1854 Free Blacks

In 1801, the Virginia Legislature passed an act requiring commissioners of the revenue to annually return a complete list of all free Black Virginians within their districts, with their names, sex, place of abode, and trades. The Library of Virginia's collection of "Free Negro Tax" Records include those lists as well as "Free Negro Delinquent Tax Lists." Delinquent tax lists include names of free Black individuals returned delinquent and sometimes why they were returned, such as "no property," "removed," or "not found." In 1853, the General Assembly passed a law allowing the taxes raised on free Black men and women to be collected in a fund to be applied to the removal of these individuals as a part of the recolonization effort.

In Frederick County, District of Chas. H. Barnes, we see Washington Castleman, a Laborer, Fanny Castleman, Housekeeper with three dependents, Sarah Castleman, plus Ben and Thornton Howard listed as free blacks.  

A List of Free Negroes over 12 years of Age within the district of Chas. H. Barnes, Issued : 1854

Index To [A List of Free Negroes over 12 years of Age within the district of Chas. H. Barnes]

FREDERICK COUNTY (VA.) FREE NEGRO AND SLAVE RECORDS, 1795-1871

1117610_0002_0002

Library of Virginia

Joseph Baker

Joseph Howard

Malinda Baker

John Shuber

Cealy Thompson

William Branson

Jonas Lucas

James C Shuber

George Smith

Sarah Shuber

Arch Allen

Sydney Coleman

Jane Callett

Edward Cary

Lucy Forge

Morton Forge

David Luscal

Washington Castleman

Adison Richson

Fancy Castleman

Mary E Williams

Benjamin Howard

Courtney Taylor

Sarah Castleman

James Allen

Thornton Howard

Alenda Allen

Aaron Jenkins

George Wells

George Fletcher

Henny Wells

Jesse Helms

Lucy Preston

Thornton Fletcher

May E Preston

James Fletcher

Cassa Preston

Henry Fletcher

John Ransom

Cornelia Fletcher

Mary Coleman

Lavina Fletcher

Lee Jenkins

Rebecca Jenkins

Enoch Jenkins

Martha Ann

Alamaza Jenkins

Elizabeth Gilkerson

Ann M Robinson

Leah Jenkins

John Cain

Jefferson Jenkins

David Wells

Abram Fletcher

Jane Grimes

Susan Fletcher

Harry Wells

Susan Coleman

Susan Coleman

Bartlett Allen

David Craig

Simon Thompson

Benjamin Douglas

May E Allen

Maria Peck

Letitia Thompson

Dennis Johnson

May E Thompson

Charlotte Johnson

Clary Banks

Mary Johnson

Monday Robinson

Polly Robinson

Abram Spruce

Henna Spencer

Richard Taylor

Fanny Taylor

Pemilia Taylor

Sydney Taylor

Charles Taylor

Jane Wells

Nelson Well

A cohabitation register, or as it is officially titled, "Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife on 27th February 1866," was the legal vehicle by which formerly enslaved men and women legitimized both their marriages and their children. They are sometimes titled Freedmen's Marriage Registers and may contain slightly different information. Cohabitiation records typically contain information including the names of the husband and wife, as well as their ages, place of birth, residence, occupations, previous enslavers, previous enslaver's city or county residence, the name(s) of their children, the children's ages, and the date of commencement of cohabitation. 

On Page 8 we find James, 52 and Ethel, 50 Grant with children Dick, 16; Lewis, 14; Martha, 11; Lucinda, 10; Benjamin, 5 were formerly owned by James Castleman.