African American Property Ownership in Antebellum Harrisonburg, VirginiaTitle. Double click mhe.
Works Cited
The majority of research for this topic involved the Rockingham County property records housed in the Rockingham County Courthouse at Court Square in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The 1860 census provided the names of people who owned property, and property records showed where those people lived. Occasionally, deeds were detailed in their descriptions, or mentioned existing landmarks to help orient where Harrisonburg's antebellum free black population resided. Other times, it was necessary to trace the deeds until their information could be verfied by information found on maps produced after 1860.
Gibson Family
Boyd-Rush, Dorothy A. Register of Free Blacks, Rockingham County, Virginia, 1807-1859. St. Berwyn's Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 1992.
Conditional Deed of Sale. May 11, 1841: Jeremiah Gibson, grantor, to A. C. Bryan, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 15, Page 253. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. October 1827: Abraham Harrell, grantor, to Jeremiah Gibson, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Record Index: Grantors A-J. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. July 1, 1854: A.C. Bryan, Samuel Shacklett, Jeremiah Gibson, and Charles D. Gray, grantors, to Peggy Gibson, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 27, Page 64. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Gray, Ormando Willis. 1877. Gray's New Map of Harrisonburg, Rockingham Co., VA. Scale: 20 Rods = One Inch. "David Rumsey Map Collection." Accessed April 1, 2015. http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~207936~3003524:Harrisonburg,-Virginia-.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 2. June 1902. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 3, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00014&mapname=Harrisonburg+June+1902%2C+Sheet+2&zoomName=fit-window&zoomValue=0.286920993435248&zoomNewName=¢erX=158¢erY=188&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375&CCSI=20152n&clickType=zoom&zoomLevelPicker=fit-window&image.x=88&image.y=177.
United States Census Bureau. "Rockingham, Surrey Counties." in Population Schedules of the Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Virginia. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1967. Accessed May 1, 2015. https://archive.org/details/populationschedu1379unix.
Hall Family
Boyd-Rush, Dorothy A. Register of Free Blacks, Rockingham County, Virginia, 1807-1859. St. Berwyn's Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 1992.
Deed of Sale. March 29, 1837: Solomon M. Hunter, grantor, to Jonathan Hopkins, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records Index: Grantors A-J. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. July 24, 1849: Daniel Jackson, grantor, to Malinda Hall, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 22, Page 32. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. March 15, 1855: Solomon M. Hunter, grantor, to William Peters, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 27, Page 335. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Gray, Ormando Willis. 1877. Gray's New Map of Harrisonburg, Rockingham Co., VA. Scale: 20 Rods = One Inch. "David Rumsey Map Collection." Accessed April 1, 2015. http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~207936~3003524:Harrisonburg,-Virginia-.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 2. June 1902. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 3, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00014&mapname=Harrisonburg+June+1902%2C+Sheet+2&zoomName=fit-window&zoomValue=0.286920993435248&zoomNewName=¢erX=158¢erY=188&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375&CCSI=20152n&clickType=zoom&zoomLevelPicker=fit-window&image.x=88&image.y=177.
"Industrial Revolution (1800-1880)." National Women's History Museum. Accessed April 29, 2015. https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/industry/5.htm.
King, Wilma. The Essence of Liberty: Free Black Women During the Slave Era. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2006.
"Sale of Real Estate in Town." Harrisonburg Rockingham Register. September 3, 1868.
United States Census Bureau. "Rockingham, Surrey Counties." in Population Schedules of the Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Virginia. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1967. Accessed May 1, 2015. https://archive.org/details/populationschedu1379unix.
Hopkins Family
Boyd-Rush, Dorothy A. Register of Free Blacks, Rockingham County, Virginia, 1807-1859. St. Berwyn's Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 1992.
Deed of Sale. August 26, 1856: William Strother, grantor, to Augustus Hopkins, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 29, Page 288-89. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
"George O. Conrad vs. Augustus Hopkins, etc." Rockingham County, Index No. 1877-056, Case No. 050. Virginia Chancery Court Records. Accessed April 15, 2015. http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=165-1877-056.
Gray, Ormando Willis. 1877. Gray's New Map of Harrisonburg, Rockingham Co., VA. Scale: 20 Rods = One Inch. "David Rumsey Map Collection." Accessed April 1, 2015. http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~207936~3003524:Harrisonburg,-Virginia-.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 4. June 1902. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 3, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00016&mapname=Harrisonburg+June+1902%2C+Sheet+4&clickType=zoom&zoomName=50&CCSI=20152n&zoomValue=0.5¢erX=275¢erY=89&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375.
