Browse Items (29 total)

On the eve of the passage of the Statute for Religious Freedom, numerous citizens and religious denominations bombarded the General Assembly with petitions advocating both for and against a tax (called an "assessment") to support Protestant…

Jenny Parker was a former enslaved person emancipated by Josiah Wilson in Surry County in 1813. She petitioned for special permission to remain in the state. The petition includes a certificate of conduct. In 1806 the General Assembly placed…

After the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9, 1776, Lord Dunmore and his fleet abandoned the city of Norfolk. Patriot soldiers from North Carolina and Virginia took control of the city. They refused to provide food and supplies to the British…

The portrait of Mary Willing Byrd was painted in the early 1770’s by artist Matthew Pratt. After placing three advertisements for a portrait artist in the Virginia Gazette, William Byrd hired Pratt to paint a portrait of his second wife, Mary Willing…

Women served in many capacities during the American Revolution. The women, called camp followers, often traveled with their husbands who were serving in the Continental Army. Camp followers did not stay in the Army encampments but set up camps…

The artist and teacher who painted this portrait of James Madison was William L. Sheppard. Sheppard based this 1901 portrait after Thomas Sully’s famous 1809 portrait of Madison. Sheppard’s portrait was painted from what is called a "Southern…

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Shadwell near Charlottesville, Virginia. He attended the College of William and Mary where he studied to be a lawyer and later practiced law in Albemarle County, Virginia. He would go on to become am…

The House of Burgesses was the first elected general assembly in the colonies. From 1619- 1776, the elected representatives would pass laws, grant supplies, and act in the capacity of a supreme court to review cases of the county courts. From…

After the Revolutionary War began, Virginia began to raise a militia for defense. Baptist leaders petitioned the third Virginia Revolutionary Convention requesting permission for Baptist ministers to preach to soldiers who did not wish to attend…

Located among the odds and ends of Accomack County court records is this 1758 advertisement from Landon Carter of Richmond County for his runaway slave Will.  The advertisement is typical of runaway ads in that it seeks to provide as much information…