Slavery – Page 7 – The UncommonWealth

Newspapers

Newspaper Accounts on the Death of Lincoln

With the renewed interest in President Abraham Lincoln due to Steven Spielberg’s latest movie, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at…

Silver PersingerNovember 19, 2012

Archives

You Have No Right: Jane Webb’s Story

The colonial era Northampton County court records tell a fascinating story of a woman named Jane Webb. Born of a white mother, she was a…

Greg CrawfordNovember 14, 2012

Archives

#election1860

On 13 November 1860, J.S. Moore of Indiana wrote a letter to his Virginia relative Doctor Thomas Moore. Much of the letter has to do…

Greg CrawfordNovember 7, 2012

Archives Education & Programming

"hundreds of the descendants of Indians have obtained their freedom:" Freedom Suits in 18th & 19th Century Virginia

A small slip of paper on display in the Library of Virginia’s latest exhibition You Have No Right: Law and Justice in Virginia, running 24 September 2012-18…

Brent TarterSeptember 26, 2012

Archives Digital Projects

Surry Co. Cohabitation Register Goes Digital!

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the addition of Surry County to the cohabitation register digitization project. This project, via the Virginia Memory website, aims to…

Sarah NerneyJuly 18, 2012

Archives Digital Projects

Augusta Co. Chancery Reveals Pioneer Stories of Western Virginia

These words were written by a young lawyer who was researching court records filed in the Augusta County courthouse in the early 1830’s. He was…

Greg CrawfordJune 18, 2012

Archives

Freedmen’s Bureau in the Local Courts

In the years following the Civil War, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (commonly referred to as simply the Freedmen’s Bureau) provided assistance…

Bari HelmsMay 30, 2012

Manuscripts & Special Collections

A troubled slave makes his escape

In the fall of 1805, John Alcock, a Fredericksburg, Virginia, cabinetmaker, relocated to Richmond and opened a cabinetmaking shop. By 1807 he had expanded his…

Chris KolbeApril 11, 2012

Archives

"This is a bad fix I am in…"

Three Highland County Commonwealth Causes (Barcode 0007281802) reveal a tangled web of conspiracy, murder, and secret affairs. The cast of players includes Elizabeth Sheridan, wife of the…

Joanne PorterMarch 21, 2012

Archives

Nelson Co. Chancery Now Available

Editor’s note: The finding aid for these records can be found here. The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce that Nelson County Chancery Causes,…

Callie FreedJanuary 20, 2012

Archives Digital Projects

Cohabitation Registers Added to Digital Collection

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the addition of records from Fluvanna, Goochland, and Montgomery Counties to the cohabitation register digitization project. This project,…

Sarah NerneyDecember 9, 2011

Archives

"Have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!"

The wool of Merino sheep was highly prized and for centuries the flocks were not allowed to be exported from their home in Spain. One…

Chris KolbeDecember 7, 2011

Archives

CSI: Old Virginia: Coroners Edition

At one o’clock in the morning on 1 September 1859, Milly T. King arrived at the home of James Clary and found his slave Hannah…

Bari HelmsNovember 7, 2011

Archives

Petersburg Chancery Reveals Rich African American History

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce that the first installment of images from the Petersburg chancery causes digitization project have been added to…

Vince BrooksSeptember 21, 2011

Manuscripts & Special Collections

Maybe we can learn from doodles…

Guest contributor Tricia Noel joins us to share an interesting discovery left by an anonymous artist on some New Kent County church records. Although they…

Guest ContributorSeptember 7, 2011