An interesting inquiry!

As you know, slave marriages had no standing in Virginia law, and  
forced marital separations were common through sale and household  
migrations as well as the domestic slave trade (which was flourishing  
in 1855).  I have come across one or two tragic cases where a couple  
was separated by the domestic trade and/or household migration to the  
Deep South, but the new owner then came back to Virginia and the  
individual who'd been sold discovered that his/her spouse had  
remarried in the meantime (understandably enough--there was no reason  
to suppose the separated partners would ever see each other again).

Nevertheless, and despite the fact that polygyny was almost certainly  
the ideal (though not necessarily the norm) in most of the ancestral  
cultures of Virginia's slaves, polygyny (or simultaneous multiple  
marriage of any kind) was not typical of Virginia slave families.

For an excellent introduction to (relatively) recent research on  
family structure under slavery and an important reconsideration of  
some assumptions about the topic, I'd suggest looking at Brenda E.  
Stevenson, Life in Black and White: Family and Community in the Slave  
South (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996; Library of Congress  
call number HN79.V82 L687 1996; publisher description, http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0639/95017359-d.html) 
.   The vague title notwithstanding, Stevenson's focus is Virginia,  
particularly Loudoun County.

--Jurretta Heckscher

On Aug 21, 2008, at 11:23 AM, Craig Kilby wrote:

> Based on some very interesting research that came about through a  
> VHF grant to the Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library, I am  
> writing an article about two bachelor brothers who emancipated there  
> 41 slaves with the provision (in effect) that they be sent to  
> Liberia.  This was done in 1855.
>
> I was fortunate to already have in my files several letters from  
> this same period written by other emancipated slaves from Virginia,  
> which provide some very good descriptions of the voyage, arrival and  
> subsequent lives there.
>
> One of the writers, Randall Kilby, always sent regards to his wife  
> and daughter in Virginia, and in the same letters talked about his  
> wife and son in Liberia.  This indicates he had two wives, one freed  
> and one not.
>
> My question, therefore, is how to treat this topic in the article.   
> I realize there were not legal marriages for slaves in this period,  
> and families were broken up for many reasons.  Were multiple  
> "marriages" part of the slave culture, or is this an anomoly?
>
> One interesting aspect of this research was that in the inventory of  
> the estate of the suviving brother (James Kelley) the slaves are all  
> listed by first name in this order:  Men, boys, Women, girls.  They  
> are assigned a value but no other personal information is given.   
> The estate file shows the payment for their voyage aboard the ship  
> Elivra Owen. The ship's manifest for that voyage provides much more  
> detailed information.  The emancipated slaves are listed with  
> surnames and grouped by families, with ages.
>
> I would prefer to have letters from one of these families, but in  
> the absence thereof I will have to substitute the Kilby letters as  
> descriptive of the overall experience.
>
> Any and all input on this topic is greatly welcomed.
>
> The article will appear in the next issue of the Northumberland  
> County Historical Society's annual *Bulletin*.
>
> Many thanks,
> Craig Kilby
> Lancaster, VA
>
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