United States Census Bureau. "Rockingham, Surrey Counties." in Population Schedules of the Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Virginia. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1967. Accessed May 1, 2015. https://archive.org/details/populationschedu1379unix.
Peters Family
Boyd-Rush, Dorothy A. Register of Free Blacks, Rockingham County, Virginia, 1807-1859. St. Berwyn's Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 1992
Harrisonburg Tourism and Visitor Services. "African American Heritage: Stories of People and Places in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County Virginia." Harrisonburg, VA: Bob Privott.
Conditional Deed of Sale. July 22, 1819. Joshua Peters, grantor, to Unknown, grantee. Harisonburg Burned Records: Book 4, Page 412. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. Thornton and Evelyn Boswell, grantors, to William Peters, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 15, Page 69.
Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. March 15, 1855. Solomon M. Hunter, grantor, to William Peters, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 27, Page 335. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. July 28, 1858. William Wartmann, grantor, to William Peters, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 31, Page 462. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
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Deed of Sale. February 2, 1866. William Peters and Harriet Peters, grantors, to Trustees of the Colored Methodist Church, grantees. Harrisonburg Property Records: Book 1, Page 218. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Gray, Ormando Willis. 1877. Gray's New Map of Harrisonburg, Rockingham Co., VA. Scale: 20 Rods = One Inch. "David Rumsey Map Collection." Accessed April 1, 2015. http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~207936~3003524:Harrisonburg,-Virginia-.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 1. June 1902. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 3, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00013&mapname=Harrisonburg+June+1902%2C+Sheet+1&zoomName=57&zoomValue=0.574791925323034&zoomNewName=¢erX=295¢erY=563&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375&CCSI=20152n&clickType=zoom&zoomLevelPicker=57&image.x=180&image.y=218.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 4. June 1902. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 3, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00016&mapname=Harrisonburg+June+1902%2C+Sheet+4&clickType=zoom&zoomName=50&CCSI=20152n&zoomValue=0.5¢erX=275¢erY=89&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375.
"Livery Stable at the Old Stand." Harrisonburg Rockingham Register. August 6, 1868.
United States Census Bureau. "Rockingham, Surrey Counties." in Population Schedules of the Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Virginia. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1967. Accessed May 1, 2015. https://archive.org/details/populationschedu1379unix.
Spangler Family
"An Act to amend the several laws concerning slaves (1806)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Accessed April 19, 2015. http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/_An_ACT_to_amend_the_several_laws_concerning_slaves_1806.
Deed of Sale. James Hall and Caroline Hall, grantors, to Jacob Spangler, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 9, Page 373. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. Preston Spangler, grantor, to William Peters, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 29, Page 329. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. July 16, 1860. Whitefield Spangler, grantor, to Millie Spangler, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records Index: Grantors J-Z. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Gray, Ormando Willis. 1877. Gray's New Map of Harrisonburg, Rockingham Co., VA. Scale: 20 Rods = One Inch. "David Rumsey Map Collection." Accessed April 1, 2015. http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~207936~3003524:Harrisonburg,-Virginia-.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 4. June 1902. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 3, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00016&mapname=Harrisonburg+June+1902%2C+Sheet+4&clickType=zoom&zoomName=50&CCSI=20152n&zoomValue=0.5¢erX=275¢erY=89&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 5. April 1924. Scale not given. “Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia.” Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 15, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00071&mapname=Harrisonburg%20Apr.%201924,%20Sheet%205&CCSI=20152n.
"Petition of Jacob Spengler." Record No. 000329890. Legislative Petitions Digital Collection. Accessed April 20, 2015. http://digitool1.lva.lib.va.us:8881/R/LYUXSKH94UACU6Q2EPA7ULA8H4APX5V62K5Y4A87AM8NCP1PAJ-00573?func=results-jump-full&set_entry=000018&set_number=054610&base=GEN01-ARC01.
United States Census Bureau. "Rockingham, Surrey Counties." in Population Schedules of the Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Virginia. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1967. Accessed May 1, 2015. https://archive.org/details/populationschedu1379unix.
Strother Family
Boyd-Rush, Dorothy A. Register of Free Blacks, Rockingham County, Virginia, 1807-1859. St. Berwyn's Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 1992.
Deed of Sale. April 21, 1830. Benjamin Graham and Elizabeth Graham, grantors, to William Strother, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 9, Page 369. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. July 8, 1856. Robert M. Kyle, grantor, to William Strother, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 29, Page 287.
Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. August 28, 1856. William Strother, grantor, to Augustus Hopkins, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 29, Page 288-289. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia..
