US Black Heritage Project Virginia Team

Profile managers: Emma MacBeath [send private message], US Black Heritage Project WikiTree [send private message], and Cheryl Cruise [send private message]

US Black Heritage Project Teams African-American Resources for Virginia

The Virginia Team covers activity for the US Black Heritage Project in the state of Virginia.

To join the Virginia state team, please contact a team leader (below)

Team Leaders: Cheryl Cruise and Gina Jarvi

Team Members: Sjana Lee (Dreyer) Bauer, Loretta Buckner, M Cole, Carl Dickason, Rick Fryrear, David Hamilton, Shelley Murphy, Kate Schmidt, Elida Tirey, Cindy (Hawes) Van Dam

Goals

This team is part of the US Black Heritage Project. Our goals are the following with specific emphasis on Virginia:

• To collect in one place information and resources to assist in building and documenting African-American Genealogies. See African-American Resources for Virginia for list of resources by county
• To create the largest online public database of connected African-American families.
• To bring together WikiTreers interested in connecting African-American families to the Global Family Tree.
• To process all types of documents from Virginia regarding free and enslaved ancestors with the goal of creating their profiles and connecting them to their descendants.
• To provide and maintain a logical and organized structure to help individuals identify their ancestors and celebrate their history.
• To improve all profiles of ancestors with Black heritage in Virginia, which may include biography building, sourcing, and making correct connections.

January 2024 Focus

For the month of January 2024, the Virginia Team will focus on Buchanan County. All help is appreciated, even if you are not formally a participant in the USBH Project. For information on USBH Project standards, please see US Black Heritage: Heritage Exchange Portal.

Resources for Buchanan County, Virginia

Buchanan County, Virginia, was formed in 1858 from portions of Russell County (itself established from a section of Washington County, Virginia, in 1786) and Tazewell County (which was established in 1799 from portions of Russell County and Wythe County), Virginia. (In 1880, part of Buchanan County was taken to form Virginia's "youngest" county, Dickenson County, so some areas previously in Buchanan County later were in present-day Dickenson.) The Buchanan County seat is Grundy. In 1860, 1.1 percent of Buchanan County's population was enslaved (31 people), the smallest number of enslaved people enumerated in any Virginia county.

Genealogy Resources

• 1880 Census Spreadsheet for Buchanan County

Slave Owners

• Buchanan County Slave Owners on WikiTree

Note: No confederate payrolls, plantations (under USBH project standards), African-American cemeteries (one exists, but no memorials on Find-a-Grave), or cohabitation records found for Buchanan County.

To view counties focused on in previous months, see USBH Virginia Team, County by County Records

County space pages by others on WT

• Wythe County, Virginia, by the Virginia Project
• County of Henrico Shire of Virginia Review

Ongoing Virginia USBH Projects

(Please first see monthly focus projects above, if possible)

• 1880 Census Project, Virginia
• Confederate Slave Payrolls, Virginia

Richard Henry Corbin Plantations

Reeds Plantation in Caroline County

Laneville plantation in King and Queen County

Buckingham plantation in Middlesex County

Green Branch in Spotsylvania County

• Virginia Plantations
• Slave Narratives, Virginia COMPLETE

• Notable Virginia Slave Owners
  • Governors of Virginia, Category:Virginia_Governors

Notable Virginian Profiles to Create

Notable US Black Heritage Virginians

• John Punch (abt. 1612 - abt. 1683)
• Lucy Addison (1861-1937)

Projects Pending

• African-American Cemeteries in Virginia
• African American Churches in Virginia
• African American Settlements and Communities in Virginia
• College and University Owned Slaves in Virginia
• Early Free People of Color in Virginia (includes manumissions in Virginia)
• Military and War, African Americans from Virginia
• Slave Ship Manifests, To and From Virginia
• Virginia African American Notables
• Virginia Penitentiary Slaves
• Slave Markets in Virginia
• Spreadsheet of Albemarle County, Virginia Slave Births with Owners

See Also: The following are not specifically Virginia projects, but include individuals from Virginia and may be of interest:

• American Colonization Society/Immigration to Liberia: American Colonization Society and Emigrants to Liberia, including the Brig Nautilus (and others) which sailed from Virginia and Maryland and had many individuals aboard from Virginia, and original Liberia settlers hailing from Virginia: Lott Cary, Peyton Skipwith, and Ann Sucky Faulcon.

• Lucy Addison High School All African-American High school and Lucy Addison HS Yearbooks hundreds of AA profiles to create

One Place Studies

• Shenandoah Valley One Place Study.
• While not specifically focused on USBH individuals, at least one notable slave holder is included among those in the study -- Alexander Spotswood from Germanna. For more information on the enslaved of Alexander Spotswood please see the Enchanted Castle Germanna page.
• Coming Soon: A USBH-focused One Place Study of Nelson County, Virginia
• While not an official OPS, The College William and Mary and the Lemon Project.
• Based on Slaves of Samuel Gist of Goochland, Hanover and Louisa counties in Virginia. A Gist Settlement page could be made.

Resources

• See: African-American Resources for Virginia for a list of history, photographical, map, and genealogical resources.
• History of African Americans in Virginia
• Wiki+ list of Virginia Slaves Currently, 10,639 slave profiles for subcat1="Virginia, Slaves" - List generated by Christy Melick (Melick-229) on 7 Dec 2022.
• Orange County African American Historical Society
• AAHA Story Map of Fauquier, VA
• 18th century Virginia Law

Stickers

Along with the {{African-American Sticker}} you may also wish to add a Virginia sticker to profiles.

... ... ... was born in Virginia.

OR

Native Virginian

... ... ... lived in Virginia.

WikiTree's US Black Heritage Project

• US Black Heritage Project
• US Black Heritage: Heritage Exchange Portal