Slaves of Charles Lambert, Virginia

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Bedford County, Virginia, United States
Surnames/tags: slavery black_heritage

This page's purpose is to record the enslaved people owned by Charles Lambert (1754-1839), and attempt to connect them to their families.

Slaves freed at Lambert's death

Charles freed all of his slaves in his will. There are three documents from the time of his death that name those he enslaved at that time. The information from all three documents are summarized in the table below. These documents include:

• Will: At the end of his will, he includes a list of 30 enslaved people.^[1]
• Estate Inventory: His estate inventory includes a list of the same 30 names from his will, classifies each as a man/woman/boy/girl, and assigns a monetary value to each.^[2]
• Register of Free Negroes: The Bedford County, Virginia "Register of Free Negroes, 1820-1860" records all of the enslaved people who were freed by Charles Lambert's will. There are a few children included in this register that were not named in the will and inventory. The register gives their name (including surname), age, and describes any scars/identifying marks they have. The mothers of some of the young children are also recorded. It appears that the surname Lambert was later added after each person's name, inserted above using a caret, so that David Jones is recorded as "David Jones ^Lambert".^[3]

WT ID	Will	Inventory	Register
			Name	Age	Est. Birth Year	Image #	Page #
Jones-152563	David	David	David Jones Lambert	55	1788	38	32a
Lambert-19066	Randolph	Randolph Jr.	Randolph Lambert Jr.	53	1790	38	32a
Read-9684	Peter	Peter	Peter Read Lambert	80	1763	38	32a
Jones-156707	Frank	Frank	Frank Jones Lambert	51	1792	38	32a
Miller-115132	Jurdin	Jordan	Jordan Miller Lambert	38	1805	38	32a
maybe Miller-61966	Isham	Isham	Isham Miller Lambert	40	1803	38	32a
Jones-156708	Billey	Billy	William Jones Lambert	35	1808	38	32a
Jones-156720	Albert	Albert	Albert Jones Lambert	21	1822	39	32b
Sale-1047	Ben	Ben	Benjamin Sale[?] Lambert	23	1820	38-39	32a-b
Jones-156015	Alvin	Alvin	Alvin Jones Lambert	18	1825	39	32b
Minnis-856	Callohill	Callohill	Callohill Mennis Lambert	18	1825	39	32b
Jones-75116	Spotswood	Spotswood	Spotswood Jones	13	1830	39	32b
Sale-1048	Bob	Bob	Robt. Sale Lambert	12	1831	40	33a
	Lewis	Lewis	Lewis Wingfield Lambert	8	1835	40	33a
Randall-5311	Randal	Randolph Sr.	Thomas Randolph Lambert	64	1779	38	32a
	James	James	James Burks Lambert	35	1808	41	33b
Jones-156104	Hawkins	Hawkins	Hawkins Jones Lambert (Nancy's son)	6	1837	40	33a
	Aggy	Aggy	Aggy Wingfield Lambert	44	1799	39	32b
Lambert-9928	Amy	Amy	Amy Lambert	65	1778	39	32b
Randall-12381	Caroline	Caroline	Caroline Lambert	38	1805	39	32b
Jones-156122	Nancy	Nancy	Nancy Jones Lambert	36	1807	39	32b
	Lucinda	Lucinda	Lucinda Lambert	24	1819	39	32b
	Milley	Milly	Milly Leftwich Lambert	24	1819	40	33a
	Ailec	Alecy	Alice Binks Lambert	19	1824	40	33a
Jones-156096	Mary Ann	Mary Ann	Mary Ann Jones Lambert	14	1829	40	33a
Leftridge-33	Marthey	Martha	Milly's child Martha Ann Leftwich Lambert	5	1838	41	33b
	Metilda	Matilda	Aggy's child, Matilda Wingfield Lambert	5	1838	40	33a
	Nelly	Nelly	Lucinda's child Milly	5	1838	41	33b
	Parthena	Parthena	Perthena Wingfield Lambert	10	1833	40	33a
Jones-156099	Frances	Frances	Francis Jones Lambert (boy)	9	1834	40	33a
Jones-156123			Amanda Jane Jones Lambert (Nancy's daughter?)	4	1839	40	33a
Jones-156182			Caroline Matilda Jones Lambert (Nancy's daughter?)	2	1841	40	33a
			Alexander Jones Lambert (Nancy's son?)	infant	1843	40	33a
Randall-12382			Caroline's child Nancy Lambert	4	1839	41	33b
			Lucinda's child George	3	1840	41	33b
			Watson	infant	1843	41	33b

Settlement

The people who were freed by Charles Lambert's will settled on 265.5 acres of land in Morgan Township, Gallia County, Ohio. This land was known as the "Lambert Lands". See the Lambert Lands, Gallia County, Ohio free space page for more information.

Sources

1. ↑ Virginia Bedford County, Will records, volume 10, pages 150-151, Charles Lambert will, signed 1 Mar 1839, probated 23 Dec 1839; image copy, FamilySearch, film #7645301, image 327 of 487 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99P6-2ZYM?i=326 : accessed 9 Oct 2023). See transcription.
2. ↑ Virginia Bedford County, Will records, volume 10, pages 160-162, appraisement of Charles Lambert estate, 1 Jan 1840; image copy, FamilySearch, film #7645301, images 332-333 of 487 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99P6-2ZTT?i=331 : accessed 9 Oct 2023). See transcription.
3. ↑ Virginia, Bedford County, Register of Free Negroes, 1820-1860, image 38-41/pages 33-34, people freed by Charles Lambert's will, recorded 25 Sep 1843; "Bedford County (Va.) Register of Free Negroes, 1820-1860," image copy, Library of Virginia, (https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01LVA_INST/br4o1h/alma9917932838005756 : accessed 27 Jun 2024).