United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Superintendent of Education and of the Division of Education - FamilySearch Historical Records: Difference between revisions

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The collection consists of images of the records of the Superintendent of Education and the Education Division of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau). Most of the collection will consist of monthly teacher reports and monthly reports of the sub-assistant commissioner or agents.  The event date is the date the report was completed either by the teacher or agent. Reports can also identify the name and location of schools as well as the society sponsoring a teacher.

*Records of the Education Division, M803: 15-35 [http://www.archives.gov/research/microfilm/m803.pdf National Archives Pamphlet M803]

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The Bureau was created in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War to supervise relief efforts including education, health care, food and clothing, refugee camps, legalization of marriages, employment, labor contracts, and securing back pay, bounty payments and pensions. These records include letters and endorsements sent and received, account books, applications for rations, applications for relief, court records, labor contracts, registers of bounty claimants, registers of complaints, registers of contracts, registers of disbursements, registers of freedmen issued rations, registers of patients, reports, rosters of officers and employees, special and general orders and circulars received, special orders and circulars issued, records relating to claims, court trials, property restoration, and homesteads.

==What Do I Do Next?==

When you have located your ancestor in the Freedmen's Bureau Records, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details such as a title, an occupation, or land ownership. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

*Use the place of residence, age, and other information for each person to search for the individuals in census records.

*Use the information found to search for church records.  

*Use the information found to search additional state and county records.

*There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.  

*[[Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)]]

Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image. <br>