The problem is this: A common law marriage is a *legal* marriage -- assuming the state recognizes common law marriages (not all states do or did). But no common law marriage can exist if the underlying marriage relationship violated the law.
For example, in the 19th century you could NOT have a common law marriage with certain relatives (sisters and brothers for example). So, a sister and brother living as a married couple would never be legally married; same with plural marriages (as Mormons called them). In Va. it has been illegal since the 17th century for blacks and whites to marry. So there could be no common law marriage any other kind of marriage between a black and white Virginian. Children from a such a marriage would have been illegitimate (bastards under the law), but, they could still inherit property through a will (but not through intestate succession if there was no will). It was also illegal for a minister to perform a marriage between a white and black, so that the marriage would not have been recognized by religious law as well as by civil law.
On the other hand, a minister to could perform a marriage between two slaves -- the slave marriage would then have religious status (this was common all over the South) but it would nogt have any legal status.
By the way, if anyone wants access to VA statues on slavery and an enormous amount of other material on slavery, go to this link and sign up FOR FREE to use this web site.
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law | HeinOnline
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Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law | HeinOnline
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******************
Paul FinkelmanJohn E. Murray Visiting Professor ofLaw
University of Pittsburgh School of [log in to unmask]@yahoo.com
c)518.605.0296
From: "Valos, Troy" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2017 4:51 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Slave marriages and postbellum mixed race marriages
Good Afternoon Alyson,
I'm thinking these mixed-race marriages are going fall in the category of common law marriages. I suspect even after the Civil War, couples wanted to keep it relatively under the radar. There seems to be a few mixed race "marriages" prior the Civil War. You have the case of Robert Lumpkin and a few others. In researching Norfolk's role in the domestic slave trade, I have found a slave trader (1840s-1860s) who had an African American "wife" and two children. I don't know if this type of marriage/coupling was based on genuine feelings of love and commitment or based on darker motives. From the research I have done on Norfolk slave traders, there is very little to no surviving papers to speak to their business activities or much less their personal life. Everything found is either slave manifests, slave ads, or bill of sales. I don't have the evidence to speak to the type of marriage this trader built his relationship on.
As for resources....
You could consult the counties/cities' 1800s marriage registers that genealogists have abstracted and transcribed. Quite a few of the titles will have the data arranged in tables and typically shows the race of the couple. From Norfolk County, there are a few books like Norfolk County, Virginia marriage licenses (1850-1899) by Sharon Rea Gable and Truitt M Bonney. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/86079530
You could also search the newspapers on LVA's Virginia Chronicle site to see if there were mixed race marriages were mentioned in the articles. You will have to play around with the search terms to see what words were used to describe this type of relationship. http://virginiachronicle.com/
Lastly, check the Virginia Historical Index or aka "Swem's Index" to see if there were any article done on the subject. (Swem, E. G. Virginia Historical Index. Gloucester [Mass.]: P. Smith, 1965. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/905288945 ) You will need to look in JSTOR or similar database that holds the Virginia Magazine of History and William & Mary Quarterly to see if the newer issues have any articles about mixed race marriages.
Good luck with your research. It just might show another side of Virginia daily life that has been lost to history.
Sincerely,
Troy Valos, MA, MSIS
Special Collections Librarian
Sargeant Memorial Collection
Slover Library, Norfolk Public Library
235 East Plume Street
Norfolk, Virginia 23510
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alyson Taylor-White
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 11:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] Slave marriages and postbellum mixed race marriages
Hi Listers! My class at University of Richmond yesterday for Osher was based on the tours I've given since last fall of Richmond's slave trade called Southern Slave Saga, from Prejudice to Progress. The adult students had some amazing questions, and the ones that intrigued me (that also stumped me) were about slave marriages before freedom came and postbellum marriages of mixed race couples like Robert and Mary (his former slave and mother of their many children) Lumpkin. Prior to 1865 the marriage of slaves seems to have been a community-church or extralegal event in Virginia. This reminds me of the commitment ceremonies in recent times of same sex couples. Also, where would one find a record of marriages from April 1865 on in Richmond, Virginia? Was there a rush to the legal altar once the impediments had been removed? And was there a window of opportunity where couples like Robert and Mary Lumpkin could get married before the legal restrictions against mixed race marriages were enacted? If anyone knows where to start looking for answers or is doing research along these lines, please let me know, off list if you prefer. Thanks! Alyson
Sent from my iPhone
Alyson L. Taylor-White
(804) 920-2783
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