One of the most important pieces of information those of us researching enslaved ancestors need to know is how the slaves are distributed after the owner’s death. If we’re lucky, there’s a will that tells us to whom each slave is bequeathed. Most of the time, there’s not. There are many wills that simply say […]
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Category: Records, Resources and Tools
Slave Research in Bibles
Slave Research in bibles might sound counter-intuitive, but this post illustrates why it should not. The Tennessee State Archives and Library (TSLA) just finished digitizing and uploading hundred of bibles in their collection. The files are organized by surname. I hope that more genealogists will submit copies of family information from their family bibles. Aside from that, there […]
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 […]
Documenting the Slaveowner in Your Genea...
How do you document the slaveowner in your research? Here are two ideas from my own toolbox. Separate Trees 1. Create separate family trees for each slaveowning family within your genealogy software. Most people never use the feature available in genealogy software to do this. I use Rootsmagic, but every brand of family history software can do […]
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 is 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 on researching Freedmens Bureau records sometime ago. The National Archives (NARA) […]
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 Crown Jewel: Civil War Pensions, Par...
In Part 1 of this post, we looked at examples of the riches contained in civil war pension records. Let’s see more examples of how the lives of enslaved people are illuminated before, during and after the war. The name of the slaveowner is sometimes mentioned in pension files. This name can be very hard […]