Free Negroes in Virginia — A comparison of the census of 1830 with that of 1840 discloses the remarkable facts, that in the past ten years, the white population in Eastern Virginia has decreased 19 in every 1000, the slaves have decreased 50 in every 1000, and the free negroes have increased in the same period 70 in every 1000! In Western Virginia, the whites have increased 167 in a thousand, and the slaves only 5 in a thousand, and the free negroes have increased 191 in a thousand.
(Liberator, Jan 11, 1850, pg 3)