African American Resources for Virginia

United States    Virginia    African Americans

This Wiki page describes research strategies, and major sources of information about African American families from Virginia. As you read this Wiki page, also study the African American Research Wiki pages, which will help you understand more strategies, and the contents and uses of other African American genealogical records.

Cemeteries

• The African American Historic Cemeteries of Portsmouth VA on Facebook:  A friend's group of descendants and volunteers of the African American Cemeteries of Portsmouth: The Mt. Calvary Cemetery Complex (est 1879), Lincoln Memorial Cemetery (est 1912), and Grove Baptist Church cemetery (est 1840)
• The African American Historic Cemeteries of Portsmouth Virginia (web):  A friend's group of     descendants and volunteers of the African American Cemeteries of Portsmouth:  The Mt. Calvary Cemetery Complex (est. 1879), Lincoln Memorial Cemetery (est 1912), and Grove Baptist Church Cemetery (est. 1840).
• African American Cemeteries of Hampton Roads on Facebook.  A community forum for the African American cemeteries of Hampton Roads, Virginia.  Included are burial sites located in Norfolk, Hampton, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, and additional areas throughout the Tidewater region.

History

Number of slaves in Virginia:

• 1830: 469,757
• 1840: 449,087
• 1860: 490,865

Records

Cohabitation Records Cohabitation records are registers created when the former slaves legalized their marriages which was not allowed until 1866.  This valuable genealogical data is being made available online through the Library of Virginia's Virginia Memory Collection. See the online resources below for a direct link to the database. More about this source is also found on the Cohabitation Records Wiki page, and the Virginia Cohabitation Records Wiki page.

Freedman's Savings and Trust Company signature cards or registers may list the slave's former masters, birth date, birthplace, occupation, residences, death information, parents, children, spouse, or siblings. Virginia had three branches of this bank:

• Lynchburg 1871
• Norfolk 1871-1874
• Richmond 1867-1874  

The signature registers for these branches are listed in:

• Freedman's Savings and Trust Company (Washington, DC) 1865-1874. Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1969. (Family History Library film 928591.) In each city, depositors' names are arranged by account number.

Two valuable sources for the period after the Civil War are:

• United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Records of the Superintendent of Education for the State of Virginia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1870. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1977. (Family History Library films 1549578-97.) Most volumes are indexed.
• United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Virginia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1869. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1988. (Family History Library films 1601562-628.) There are several indexes.

Prior to the Civil War, each Virginia county court kept a “register of free negroes.” These registers may give the person's name, age, color, stature, marks and scars, and name the court of emancipation. Several of these registers are found at the Library of Virginia. The Family History Library has copies of some of these registers. They are usually found in the Family History Library Place Search under VIRGINIA, [COUNTY] - COURT RECORDS.

Slave families freed prior to the Civil War are found in:

• Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware] at http://freeafricanamericans.com/ (accessed 22 October 2010). About 2,000 pages of family histories based on colonial court order and minute books 1790-1810 census records, tax lists, wills, deeds, free Negro registers, marriage bonds, parish registers, and Revolutionary War pension files.

For an index of Slaves and Free Men of Color, listed in Index to Sons of the Revolution . . . , see the Virginia Periodicals section.

Slaves are sometimes mentioned in deeds (see the “Land and Property” section), in wills (see “Probate Records”), and in court order books (see “Court Records”). A few parish registers (see “Church Records”) list slaves who attended church with their masters. In Virginia the births of slave children should be listed in the County birth records after 1853.

Names of hundreds of runaway slaves, their descriptions, owners, and ages can be found in:

• Windley, Lathan A., comp. Runaway Slave Advertisements. Four Volumes. (Virginia and North Carolina) Wesport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1983. (Family History Library book 975 F2wL.) For Virginia, see volume one.

Freedmen's Bureau Virginia Marriages ca. 1815-1866--Names of thousands of former slaves are included in these records.  A free index can be viewed at FamilySearch Record Search.  Records may include the name of the bride & groom, date of marriage registration, residence, previous marriages, names and ages of children.

