Virginia

Name

Virginia

Alternate Names

Virgin

Sex

Female

Record(s) Seen In

Inventory, Appraisements, and Sales Book 4

Common Law Orders - E - June 1856 - November 1864 - pgs. 1-353

Common Law Orders - E - June 1856 - November 1864 - pgs. 354-749

Common Law Orders - F - December 1864 - September 1868

Page and Line Number

IAS4: PP. 31
CLE: PP. 299, 633
CLF: 107, 123, 167

Location

IAS4: Roanoke County, VA
CLF: Richmond, VA

Name of Enslaver

Edward Watts

Additional Information

In Inventory, Appraisements, and Sales Book 4, Virginia, who was enslaved by Edward Watts, was confined in the Roanoke County Jail. The authorities, namely Dr. G. B. Griffin and R. H. Holland, did not deem it appropriate to release her since she “once committed an act of violence” and was described as a lunatic. The five heirs of Edward Watts thus agreed to each pay one fifth of the expenses needed to support and clothe her ($300.00 per annum or $60.00 for each to pay). Further, she was charged with the murder of Martha in Common Law Book E, so it was ordered that she be transferred to a “lunatic asylum” as soon as an opening was found. In Common Law Book F, James Huff, the jailor, requested varying amounts of money for her care, and tried to institutionalize her immediately after she was jailed. However, the application was routinely rejected as the Western Asylum refused to admit people who were not White, and the Eastern Asylum could not admit her because they lacked room. Virginia would later be taken to the Freedmen’s Bureau Asylum in Richmond, VA on August 22, 1866.

Mrs. Carr

Letitia W. Rives (Mrs. Rives)

Ann Watts Holcombe

Alice Watts Morris

William Watts