1833: certificates for "descendants of Indians" who were "not free negroes" (Virginia, 25 Feb. 1833)

SUMMARY1833: certificates for "descendants of Indians" who were "not free negroes" (Virginia, 25 Feb. 1833) [Connections: Virginia & Eastern Shore, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDChapter 80 of 1833 is titled "An ACT concerning descendants of indians and other persons of mixed blood, not being free negroes or mulattoes." It allowed county courts, "upon satisfactory evidence of white persons," to certify that a person was "not a free negro or mulatto." The certificate exempted the holder from the "pains, penalties, disabilities and disqualifications" placed on free Black people. In 2007 testimony to Congress, historian Helen Rountree said that people certified under this law never appear under that name in later records

PATTERNThe law treated Indian descent as a status that white witnesses had to vouch for. Without that paper, the person was a "free negro." It passed two years after 1831

LENS (WW9)The state's own law shows that Indian descendants were otherwise being counted as "free negro."

OPENSearch county order books, Accomack and Northampton included, for certificates issued under this act

SOURCEEncyclopedia Virginia, Act of 25 Feb. 1833; Rountree testimony, House Natural Resources, 18 Apr. 2007. Primary: Acts Passed at a General Assembly (1833), p. 51.