Enslaved cotton workers (Thinkstock)
Searching Slave Records: A Guide to Decoding Them
Tracing Roots: What to look for in antebellum documents in a family tree search:
Tracing Your Roots: What to look for in antebellum documents in your family tree search.
For many African Americans the paper trail of their ancestral origins hits a wall at the slavery era.
AN EXAMPLE
During the hunt for information about my great-great grandmother, Jane Gates who was born into slavery in 1819, we were able to find her in the 1870 census which is the oldest census to list all African Americans by name.
Before then, few counties listed slaves by name, so we shifted gears and searched the "slave schedules" for the 1860 and 1850 census information for slave owners named Gates. However, we were not able to find anyone under that name who owned a slave that was around her age. This means that she was owned by someone with a surname other than Gates and the only way to find her by using records would be to undertake a systematic search of the estate papers, wills and tax records, and other documents of every slave holder in Allegany County, Md.
Below, a reader faces a similar challenge:
I have traced my maternal genealogy back to slave records, which are hard to decipher. What do I look for in those documents?
The slave schedules for the 1860 and 1850 census enumerations list enslaved people under the names of their owner, identified by race ("Black" or "Mulatto"), age and gender. This makes it difficult to identify an ancestor on these lists, especially in instances when there were many slaves owned by an individual.
There were a few counties that listed enslaved by name, according to genealogist Jane Ailes.
For 1850 the counties are:
Utah County, Utah
Bowie County, Texas
Scott County, Tenn.
For 1860 the counties are:
Hampshire County, Va. (where I have ancestors)
Boyd County, Ky.
Camden County, N.C. (named only in the copy held by courthouse, not the National Archives copy)
Some, but not all of those listed in Twiggs County, Ga.
Washington County, Tenn.
2nd Ward, City of St. Louis
Almost all enslaved over the age of 100 are named in all counties. You can also find slaves named in the federal census mortality schedules for 1850 and 1860.
Heartbreaking, but because slaves were considered to be property, another good resource is deed records. Although these are traditionally used in identifying land bought and sold, the buying and selling of slaves was recorded in these documents as well. Deed records may include the age of the enslaved person at the time of the sale - those who were in their mid-teens to their 30s were often worth much more because of their ability to work harder. Sometimes a mother and child were sold together, which is helpful when trying to attach names to those listed in the slave schedules.
The enslaved were also sometimes used as collateral for loans. As such, in the deed records, you may find individuals named and held "in trust." Regardless, the names (and sometimes the ages) will assist in beginning to piece together potential family units among the enslaved of a particular owner
I have traced my maternal genealogy back to slave records, which are hard to decipher. What do I look for in those documents?
The slave schedules for the 1860 and 1850 census enumerations list enslaved people under the names of their owner, identified by race ("Black" or "Mulatto"), age and gender. This makes it difficult to identify an ancestor on these lists, especially in instances when there were many slaves owned by an individual.
For 1850 the counties are:
Utah County, Utah
Bowie County, Texas
Scott County, Tenn.
For 1860 the counties are:
Hampshire County, Va. (where I have ancestors)
Boyd County, Ky.
Camden County, N.C. (named only in the copy held by courthouse, not the National Archives copy)
Some, but not all of those listed in Twiggs County, Ga.
Washington County, Tenn.
2nd Ward, City of St. Louis
Almost all enslaved over the age of 100 are named in all counties. You can also find slaves named in the federal census mortality schedules for 1850 and 1860.
Heartbreaking, but because slaves were considered to be property, another good resource is deed records. Although these are traditionally used in identifying land bought and sold, the buying and selling of slaves was recorded in these documents as well. Deed records may include the age of the enslaved person at the time of the sale - those who were in their mid-teens to their 30s were often worth much more because of their ability to work harder. Sometimes a mother and child were sold together, which is helpful when trying to attach names to those listed in the slave schedules.
The enslaved were also sometimes used as collateral for loans. As such, in the deed records, you may find individuals named and held "in trust." Regardless, the names (and sometimes the ages) will assist in beginning to piece together potential family units among the enslaved of a particular owner
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