3. Free Blacks in Louisa County before 1865

A significant number of researchers find that they have someone in their family tree who was a free person before the the Civil War.  It is always worth checking to see if any of the adults persons you find living in 1870 are on the lists of free blacks in prior years.  This is especially important if you do not find their names in the Freedmens Cohabitation list and yet they were of an age to be married with a family.

The following are sources of information about Free People of Color before 1865.

The Free Black Register

In 1793, the Virginia General Assembly enacted legislation "to restrain the practice of Negroes going at large."  It required that "free negroes and mulattoes be registered and numbered in a book" which was to be kept among the records of the County Clerk of Court.  Registration was to be renewed every three years.  

The certificates give a physical description of the person registering, their age, height, and frequently both their mother and how they obtained their freedom.  Free women of color were usually recorded using their maiden name with their married names being given as an alias.  Laws were enacted early in the colonial period stating that the child was born into the condition of the mother, hence you will note many say born of...a free woman or simply born free.  

The certificates in the Clerk's office allowed local officials to keep a record of the free people of color within the county.   For the free person of color, it was vital that he/she be able to show a valid certificate at any time to avoid capture as a runaway and sold back into slavery.

The original Clerk of Court's copy of the registrations of all free people of color begins in 1816 and continues through January of 1865.  Volume 1 is in the special collection in the Clerk's office titled Free Black Bond Book.  It contains certificates 1-213.  Color photographs of each page in Volume 1 is presented here. 

A second volume, containing records 213-658 and a few miscellaneous entries has been transferred to the Library of Virginia and made available here from images of the microfilm of the original.

Link to Access the complete index and transcription of the Register  

Link to Access Images of the document pages referred to in the index 

U. S. Federal Census

A significant number of researchers find that they have someone in their family tree who was a free person before the the Civil War. It is always worth checking to see if any of the adults persons you find living in 1870 are on the lists of free blacks in prior years. This is especially important if you do not find their names in the Freedmens Cohabitation list and yet they were of an age to be married with a family.

The following are sources of information about Free People of Color before 1865

The Federal Census listed all free persons, therefore, including people of color. In some years there is a column asking for the race of the person. In other years, the name will have (F. N.) following, for Free Negroe.

Not every person of color listed in the census is in the Free Black Register, although they should be. Not every person in the Free Black Register is in the census, although they should be. It is valuable to check both.

Link to Access the 1860 Louisa County Federal Census with black or mulatto families highlighted

Link to Access a listing from the 1850 Federal Census of households with black or mulatto members.

Link to Access the 1830 Federal Census Free Black Heads of Households transcribed from Carter G. Woodson's work.  

Free African-Americans Online

Another rich source of lineage and documentation on free families of color in Virginia and North Carolina is the work of Paul Heinnegg and other scholars who compiled information from court records, histories, military records, etc.

The work includes a listing by county of manumissions after 1782. It was in that year that the Virginia legislature enacted laws providing for the freeing of slaves.   It also includes many names of enslaved Indians during the Colonial Period.

This information dense work is made available free online.

Link to Access Free African Americans