Honoring and Preserving a Priceless Record Discovery in Montgomery County

In March of 2011, as the Clerk of the Circuit Court packed and prepared records for a move to the newly constructed Montgomery County Courthouse on Main Street in Christiansburg, a priceless relic was discovered.

In the basement of the former Clerk’s Office sat the evidence room, which housed everything from historical records and case files to seized property from local law enforcement. While cleaning out the space—commonly known as the "cage"—in preparation for the move to the new building, Erica Conner opened a manila envelope.

"It was a monumental discovery," Conner said.

"I remember it as if it were yesterday, finding it amongst loose papers.  I knew exactly what it was, having just been to a Clerk's Conference where Carl Childs, former director of the local records services at the Library of Virginia, made a presentation to all Clerks encouraging us to look for 'lost ones,'" recalls Conner.

"I found a 'lost one.' For me, it was an early highlight of my career as the Clerk.  I was entrusted from that moment to make sure that it was available for all."

The "lost one" was four loose sheets of paper, approximately 24 inches by 18 inches in size with cursive handwriting on each side that listed marriages and children of former slaves residing in Montgomery County.

The official name of the found record is "Montgomery County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons cohabiting together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27." However, it is commonly referred to as the “Cohabitation Register." This document served as the legal vehicle that legitimized marriages of formerly enslaved couples and their children by recording details such as their names, ages, occupations, origin and information about their last owners.

Conner worked with the Library of Virginia to preserve and digitize the record. While the records can be viewed online, the original record lives in the Montgomery County Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office in a climate-controlled records room.

"This information contains significant and historical information to African Americans researching their genealogical history, which was previously unknown," said Conner.

"Montgomery County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office is grateful to the Library of Virginia for their coordinated efforts to properly preserve this document and also the Library's work to index and provide this priceless information on-line to share with the public."

Current Clerk of the Circuit Court, Tiffany Couch, now serves as the custodian of the cohabitation register, as well as all the other primary source records belonging to Montgomery County. Couch was elected to an eight-year term in 2024. "We take our role of Clerk very seriously," said Couch.

"Montgomery County is unique in that we have most of our primary records dating back to the first settlers in our region. Because of this we attract researchers in a variety of subject matters from genealogy to land records."

"The cohabitation register is extremely special in that it is only one of a few known connections African Americans from our region have to their ancestors and ultimately to their past. This record sets us apart and we will continue to perform our duty to cherish and protect it, as well as all the other records in our possession," said Couch. 

Montgomery County is one of only two localities in the Commonwealth of Virginia celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2026. Records dating to the county’s founding have been carefully preserved and are available for public viewing at the Clerk of the Circuit Court's Office. For more information about Montgomery County's 250th anniversary, visit montva.com/mcva250 and follow us @mcva250 on Facebook and Instagram.