Rockingham County Enslaved and Free Records

Rockingham County Enslaved and Free Records

African Americans—Virginia—History
Slavery—Virginia—Rockingham County
Freedmen—Virginia—Registers
Virginia—History—Local records
Manumission—Virginia
Enslaved persons—Legal status, laws, etc.

This collection documents the lives of enslaved and free African Americans in Rockingham County, Virginia, from the late eighteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries. Records include registers of free persons of African descent, certificates of importation for enslaved individuals, bills of sale, deeds of emancipation, and related legal and court materials. Together, these documents trace how local courts and county governments regulated freedom, enslavement, and mobility in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. The records also provide rare identifying details, such as names, ages, stature, complexion, and marks or scars, that allow for the reconstruction of individual and family histories. Many of these materials were digitized through Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative, a digital collection of the Library of Virginia. The original records are stored and maintained by the Clerk of Circuit Court.

Rockingham County (Va.) Circuit Court

JMU Libraries

1807–1864

Megan Pullen, Library of Virginia, Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative

This work has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

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English

Efr

Rockingham County (Va.)
Shenandoah Valley (Va.)

This work has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Created and maintained by Rockingham County courts; preserved and digitized by the Library of Virginia.