There have been only a few times in the 18 years of my research that have truly taken my breath away. I just had another one. John Campbell Henry’s Inventory I was researching the possible owners of a group of former slaves from Dorchester County, Maryland. John Campbell Henry died in 1857. A former governor […]
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Tag: estate inventory
The Last Slave
Everyone researching enslaved ancestors eventually reaches the last slave. They find their ancestor in an an inventory or will or other official document. Usually, that’s as far as it goes. My ancestor Martha provides a good example. William Warfield In the 1860 Howard County, Maryland household of William R. Warfield, my great-great-grandmother Martha Simpson was […]
Estate Inventories: Peek Into Their Live...
For those doing African-American research, antebellum estate inventories are commonly used to find enslaved ancestors. But all genealogists should make it a regular practice to examine all the items in an inventory. This practice will help us understand our ancestor’s day-to-day lives. Scrutinizing inventories can provide many interesting little details to make a written family […]