Collections

Powhatan County (Va.) Apprenticeship Indentures, 1788-1884, are bonds and contracts of apprenticeship, showing the names of master and apprentice, the trade to be taught, details of the contract, the amount of the bond and the names of sureties. Many of the apprentices are free African Americans.

Powhatan County (Va.) Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Records, 1866, consist of Freedmen's Bureau Apprenticeship Indentures, 1866.

Powhatan County (Va.) Business Records, 1788-1891, is comprised of various records created by individuals and companies is pursuit of documenting business activities in and around Powhatan County (Va.). Represented records largerly consists of bound volumes such as ledgers, account box, daybooks, account books and journals.

Powhatan County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1782-1951 consists of cases concerning issues of equity brought largely by residents of the county and filed in the circuit court. These cases often involve the following actions: divisions of estates or land, disputes over wills, disputes regarding contracts, debt, divorce, and business disputes. Other less prevalent issues include freedom suits, permissions to sell property, and disputes concerning trespass. Predominant documents found in these chancery causes include bills (documents the plaintiff's complaint), answers (defendant's response to the plaintiff's complaint), decrees (court's decision), depositions, affidavits, correspondence, lists of heirs, deeds, plats, wills, records involving enslaved individuals, business records or vital statistics.

Powhatan county (Va.) Commonwealth Causes, 1850-1881, are criminal court cases and indictments handed down by grand juries in order to prosecute individuals who violated the penal code. The majority of the commonwealth causes involve Free African Americans indicted for remaining in the Commonweath more than one year. One commonwealth cause is a murder case that involves individuals associated with the Ku Klux Klan.

Powhatan County (Va.) Fiduciary Records, 1770-1934, include miscellaneous records filed in a local court by trustees, administrators, executors, guardians, and committees that related to the performance of their duties managing a person's estate. These records typically include the following; bonds, appraisements, audits, inventories, accounts, estate divisions, settlements, dowery records, etc. Information related to enslaved people are commonly found in these records.

Powhatan County (Va.) Free Negro and Slave Records, 1780-1866. The collection is comprised of free negro registrations, affidavits, and certificates, 1798-1866; and additional free negro and slave records, 1780-1865. Some items are photocopies of documents relating to slaves and free negroes that were located in other Powhatan court records.

Powhatan County (Va.) Marriage License Register and Marriage Certificates, 1850-1872, is divided into two separate and distinct volumes. Powhatan County (Va.) Marriage License Register and Marriage Certificates, 1850-1872, is divided into two separate and distinct volumes. One side contains a register of marriage licenses from 1850 to 1872. This register records all marriage licenses issued by the county court clerk during the mid-nineteenth century. The information kept by the clerk contains the day, month and year when the license was issued, the full name of the intended groom and the full name of the intended bride. The clerk would then note the intended groom's race (only if he was a free person of color), the bride's condition (daughter of or widow of) and the race of the intended bride (only if she was a free person of color.) Licenses issued both to Free African Americans and African Americans are noted throughout the volume. Only the first thirty pages of the volume are numbered. There is an internal index (A-W) found in the front of the volume . Entries are arranged by the first letter of either the bride or groom's surname as the name appears according to the page number of the volume. Therefore, surnames found in the unnumbered pages of the volume are not found in the internal index.

Marriage Register, 1777-1853, is essentially divided into two sections. The first section covering pages 1-163, 1777-1853, records the date of the marriage bond, the names of both parties, the names of the parents or guardians present and the names of the security or witnesses in attendance. Spanning the period 1802-1853 (pages 48-162), there are twenty-free entries for marriages between "free persons of color."

Powhatan County (Va.) Militia Captain Letter, 1816 May 13. Consists of a letter from the Governor's Council recommending the consideration of Samuel Drake as Captain of the Militia instead of Abner Smith.