Julie's Mecklenburg, Virginia Discoveries

Some African American Resources

All the information I have found will be shared exactly as it was written, in the original records, with links to the original sources wherever possible. Words and phrases in the records will often be insensitive or offensive. Words such as “The colored marriage book”, or “The Free Negro Register”, or the person described as “yellow” or references to the enslaved “gifted” in deeds, and also sometimes “mortgaged” are words and phrases actually used in the records. I share this information because it shows where enslaved individuals moved to, which is critical information necessary to connect to earlier generations. My only intention is to show descendants how and where to find information about their ancestors in Mecklenburg.

Helpful Resources and Websites:

AAHGS: Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society

Mapping the Freedmen’s Bureau

Freedmen: Smithsonian record project

National Museum of African American History and Culture

FamilySearch wiki: African American genealogy

LVA (Library of Virginia) African American research guide to 1870

LVA chancery index (check box “enslaved persons”)

Mecklenburg Free Negroes Register (FamilySearch)

Virginia untold narratives and records