024 under accession 54389.
Processing information:

In December 2024, LVA staff traveled to Montgomery County to return "Free Negro Registers" from the clerk's office which had been loaned for scanning. While onsite, staff photographed four different records related to enslaved and free people that the clerk had stored in her office for safekeeping in two separate folders. The items never came to LVA; they remain in the locality and are presumably isolated from other records and held in the clerk's office.

Encoded by M. Mason, October 2025

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: Free and Enslaved Records, 1806-1813

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.