PUBLIC "-//Library of Virginia//TEXT (US::Vi::vi03646::A Guide to the Westmoreland County (Va.) Writs of Habeas Corpus, 1867, 1870)//EN" "vi03646.xml" A Guide to the Westmoreland County (Va.) Writs of Habeas Corpus, 1867, 1870 Westmoreland County (Va.) Writs of Habeas Corpus, 1867, 1870 1177335, 1177342 Greg Crawford Library of Virginia © 2013 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

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Machine-readable finding aid derived from being created directly into EAD, created by Greg Crawford, 07 March 2013 Description is in English 2013-11-21 Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. A Guide to the Westmoreland County (Va.) Writs of Habeas Corpus, 1867, 1870 A Collection in the Library of Virginia 1177335, 1177342 Greg Crawford

Library of Virginia 2013 Sarah Nerney Library of Virginia Descriptive Summary Library of Virginia Westmoreland County (Va.) Writs of Habeas Corpus, 1867, 1870 1177335, 1177342 Library of Virginia .010 cu.ft English Westmoreland County (Va.) Circuit Court Administrative Information Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Westmoreland County (Va.) Writs of Habeas Corpus, 1867, 1870. Local government records collection, Westmoreland County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court records from Westmoreland County.

Historical Information

The Virginia legislature passed an act on 27 February 1866 to legalize the marriages of former slaves and provided for the legitimization of children of couples no longer cohabiting as long as the father recognized the children to be his. See Virginia Acts of Assembly, 1866-1867, Chapter 18, An act to amend and re-enact the 14th section of chapter 108 of the Code of Virginia for 1860, in regard to registers of marriage; and to legalize the marriages of colored persons now cohabiting as husband and wife.

Westmoreland County was named for the English county. It was formed from Northumberland County in 1653. The county seat is Montross.

Many loose papers were burned during both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Volumes that record deeds, court orders (except for an order book for the period 1764-1776), and wills exist.

Scope and Content

Westmoreland County (Va) Writs of Habeas Corpus, 1867, 1870, involve disputes over custody of children fathered by slaves or free African Americans with slave women or free African American women prior to emancipation. The fathers are seeking custody of the children so that they may be declared legitimate based on an act passed by the Virginia legislature on 27 February 1866.

Writs of habeas corpus is directed to a person detaining another and commanding him to produce the body of the person detained. The purpose is to test the legality of the detention or imprisonment.

Adjunct Descriptive Data Related Material

The Westmoreland County (Va) Writs of Habeas Corpus, 1867, 1870 are filed with Westmoreland County (Va.) Judgments, 1739-1914 available at the Library of Virginia

See the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available at Virginia Memory.

For more information and a listing of lost records localities see Lost Records research note.

Index Terms Corporate Names: Westmoreland County (Va.) Circuit Court Subjects: African Americans--History Custody of children Slavery--Virginia--Westmoreland County Women--Virginia--Westmoreland County Geographical Names: Westmoreland County (Va.)--History--19th century Genre and Form Terms: Civil suits--Virginia--Westmoreland County Local government records--Virginia--Westmoreland County Writs--Virginia--Westmoreland County List of Writs of Habeas Corpus 1867 January: Petition of Peter Wiggins 1867 June: Petition of Abram Hall 1870 October: Petition of Henry Smith