Southampton County (Va.) Ministers' Returns, 1850-1853, records the returns made by individual ministers of marriages performed within the county. Returns are in the form of lists which record the date of marriage and names of both parties and individual certificates which record the date of marriage and date when certificate was issued. In the process of preparing and sending the returns, the name of the minister and the minister's denomination are also recorded. By 1853, more information was included the certificates from individual ministers such as the ages of the parties, where the parties resided, the occupation of the husband, the status of parties before marriage and where parties were married. In addition, the parents' names of both parties and the birthplaces of both parties were also noted. Marriages between "free negroes" are found from 1851-1853 on pages 3-4, 11 and 14. As noted in the historical section, these returns were not always completed and sent in a timely fashion. As a result, there were marriages performed in 1848 and 1849. In one instance, a marriage was performed in October 1845 ( p. 5) but was not returned until July 1851. The volume also includes an internal index arranged by the surname of the groom (A-W.)