Early Albemarle County Judgments To Be Transcribed And Placed On Virginia Untold

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If you enjoy transcription, here’s a great project for you —

June 24, 2020:

For those who enjoy the art and intricacy of transcribing historical documents, the Library of Virginia is pleased to announce that a selection of Albemarle County Judgments, 1780-1852, are available for transcription on Making History: Transcribe. The judgments specifically involve African Americans and were identified and scanned to be added to Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative. Like chancery cases, judgments are useful primary sources for understanding social, legal, and economic history of a locality, and often for genealogical purposes as well. This is a small selection of judgments involving African Americans, identified through an index of early Albemarle judgments by Library of Virginia Senior Local Records Consulting Archivist Eddie Woodward.

Judgments are civil suits that typically involve debt or monetary damages, and were heard by a jury on the law side of the court. Documents such as assumpsits or declarations explain the reason for the plaintiff’s charge, and depositions often give the reader a glimpse into events from the perspective of witnesses in their own words. Additionally, judgments can include a variety of documents that were used as exhibits by the plaintiff or defendant, including wills, contracts, deeds, coroner’s inquests, correspondence, accounts, and receipts.

The rest of the article may be found on the blog, The UncommonWealth:

Early Albemarle County Judgments to be Transcribed and Placed on Virginia Untold

Library of Virginia reopens – appointment required

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The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce that its reading rooms will reopen to researchers by advance appointment beginning at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, July 7, 2020. During the initial reopening phase, researchers will be able to use the collections by appointment Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM. To make an appointment, please call 804.692.3800.

Central Virginia Heritage Summer 2020 (v.36, no.2) now Available!

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This issue contains 4 articles with generally useful information, including the first part of a list of African-American Men paying taxes in the 1867 Fluvanna County personal property tax list.

After the Civil War, all men over 21 years of age had to pay a personal property tax. The minimum personal property tax was $1 per year, unless you had an exemption, such as age. The tax assessors must have run into problems in 1866 trying to locate African-American men who hadn’t paid their taxes that year because most of them didn’t own land. There were also men with identical names, so there was a problem knowing which man of that name had paid his taxes.

Starting in 1867, Albemarle. Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson Counties began to record where these African-American men could be found. Other counties besides these five likely recorded locations also, but so far these are the ones I personally know of. …

For the rest of this article, and several others, CVGA members should go to “Members Only” on the menu bar above, and choose “Central Virginia Heritage — Current Issue.” (Note: You have to be logged in to this website in order to see “Members Only.”)

If you have trouble logging in to the site to download your copy, please contact me at the webmaster link at the bottom of this page.

For those who are not members of CVGA, we offer the opportunity to purchase a printed copy of each issue. The Summer 2020 issue is available from Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08C9CPS95 for $6.50. Click on the Amazon.com link above or search for “Central Virginia Heritage” on Amazon.com.

Contents of the Summer 2020 issue:

  • The Dwelling at Snowden
  • African-American Men in the 1867 Fluvanna County (VA) Personal Property Tax Books (A-G)
  • Marriage Announcements in the Daily Progress (Charlottesville, VA), March 1895
  • The Estate of Henry Pendleton of Louisa County, Virginia.

If you have any articles you’d like to share with CVGA members, please send an email to the editor, eleanordew at gmail dot com. — The Editor.

Peter Jefferson’s Snowdon published by CVGA

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Front cover of Peter Jefferson's Snowdon (2020)

Hi all — We are very fortunate that CVGA has been given the opportunity to publish a new book by Joanne L. Yeck — Peter Jefferson’s Snowdon —  as CVGA’s first Occasional paper. Here’s the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Jeffersons-Snowdon-publications-Genealogical/dp/B088B833B7

An Occasional paper is a work of interest to historians and researchers on a Central Virginia topic, but which is too long to fit in our newsletter, Central Virginia Heritage.

These papers are not published on a set schedule, but as they are completed. The only requirement is that the topic of the paper has something to do with Central Virginia history or research. The average length of these publications will be approximately 40-100 pages, but that is flexible. Contact the newsletter editor, Jean Cooper, if you have a suggestion for future Occasional papers.

In this case, the book is a detailed essay on the history of Snowdon, a plantation created by Peter Jefferson in the first half of the 18th century.

“Beginning in the 1720s, a small group of men based in Goochland County, Virginia, began to migrate west, along the James River, settling the frontier which lay at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A few stopped at what is known as the Horseshoe Bend, a particularly beautiful and fertile spot in the river. Today, the modern counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, and Fluvanna converge there at the village of Scottsville.In the early 1740s, President Thomas Jefferson’s father, Peter, already a successful surveyor and land speculator, was quick to realize the commercial value of the spot when the newly formed Albemarle County located its seat at the Horseshoe Bend. This volume tells the story of settlement on the south side of the James River and the development of the plantation Peter Jefferson would call Snowdon, a very valuable farm with a complex history.”

Note: The Occasional papers are not part of the membership benefits of CVGA but must be purchased separately.

 

#RVAHistoryHunt

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The #RVAHistoryHunt is a collaboration by Richmond cultural organizations to present a unique scavenger hunt experience. Launching just in time for National Scavenger Hunt Day (May 24) and running through August 23, this initiative has been carefully tailored to create a new way of engaging with the Richmond community while being aware of the unique challenges brought about by the COVID-19 global pandemic.

For more information, go to: https://www.virginiahistory.org/node/2858

Library of Virginia Services Available During the Public Health Emergency

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News Release | April 1, 2020

The health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, and community are top priorities at the Library of Virginia. To help contain the spread of the corona virus (COVID-19), the Library is closed to the public until further notice. Please check our website at lva.virginia.gov regularly for the most up-to-date information on our operating status. We are monitoring the developing situation closely and following directives from the Office of the Governor and guidelines from the Virginia Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Library has suspended all in-person public events, workshops, programs, and tours through May. We hope to reschedule as many events as possible—and we’ll be offering some webinars—so please check our News and Events calendar at lva.virginia.gov/news/ and follow us on social media.

Library users who have books or other materials checked out are asked not to return them until the Library reopens. Loan periods will be extended and no fines will accrue while the Library is closed.

Library staff members are working during this public health emergency from Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM, and will respond to your questions and research inquiries. For Library Reference assistance, call 804.692.3777 or email refdesk@lva.virginia.gov. For Archives Reference assistance, call 804.692.3888 or email archdesk@lva.virginia.gov. For general inquiries, call 804.692.3535 or go to lva.virginia.gov/about/contact to find a staff directory. As many staff are teleworking at present, please leave a voice message and a staff member will get back to you promptly.

While our building is closed, researchers are encouraged to use our numerous online resources. Links to our most frequently used online collections can be found at
https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01LVA_INST:01LVA&lang=en.

Resources for students and teachers can be found at edu.lva.virginia.gov/dbva/ and
https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01LVA_INST:01LVA&lang=en.

For an online version of our current exhibition, We Demand: Women’s Suffrage in Virginia, see edu.lva.virginia.gov/wedemand/.

Services to state agencies through the State Records Center on Charles City Road are continuing as normal.

The research room at the State Records Center, however, is closed to the general public until further notice.

Virginia public libraries needing assistance can continue to call upon our staff in the Library Development and Networking Division. Library of Virginia resources for library professionals and trustees can be found at lva.virginia.gov/lib-edu/LDND/ and vpl.virginia.gov/.

Thank you for your continued patience as we navigate this unprecedented situation together.