Death among the Enslaved and Free in Fairfax County, Virginia, 1853-1869

The information in this dataset is extracted from the Fairfax County (Virginia) Circuit Court Register of Deaths, 1853 to 1869. The records are part of a wider Fairfax Court Slavery Index project, which is housed at the Fairfax Circuit Court Historic Records Center in Fairfax, Virginia. The dataset includes information about, among other things, the names, ages, and causes of death of enslaved and free people who died in Fairfax, which allows for a comparison of mortality in the two populations. Data indicate that free (white) residents of Fairfax had, on average, longer life expectancies and lower rates of infant and childhood mortality than enslaved residents. Most enslaved people’s mothers are listed, allowing for the partial reconstruction of enslaved families.