Familysearch released three more sets of Freedmens Bureau Field Office records recently.Now, the Bureau field office records for all southern states are online, free for viewing! Sign in at Familysearch.org, click on “Browse the records,” and then type “Freedmen” in the search box and the links for each state will appear. I cannot overemphasize how valuable […]
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Category: Reconstruction Era Research
Remembering Jim Crow
I just finished reading the book Remembering Jim Crow, published in 2001. For those researching African-Americans, we spend a lot of time dealing with the complexity of slave research. I think we all need to pay more attention to the era of segregation. Most of us remember this era or have parents alive who do. […]
Freedmens Bureau Labor Contracts
Familysearch is quickly digitizing Freedmens Bureau Records. Labor Contracts are one of the first categories of records that researchers should search within these valuable records. I posted awhile ago a suggested process to follow while searching these exasperating records. Background and Importance Labor Contracts are very valuable because they were often made between slaveowners and their former enslaved […]
Lemos Slaves Reunited
I had to share this heartwarming episode. I found this 1882 article about collateral ancestors of mine: RobynI am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. I have been a researcher, writer, lecturer and teacher for over twenty years. This blog is where I share family history methods, resources, tips and […]
Voter Registration Records
The challenge to find the last slaveowner for those researching African-American ancestry can be daunting. We need to trace our lines back as close to emancipation as possible. That means the 1870 population census is a critical document. If you can’t locate your ancestors in 1870, you can use other documents to record their presence in […]
Freedmens Bureau Records Online
Familysearch.org is going to eventually crush the major paid genealogy websites. They are digitizing Freedmens Bureau records at a furious pace. I lost my mind when I found out that they had uploaded the Field Office records for Maryland. My entire week is shot! Look at what they have thus far: I did a post […]
Freedmans Bank Records, Part 2
I’m continuing my tour through the voluminous information that can be discovered about our ancestors in Freedman’s Bank Records. Last week was the first post in this series. I encourage everyone to take another look by *browsing* through these records. I’ll show examples in this series of all the things we can find. By browsing, […]
Freedmans Bank Records, Part 1
The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company is better known as the Freedman’s Bank. Their records are among the most popular for those researching African-American roots. Background Established by Congress in 1865, the Bank was primarily designed for use by the nation’s recently freed four and a half million formerly enslaved people. It eventually grew to […]
The Crown Jewel: Black Civil War Pension...
In this third and final post, I’d like to share a few more items illustrating the riches that can be found in civil war pension records. Take a look at Part 1 and Part 2 of this topic if you missed it. Whites Providing Testimony I was surprised at the number of former slaveowners (and […]
The Terror of Reconstruction
The image above is a famous Thomas Nast drawing illustrating Andrew Johnson’s veto of the Freedmens Bureau in 1866. It shows him kicking the “Bureau” and little black people falling out. The drawing may be a funny caricature, but what black people were experiencing was no laughing matter. Violence: The Order of the Day Often […]