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Many Resources Available For Tracking Slave Ancestors

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By SHARON TATE MOODY, Tribune correspondent

Published: February 24, 2008

African-Americans have been celebrating their heritage throughout February as a part of Black History Month. For those who have shied away from searching for their slave ancestors because they've heard how difficult it is, this month of celebration is a good time to meet the challenge.

On the surface, it might seem impossible for descendants of slaves to dig up their roots, but don't give in to a defeatist attitude. The field of black genealogical research has grown and improved because of the work of groundbreaking researchers.

Black researchers should begin their quests just like others searching for their European, Asian or Latino roots: Interview family members; record family stories and lore; dig through attics, closets and scrapbooks; and make a pest of yourself around your extended family members - from your grandparents to cousins you haven't seen in 20 years.

Meanwhile, search for official records, using the same resources as any other researcher. These are records of death, birth, marriage, land, probate and military service. You can also look for clues about your slave ancestors in censuses back to 1870. If you have any idea that your ancestors were freed prior to the Civil War, you may find them in censuses prior to 1870.

After thoroughly completing this standard research, it is time to identify the slave owner. You may be able to do this through stories passed down in your family or letters or written records kept by someone in the family. Your ancestor may have taken the surname of his last owner, but don't count on that.

As painful as this history may be, your ancestors are linked permanently to those who owned them, and it will be imperative for you to research those owners to learn about your family. Legally, slaves were property. In addition to being sold, they also were willed, deeded or gifted to the owner's family members.

Chances are that your ancestor stayed in the area in which he or she lived in slavery. A good strategy is to find your ancestor on the 1870 census population schedule, then look at the white families around him or her. Locate those same white families on the 1850 and 1860 census slave schedules.

Slaves were not listed by name on those schedules. The white owner was listed, and his slaves were enumerated by age and sex. Based on the ancestor's age in the 1870 census, you can narrow the possibilities of who owned him or her in 1850 and 1860. Then turn your research to the owners themselves. Try to find probate and land records that might name his slaves. If you can locate the owner's descendants, they may have plantation records, journals, etc., that will show your ancestor.

For instance, I recently reviewed a family Bible as part of a study I'm working on about a small Georgia community. I was surprised to find a list of the family slaves and their dates of birth in the Bible. Although nothing can reduce the pain of slavery, I took solace in this indication that the family viewed their slaves as persons rather than property. Most owners listed their slaves as property in the farm records, not in the Bible, which was reserved for their families.

Searching for your black ancestor through his or her white owners will be long, tedious work. But none of us - black or white - should expect to complete our ancestral research quickly and painlessly.

Many good resources are scattered throughout the Internet. One of the most versatile is Ancestry.com. If you don't want to invest in a subscription to that site, plan to spend some time in a branch of the Tampa-Hillsborough County public library, where you can access a wealth of Internet databases at no charge.

Ancestry's databases include a Slave Narrative Collection with more than 20,000 pages of transcripts. For example, I accessed an interview with Amanda Jackson, who stated she was born a slave. She reveals much information in the interview, including that she was born in Glascock County, Ga.

This was part of the transcript: "My marster's name was Lowry Calhoun - he did'nt have mo chillun - jes' him an' his wife an' her mother. He wus a rich man ah' he had a big plantation an' 'bout fifty slaves or more - I 'members de big quarters in de back o' his house, where me an' de res' o' de slaves lived, an how we uster git up an' do 'roun."

She also revealed that her mother and father remained on the plantation long after they were freed. This source alone provides great leads for Jackson researchers.

Slave narratives also are searchable at the Library of Congress Web site, memory .loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html. "Born in Slavery: Narratives From the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938" contains more then 2,300 fascinating, first-person accounts of slavery and also includes 500 photographs of former slaves. Even if you don't find your ancestor, reading the interviews is informative and worth the time.

After the Civil War, the government set up the Freedman's Bureau to help former slaves find work, establish schools, negotiate contracts and legalize their marriages. A searchable database of these records is at Ancestry. You also can find these records at freedmensbureau.com.

The Freedman's Savings and Trust Co. served the freed slaves from 1864 to 1874. Those records, also at Ancestry.com, show the depositor's age, parents and birthplace. A highly informative article by noted black researcher Reginald Washington about these records can be found at archives .gov/publications/prologue /1997/summer/freedmans-savings-and-trust.html.

Files of the Southern Claims Commission are online for a fee from Footnote.com. After the Civil War, the federal government established this commission to reimburse loyal Southerners whose property had been taken to support the Union troops. Hundred of Southerners - most of whom were not loyal to the Union - made applications for their losses. Many former slaves gave affidavits in support of former masters' claims. All are available through this database at Footnote.com.

The Southern Claims Commission records are housed at the National Archives. A good place to learn more about these claims records and how to use them is the St. Louis County Library site, www .slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/scc/scc-main.htm.

A beautiful site, Christine's Genealogy Website, is at ccharity.com. It has links to stories and how-to articles.

If your slave roots go to Louisiana, a wonderful resource is at ibiblio.org/laslave/introduction.php. This collection is the Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy 1699-1820 database. It contains records on 100,000 slaves brought to Louisiana in the 18th century and 19th century. The information includes slave names, genders, ages, occupations, illnesses, family relationships, places of origin, prices paid and slave testimonies.

Sharon Tate Moody is a certified genealogist by the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Send genealogy questions and event announcements to her in care of BayLife, The Tampa Tribune, 200 S. Parker St., Tampa FL 33606; or stmoody0720 @mac.com. She reg

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