Rachel Findley was a mother. She was a grandmother. She was a Virginian. She was also enslaved. The law defined Rachel as property. Because Rachel…
Library of VirginiaAugust 31, 2022
On March 18, 1856, an enslaved man named Richard was charged in the City of Richmond for the crime of aiding and advising Tazewell, his…
Lydia NeurothOctober 27, 2021
Lucy began her life in enslavement. The daughter of her enslaver, Edmund Littlepage, and enslaved mother Sophia Littlepage, Lucy lived on her father’s plantation in…
Mary Ann Mason, They/ThemOctober 6, 2021
In 1791, Rachel Veney’s mother Sarah won a case in the district court of Northumberland County for her freedom and the freedom of her descendants.…
Greg CrawfordJune 9, 2021
As we have often seen in this blog, even the driest local records can lead to the most interesting stories. Such is the case with…
Tracy HarterJune 19, 2019
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) and the Library of Virginia are cooperating to provide greater access to African American history and genealogy…
Greg CrawfordFebruary 21, 2019
Sometimes a will is not worth the paper it’s written on. Too often, people go through the trouble of creating a formal last will and…
Sherri BagleyJune 20, 2018
Often, researchers will utilize several collections or sources housed at the Library in order to get to the truth of a matter, or to gain…
Tracy HarterApril 11, 2018
As told in an earlier blog, James Dunlop of Petersburg emancipated his slave, John Brown, in April 1822 through a deed of manumission. One would…
Greg CrawfordFebruary 15, 2017
In 1856, the General Assembly decided that free African Americans could petition their county or city court to be enslaved. These individuals had to be…
Cara GriggsJanuary 11, 2017
In 1820, Rachel Findley won freedom for herself and more than 35 of her descendants in a Powhatan County court in a law suit dating…
Greg CrawfordFebruary 3, 2016
This is the fourth in a series of blog posts on the record types found in the forthcoming Library of Virginia research database: Virginia Untold: The…
Ed JordanJanuary 27, 2016
What does it mean to be free? Some might define freedom as having no obligations to a particular thing or person. A free person cannot…
Sherri BagleyDecember 2, 2015
Cohabitation registers are among the most important genealogical resources for African-Americans attempting to connect their family lines back through the murky past to their enslaved…
Sarah NerneyJuly 29, 2015
