Grayson County (Va.) Records Related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1812, 1823, 1834

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:

"Free Negro" registrations 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:

Grayson County (Va.) Records Related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1812,1823,1834,. Local government records collection, Grayson County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

Summary

Extent:
3 items, digital images
Creator:
Grayson County (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Abstract:
Preferred citation:

Grayson County (Va.) Records Related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1812,1823,1834,. Local government records collection, Grayson County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

Background

Scope and content:

Grayson County (Va.) Records Related to the Registration of Free Persons, 1812,1823,1834, consists of three loose registrations, John Wilson, 1812; Nicolas Rickman, 1823; and Celia Rickman, 1834.

Biographical / historical:

p>Context for Record Type:

"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: Grayson County was named for William Grayson, a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1784 to 1787 and one of the first two United States senators from Virginia. It was formed from Wythe County in 1792, and a part of Patrick County was added in 1810.

Acquisition information:
These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Grayson County under an undated accession.
Processing information:

Grayson County "free negro" registrations were originally described as part of the Grayson Count Free and Enslaved Records, but were removed to the present Grayson County (Va.) Records Related to the Registration of Free Persons, record to enhance discoverability in July 2026.

Encoded by M. Mason, July 2026

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged

  • Series I: "Free Negro" Registrations, 1812,1823,1834

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.