Deed of Sale. August 28, 1856. William Strother, grantor, to John C. Woodson, grantee. Harrisonburg Burned Records: Book 29, Page 289. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. November 28, 1877. Ed S. Conrad, grantor to John Paul, trustee for Katie Paul, grantee. Property Records: Book 14, Page 423. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. November 11, 1898. John P. Burke, grantor, to Julia E. Miller, grantee. Property Records: Book 59, Page 466. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. April 3, 1926. E. B. Crawford, agent for Julia E. Miller, grantor, to John W. Marston, grantee. Property Records: Book 134, Page 530. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Deed of Sale. August 25, 1975. Georgia Marston, grantor, to Donald L. Hosinger and Linda R. Hosinger, grantees. Property Records: Book 456, Page 794. Property Records, Rockingham County Circuit Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
"George O. Conrad vs. Augustus Hopkins, etc." Rockingham County, Index No. 1877-056, Case No. 050. Virginia Chancery Court Records. Accessed April 15, 2015. http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=165-1877-056.
Gray, Ormando Willis. 1877. Gray's New Map of Harrisonburg, Rockingham Co., VA. Scale: 20 Rods = One Inch. "David Rumsey Map Collection." Accessed April 1, 2015. http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~207936~3003524:Harrisonburg,-Virginia-.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 4. June 1902. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 3, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00016&mapname=Harrisonburg+June+1902%2C+Sheet+4&clickType=zoom&zoomName=50&CCSI=20152n&zoomValue=0.5¢erX=275¢erY=89&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 10. May 1907. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 3, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00028&mapname=Harrisonburg+May+1907%2C+Sheet+10&zoomName=115&zoomValue=1.15117189298706&zoomNewName=¢erX=622¢erY=1025&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375&CCSI=20152n&clickType=zoom&zoomLevelPicker=115&image.x=256&image.y=172.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 10. August 1912. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 3, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00041&mapname=Harrisonburg+Aug.+1912%2C+Sheet+10&zoomName=58&zoomValue=0.57630244352236&zoomNewName=¢erX=295¢erY=345&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375&CCSI=20152n&clickType=zoom&zoomLevelPicker=58&image.x=309&image.y=340.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 5. May 1918. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 7, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00054&mapname=Harrisonburg+May+1918%2C+Sheet+5&zoomName=115&zoomValue=1.15053614984583&zoomNewName=¢erX=598¢erY=833&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375&CCSI=20152n&clickType=zoom&zoomLevelPicker=115&image.x=296&image.y=187.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 5. April 1924. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 7, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00071&mapname=Harrisonburg+Apr.+1924%2C+Sheet+5&zoomName=115&zoomValue=1.15372190687157&zoomNewName=¢erX=576¢erY=831&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375&CCSI=20152n&clickType=zoom&zoomLevelPicker=115&image.x=314&image.y=188.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 4. June 1930. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 7, 2015. http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00088&mapname=Harrisonburg+June+1930%2C+Sheet+4&zoomName=58&zoomValue=0.575188661881096&zoomNewName=¢erX=295¢erY=188&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375&CCSI=20152n&clickType=zoom&zoomLevelPicker=58&image.x=266&image.y=101.
Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sheet 4. June 1945. Scale not given. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1867-1970- Virginia." Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. Accessed April 7, 2015.http://sanborn.umi.com/sanborn/image/view?state=va&reelid=reel06&lcid=9029&imagename=00111&mapname=Harrisonburg+June+1930-June+1945%2C+Sheet+4&zoomName=57&zoomValue=0.573604992657856&zoomNewName=¢erX=295¢erY=188&viewportWidth=590&viewportHeight=375&CCSI=20152n&clickType=zoom&zoomLevelPicker=57&image.x=260&image.y=91.
"Petition of William Strother." Record No. 000329905. Legislative Petitions Digital Collection. Accessed April 20, 2015. http://digitool1.lva.lib.va.us:8881/R/BEG8X81YYCSNJVEAVKC3UMFHG4C2DML1HVD5GIJXJ1457V3HNE-00634?func=results-jump-full&set_entry=000019&set_number=054779&base=GEN01-ARC01.
"Public Sale of Desireable Town Property." The Old Commonwealth. August 24, 1876.
United States Census Bureau. "Rockingham, Surrey Counties." in Population Schedules of the Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Virginia. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1967. Accessed May 1, 2015. https://archive.org/details/populationschedu1379unix.
Wayland, John Walter. A History of Rockingham County, Virginia. Dayton, VA: Ruebush-Elkins Company, 1912.