Atha Sorrells v. A. T. Shields, Clerk (Rockbridge County, VA, 14 Nov. 1924)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1924 · Places: Virginia
SUMMARYAtha Sorrells v. A. T. Shields, Clerk (Rockbridge County, VA, 14 Nov. 1924) [Connections: Virginia & Eastern Shore, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDThe clerk refused Atha Sorrells and Robert Painter a marriage license under the new Act. Judge Henry W. Holt reviewed evidence covering "a period of 130 years." He found no blood other than white "except Indian, and there is not enough of that to come within the statute," and ruled: "The license should issue." Encyclopedia Virginia says the Richmond Times-Dispatch urged an appeal (20 Nov. 1924), and the attorney general declined
PATTERNWithin months of the Act, a local clerk was treating Indian ancestry as grounds to refuse a white marriage license. The court record lays out a family's Indian ancestry
LENS (WW9)A named woman whose Indian ancestry had to be argued in court in 1924
OPENThe Sorrells family's later classification; Rockbridge appears on Plecker's 1943 list (see below)
SOURCEEncyclopedia Virginia, Atha Sorrells v. A. T. Shields.