Virginia Plantation Records

Occasionally, slaves are mentioned in plantation records. The Family History Library has several series of plantation records from the periods before and after the Civil War. These are listed in the Author/Title Search of the Family History Library Catalog under the STAMPP, KENNETH M. or in the Subject Search under PLANTATION LIFE - VIRGINIA or PLANTATION LIFE - SOUTHERN STATES. Records are available at:

• Library of Congress: inventory, Family History Library book 975 H2sm Ser. C; original records, Family History Library films beginning with 1534247.
• University of Virginia Library: inventory, Family History Library book 975 H2sm Ser. E; original records, Family History Library films beginning with 1534274.
• Duke University Library: inventory, Family History Library book 975 H2sm Ser. F; original records, Family History Library films beginning with 1549774.
• University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill: inventory,Family History Library book 975 H2sm Ser. J; original records, Family History Library films beginning with 1672791.
• Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library: inventory, Family History Library book 975 H2sm Ser. K; original records, Family History Library films beginning with 1844005. These records are from the Shirley plantation of the Carter family.
• College of William and Mary, Earl Gregg Swem Library: inventory, Family History Library book 975 H2sm Ser. L; original records, Family History Library films beginning with 1844318.
• Virginia Historical Society: inventory, Family History Library book 975 H2sm Ser. M; original records, Family History Library films beginning with 1985945.

The Family History Library has microfilms of most of the records described in the guide booklets. Virginia plantation records are scattered throughout.

African American Families Database online

The Central Virginia History Researchers (CVHR) has now released the “African-American Families Database” online. The first stage of this website provides a template for researchers trying to locate specific African- Americans who lived between circa 1850 and 1880. This period is particularly challenging for African-American family research because of the difficulty in relating ante-bellum and post-bellum records. The two plantations on which the website currently focuses are Hydraulic Plantation (5 miles north of Charlottesville, W.V.), and the Bleak House Plantation (9 miles northwest of Charlottesville W.V.).The site contains information on the plantations and information on the enslaved people living on these two plantations. The site also contains a blog focusing on the activities of the CVHR group, and details about the Database project.

Slavery Legislation. To learn about the laws that affected Virginia slaves, see:

• Finkelman, Paul. State Slavery Statutes: Guide to the Microfiche Collection. Frederick, Maryland: University Publications of America, 1989. (Family History Library book 975 F23s.) Pages 317-56 pertain to Virginia and cover the years 1789-1865. The advertisements are indexed. The records list the names of many slaves and slave owners.

Online Resources

• Register of Colored Persons…cohabiting together as Husband and Wife on 27th February 1866 Under "What's New" are listings of various digital collections. You will find the "Cohabitation Registers" at the bottom. Click on the thumbnail picture rather than the link which does not work at this time.
• Freedmen's Bureau
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• Freedmen's Bureau Marriages 1815-1866
• Virgina Slaves Freed After 1782
• Cemeteries in Albemarle and Amherst Counties
• J. F. Bell Funeral Home Records, Charlottesville, VA 1917-1989
• Accomac Roots
• Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States, From Interviews with Former Slaves
• History of the American Negro, Virginia edition See page 728.
• World War I History Commission Questionnaires.Read more about the questionnaires.
• African-American Newspapers Held at the Library of Virginia
• Reconstruction:The Second Civil War
• State online resources for African-American genealogy: Virginia
• More state online resources for African-American genealogy: Virginia
• African-American Manuscripts (Virginia Historical Society)
• Virginia Black History Archives Collections
• Geography of Slavery in Virginia
• African-Americans in Virginia

Family History Library

• Negro office holders in Virginia, 1865-1895, by Luther Porter Jackson

Websites

• Access Genealogy: Virginia African American Genealogy

This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Some subscription websites are available for free at your local FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library.