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African American Probate Records: Difference between revisions
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==Online Resources== | ==Online Resources== | ||
*'''1775-1867''' [https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/ Race and Slavery Petitions] at Digital Library on American Slavery - index; court records regarding enslaved peoples; covers 15 slaveholding states | *'''1775-1867''' [https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/ Race and Slavery Petitions] at Digital Library on American Slavery - index; court records regarding enslaved peoples; covers 15 slaveholding states | ||
*[https://enslaved.org/ Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade] - includes records of those enslaved, including court records, and links to relevant databases and projects documenting individuals | |||
*[https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/lantern/ The Lantern Project (Legal Records Documenting Enslaved Persons)] at Mississippi State University Libraries — index & images | |||
==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
For the most part, besides being counted as chattel on tax records, land deeds, and census slave schedules, African Americans were not counted as people until the 1870 census. Other records of interest would be church records, which notes people of color being allowed or dispelled from the church, etc., but they were not always given a surname. Sometimes they were noted by their first name and "as belonging to 'X' slaveholder." Therefore, African American researchers are very dependent upon getting information from the slaveholding family's documentation. | For the most part, besides being counted as chattel on tax records, land deeds, and census slave schedules, African Americans were not counted as people until the 1870 census. Other records of interest would be church records, which notes people of color being allowed or dispelled from the church, etc., but they were not always given a surname. Sometimes they were noted by their first name and "as belonging to 'X' slaveholder." Therefore, African American researchers are very dependent upon getting information from the slaveholding family's documentation. | ||
*Gleaning Information About Enslaved Ancestors from Probate Files by LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, NGS Magazine 48 #3 (April-June 2022): 23-27. {{FSC|4469739|item|disp=FS | *''Gleaning Information About Enslaved Ancestors from Probate Files,'' by LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, NGS Magazine 48 #3 (April-June 2022): 23-27. {{FSC|4469739|item|disp=FS Catalog book 973 D25ngs v.48 no.2}} | ||
===Resources for Marriage, Census, and Cemetery Data=== | ===Resources for Marriage, Census, and Cemetery Data=== | ||
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'''Registers of Enslaved Persons, Registers of Freedmen, and Manumission Papers.''' From the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, about ten percent of African Americans were free. Most free African Americans carried their own papers, but these could be stolen. In order to distinguish between the enslaved, runaways, and free African Americans, many counties or states in the upper South, and border states kept one or more sets of registers or papers. Some had registers of enslaved persons. Some kept registers of Blacks, Freedmen, Free Men of Color, or "free Negroes." Some kept copies of manumission papers of people freed from slavery. To find these kinds of registers or papers look in county courthouse records. They are most likely found in the court papers, among the land and property deeds, or occasionally in probate or tax records. Sometimes these kinds of records are found at state libraries, archives, or historical societies. | '''Registers of Enslaved Persons, Registers of Freedmen, and Manumission Papers.''' From the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, about ten percent of African Americans were free. Most free African Americans carried their own papers, but these could be stolen. In order to distinguish between the enslaved, runaways, and free African Americans, many counties or states in the upper South, and border states kept one or more sets of registers or papers. Some had registers of enslaved persons. Some kept registers of Blacks, Freedmen, Free Men of Color, or "free Negroes." Some kept copies of manumission papers of people freed from slavery. To find these kinds of registers or papers look in county courthouse records. They are most likely found in the court papers, among the land and property deeds, or occasionally in probate or tax records. Sometimes these kinds of records are found at state libraries, archives, or historical societies. | ||
For more information about registers of enslaved persons, see the article ''[https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/slavery-or-slave-owners/ How to look for records of Enslaved people and slave owners]'', from the National Archives | For more information about registers of enslaved persons, see the article ''[https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/slavery-or-slave-owners/ How to look for records of Enslaved people and slave owners]'', from the National Archives - UK. | ||
===Websites=== | ===Websites=== | ||
*[https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ilissdsa/text_files/database_intro2.htm Slave Archival Collection] | *[https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ilissdsa/text_files/database_intro2.htm Slave Archival Collection] | ||
*[https://www.exploregenealogy.co.uk/USAfricanAmericanRecords.html#google_vignette Using U.S. African- American Records to Trace Ancestors Abroad]. - ExploreGenealogy | *[https://www.exploregenealogy.co.uk/USAfricanAmericanRecords.html#google_vignette Using U.S. African- American Records to Trace Ancestors Abroad]. - ExploreGenealogy | ||