Collections : [Library of Virginia]

Library of Virginia

The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Primary Collecting Areas:
State and local government records. Private Papers, including family records, personal papers, business, and organizational records. Prints & photographs, maps, architectural drawings & plans, state artwork, rare books.
Description:
The Library of Virginia is one of the oldest agencies of Virginia government, founded in 1823 to preserve and provide access to the state's incomparable printed and manuscript holdings. Our collection, which has grown steadily through the years, is the most comprehensive resource in the world for the study of Virginia history, culture, and government.
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Start Over Repository Library of Virginia Subjects Slavery -- Virginia -- Grayson County.

Grayson County (Va.) Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1837

Grayson County (Va.) Circuit Court

Grayson County (Va.) County Judgments (Freedom Suits), 1837, consist of one suit: Petition of Tom, a man of color. Suits initiated by enslaved people seeking to gain their freedom on the law side of the court. Cases are identified by style of suit consisting of plaintiff and defendant names. Surnames of others involved in a suit, including secondary plaintiffs and defendants, witnesses, deponents and affiants, and family members with surnames different from the plaintiff or defendant are indexed. Also identified are names of enslaved people and slaveowners found in suit as well as whether enslaved people won their freedom. Predominant documents found in freedom suits include petitions, records of suits, depositions, affidavits, wills, among other items. Information found in documents include enslaved person's argument for freedom, acquisition of enslaved people by slaveowners, slave ancestry, and relationship between enslaved people and slaveowners.

  1. Library of Virginia

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