You bring up an interesting question.  If a county region's name changed since
a historical event, such as a birth, a historian would be called to
both use the original name and indicate the name change for
accuracy's sake.  All of us who do southern history are aware of
the change in designation over time for African American people.
The use of "black," "Afro-American," and "African American" is a
convention now commonly used and generally understood.  The go
back to using 18th or 19th century racial terms would be the
anachronism, not Henry Wiencek's use of African American in his
original post.
Harold

Date sent:              Mon, 16 Oct 2000 11:52:39 -0400
From:                   Jim Spencer <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                Re: Cohabitation Registers
To:                     [log in to unmask]
Send reply to:          Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
        <[log in to unmask]>

> I think when doing research we need to use terminology which pertained to
> the time frame in question.  I don't think African-American was a term
> used during that period of time.  If a person was born in Pittsylvania
> County, Virginia you wouldn't say he was born in Henry County, Virginia
> just because the name changed.  Henry was formed out of Pittsylvania.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Henry Wiencek
> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2000 11:33 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Cohabitation Registers
>
>
> A researcher on the Afrigeneas list has asked about
> Virginia's Cohabitation Registers, which were the
> African-American marriage registers compiled by Freedman's
> Bureau agents in 1866.  Although all Virginia FB agents
> were ordered to compile CRs and send them to HQ, as far as
> I know only four CRs today can be found in the FB records
> in the National Archives.  Some VA agents made the records,
> but never sent them in.         My question for the list
> is: does anyone know how many of these marriage records
> have surfaced in counties or towns?  For example, the Henry
> County CR was made but never submitted. The register
> somehow, at some unknown time, passed into the hands of the
> county government and remained in county archives (in the
> jail actually) until it was rediscovered in the 1970s.  The
> Henry County CR is now in the county courthouse.  I have
> heard that other CRs have surfaced in Rappahannock and
> Hanover counties, and perhaps elsewhere.  Henry Wiencek
> Charlottesville
>
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Harold S. Forsythe
Assistant Professor History
Director:  Black Studies
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT 06430-5195
(203) 254-4000  x2379

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