Many of the records Ms. Littles references are available at LVA's Virginia
Untold: the African American Narrative digital collect -
http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/aan/.

They include petitions to remain found in local government records and
Legislative Petitions to the GA, petitions for re enslavement, and freedom
suits. A quick search turned up the following petition to remain filed by
William Brown of Prince Edward County who was an enslaved person owned by
Hampden-Sydney or was hired out to the college. His petition was rejected.

To the General Assembly of Virginia. Your Petitioner, William Brown, a man
of colour, respectfully sheweth,that he has resided for many years as a
servant at the College of Hampton Sidney in the County of PrinceEdward.
That at first he was hired as a Slave, that by economy & industry he has
been enabled to purchase hisfreedom. That it is the wish of the Petitioner
to remain in that County in the service of the young men atcollege, if the
laws if the country will permit it. Your Petitioner here refers to the
annexed Certificate signedby a number of the respectable men of this County
to show, that your Petitioner conducts himself withpropriety - is a useful
member of society and has acquired considerable property. Your Petitioner
prays thathe may be permitted to be considered as a free man, remain where
he is, and continue his occupation: And thata law may pass authorizing him
to do so. William X his mark

*Greg Crawford*
*Local Records Program Manager*
*Library of Virginia*
*800 East Broad Street*
*Richmond, VA 23219-8000*
*Phone: 804-692-3505*
*Email:* [log in to unmask]
Library of Virginia <http://www.lva.virginia.gov/>

Virginia Memory <http://www.virginiamemory.com/>
The Uncommonwealth <https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/>


*"**The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has
taken place.**" - George Bernard Shaw*



On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 10:10 AM Barbara Vines Little <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> When dealing with the enslavement by free Blacks you need to include
> Virginia law in the equation. While in the beginning there was no such
> requirement, eventually the law required that when an enslaved person
> was freed, they had to leave the state. Thus free Blacks who bought
> their spouses or children out of slavery often would not free them for
> this reason. There are even cases of individuals selling themselves into
> slavery or refusing freedom for this reason.
>
> Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FUGA, FVGS
> PO Box 1273
> Orange, VA 22960
>
> 540-832-3473
> [log in to unmask]
>
> CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for
> Certification of Genealogists, used
> under license by board-certified genealogists after periodic evaluation;
> the board name is
> registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.
>
> On 8/24/2020 8:49 AM, Meyers, Terry L wrote:
> > My thanks to Mr.Brooks and Ms. Little.
> >
> > The enslaved at the College did have, apparently, some economic
> independence.   Lemon sold produce to the College and was famous for his
> oyster dinners; and the Bursar’s books show payments for beef, mutton,
> hops, etc. from the College's Nottoway Plantation, presumably to the the
> enslaved there for what they raised on their own time.    So, yes, I think
> an enslaved man could have money to loan.
> >
> > I’m sure the man I’m interested in was enslaved by the College.   And it
> did occur to me that perhaps he was hiring out his wife or a daughter.
>  But then I wondered…..  wouldn’t his daughter have been enslaved by the
> College too as his child as a matter of course?   And his wife—if enslaved
> by someone else, she wouldn’t be available….   perhaps, though, she was a
> free Black?
> >
> > Lacking any evidence at all of an enslaved person enslaving others, I
> now think that is out of the question.
> >
> > Partly my query was driven by some free Blacks enslaving other Blacks,
> including one local example I recalled from some years ago (there must be a
> story here, of a Black woman leaving France to move to Virginia, but what
> it is I don’t know):
> > I
> > Parsons, Zizzy, 158<
> https://libraries.wm.edu/um/archive/bucktrout/cf.swem.wm.edu/exhibits/bucktrout/display.cfm_target=0169.html>;
> born c1748, France; free black; came to Williamsburg c1770; Roman Catholic
> Church member in France; owned Richard Crump House 1822-47; owned several
> slaves, 2 horses & a gig; died Nov. 24, 1859, Williamsburg
> >
> >
> https://libraries.wm.edu/um/archive/bucktrout/cf.swem.wm.edu/exhibits/bucktrout/name-index.cfm.html
> >
> > As always, I am grateful for the wisdom and knowledge of the List.
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Terry L.. Meyers, Chancellor Professor of English, Emeritus<
> http://wmpeople.wm.edu/site/page/tlmeye/>, The College of William and
> Mary, in Virginia, Williamsburg  23187
> >
> > Plant 8 trees for $<https://edenprojects.org>1       Or save several
> trees for free<http://www.ecologyfund.com/ecology/_ecology.html>       Or
> use the browser Ecosia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosia>
> > ————————————————————————————————————————————————————
> >   Have we got a college?  Have we got a football team?....Well, we can't
> afford both.   Tomorrow we start tearing down the college.
>  --Groucho Marx, in "Horse Feathers."
> >
> >
> >
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