Local Matters

A "negro" man and a white women were arrested and convicted of unlawfully cohabiting. The two people, who had been living together as if they were married, were arrested because they had differing races.

David Poindexter, negro, and Ellen Wild white, were arraigned for unlawfully cohabiting together. The evidence proved that they had been living together as man and wife for fourteen years. For this offence they were sent on to answer an indictment before the next term of the Grand Jury. They were also arraigned to answer the charge of insulting and attempting to break into the house of Mrs. Elizabeth Jeter, and were required to give surety for their future good behavior.

“Local Matters,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed September 22, 2017, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/309.