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Researching Enslaved Ancestors

One of the challenges for many whose ancestors were slaves is to research the era of slavery. Part of the successful search involves indentifying the last slave owner, of one's ancestors. There are many methods and theories about how to document the enslaving family. This is particularly challenging when many records are still in private papers that include names of slaves. However, many researchers have still managed to have some success with this critical stage.

I have found military pension files to be wonderfully rich with data not only of a soldier and his service, but of the family, and in so many cases the name of the slave holders are mentioned in those files.

Other documents are often found in court houses in wills, deeds, and court records.

I would love to hear of how others have gone about this phase in their research---identifying and telling the history of those who were enslaved.

-Angela-

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by msualumni on July 13, 2009 at 7:11pm

Tax records are a real boon to those locations that still have them. I have found slaveowners using these. They are especially helpful when ages are listed. Other localities have unique records, like in Maryland some counties listed records listing slaves/slaveowners thinking they would be reimbursed as the owners in DC were.

Permalink Reply by Craig Manson on July 13, 2009 at 8:58pm

Angela:

Of my eight g-grandparents, two were descendants of free people of color, but of the remaining six, I know of three slave owning families. I found the name of the slaveholder of my great-great-grandfather, Ezekiel ("Zeke") Johnson, on papers in Grandpa Zeke's US Colored Troops military records.

The top of the document reads:

Colored Volunteer Descriptive List of Zeke Johnson, Colored Volunteers, enlisted in the service of the United States under General Order No. 135, HeadQuarters, Department of the Mo., St Louis, November 14th, 1863. Claimed to have been the slave of Henry Wilhite, a citizen of Clay County, State of Missouri.

The 1860 slave schedule for Clay County, MO, shows Henry Wilhite owned eight slaves, including a ten year old male. This is probably Zeke, although he was actually 13 at that time.

Permalink Reply by George Geder on July 13, 2009 at 9:22pm

Hi Craig,

This is awesome!

I noticed that the document is dated November 14, 1863.
Yet in the remarks field it states "... No owner present claiming slave - left his master about May 1st, 1864.

Does this mean that he was a runaway and the military had a 'waiting period' before officially declaring Zeke Johnson a soldier? Curious as how to read this.

Peace,
"Guided by the Ancestors"

Permalink Reply by Angela Walton-Raji on July 13, 2009 at 10:28pm

Perhaps that was the period that they were declared "contraband". But the USCT were formed so perhaps until he was trained he was not mustered in. Just a thought.
-Angela-

Permalink Reply by Craig Manson on July 14, 2009 at 12:31pm

The "Nov 14th 1863" date refers to the date of the General Order of the Army's Dept of the Missouri which authorized the recruitment of "colored men." At the bottom of the document is the date of the actual document: July 23, 1864.

Now the matter of his having left his master two months earlier is important for this reason:

During the Civil War, two acts of Congress—one passed in 1864 (13 Stat. 11) and one in 1866 (14 Stat. 321)—allowed loyal slave owners whose slaves enlisted or were drafted into the U.S. military to file a claim against the Federal government for loss of the slave’s services. The law allowed for up to $300 compensation for slaves who enlisted, and up $100 for slaves who were drafted.

The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed the slaves in the states which were in rebellion, but in border-states which were loyal to the Union—slavery continued to be legal. The law authorizing the formation of the USCT stated that no man was to fight as a slave, so for slaves in the border-states, enlistment meant freedom. If owners would not give permission to enlist, then slaves had to run away in order to join the army. In some cases, flight from slavery led to enlistment in the state where the slave resided, but other times it led to enlistment in a neighboring state. If a slave’s former owner found out where and when he joined—and the owner was loyal to the Union—then he or she could file a slave compensation claim.

St Louis County Library, What was a Slave Compensation Claim?

The compensation generally was $300 per slave. But since Grandpa Zeke ran away, he, not the slave owner, was entitled to his own bounty! See Colored Men and Their Relation to the Military Service and Black Missourians in the Civil War

The document below shows that Zeke was still owed $100 of his bounty when he was discharged. I don't know if he ever got it.

By the way, Henry Wilhite was not loyal to the United States, having enlisted in the Confederate army, and so would be ineligible for compensation for Zeke Johnson.

Permalink Reply by George Geder on July 14, 2009 at 9:23pm

Dummy me; I overlooked the date of the actual document.
The links you provided are great and I'm learning some new stuff!

Permalink Reply by Angela Walton-Raji on July 14, 2009 at 7:36am

Hello Bob,

Wow I have never seen records such as this from Mississippi. I now live in Maryland, but Mississippi is one of the states that I research, and I have not seen one from there, although I know that Missisippi had free people of color. Where did you locate the document? Was it part of a large record set? And were they sorted by county? (Crossing my fingers for data from Tippah County). Have they been transcribed?
-Angela-

Permalink Reply by Angela Walton-Raji on July 14, 2009 at 1:24pm

I had a similar experience when communicating with the descendants the slave holders of my Mississippi ancestors. I was given a photo of the slave owner and his wife also. Wish there existed an image of the slaves.

Permalink Reply by Angela Walton-Raji on July 14, 2009 at 1:26pm

I am impressed with your thoroughness! Of course this is what is required on such searches. You are in that challenging 4th stage of researching the slave holder's family.

Permalink Reply by Khathu on July 24, 2009 at 5:21pm

Hello Angela, I have so far been able to identify and document the slave holding families of three of my ancestors in Texas. On two of the lines there was oral history that provided me with a surname and the other line I followed the common practice of assuming that my ancestor kept the surname of her slave owner. In all of the situations, I incorporate the same strategy. I first created an historical time line of the potential slave holding family using the U.S. Census after I have determined they owned enslaved property. I usually determine if they owned enslaved property by examining the 1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules. I also tried to locate the family in every census from 1790-1870. This helped me to determine their migration pattern of the family. With Texas the majority of slave holding families arrived in the Texas in the decade before the Civil War or during the CW. I then start examining tax records in five year intervels to determine when they arrived in the state as well as to how many enslaved Africans they owned. They look at any changes in their enslaved holding. Any changes can signal a sale, purchase, death or birth.

Next I began to consult conveyance/deed records for possible transaction actions involving enslaved Africans which can include sell, purchase, mortgage, etc. And finally I examined probate records paying close attention to the inventory of the estate and the distribution of property list.

In addition to all of the above, I created a genealogy of the slave holding family using published histories and cross referencing that history with the U.S. Census, dialogue with the descendants of the slave holding families, church, marriage, and military records.

This method has been successful in locating the slave holding family of my gg grandmother Julia Whitaker and mother Jane who were owned by Robert Franklin Whitaker I and Robert Franklin Whitaker II of Red River County, Texas; my ggg grandfather Joseph Ransom, his parents and siblings who were owned by James Moody of Chesterfield County, Virginia who migrated to Freestone County, Texas in 1854; and my ggg grandfather Andrew (Andy) Perkins who was owned by Edward Evans of Perry County, Alabama who migrated with his family to Texas in 1853.

A much more detail account of my experience looking for the slave holding family of Julia Whitaker will be published in the Ark-La-Tex Genealogical Society publication the "Genie" this fall.

Permalink Reply by Gloria Brown on July 25, 2009 at 8:56am

I began researching with my Cousins, of whom, were active in our Family Genealogy for several years prior to me starting. I visited the County Archives in several Texas Cities with them and watched how they intently scoured the Big Archival Record Books, which included the Livestock and Brand Books, and the Older School Records, back to when they first allowed the Slave Children to attend school.I also found in the Land and Deed Records, the land ownership of Family Members and the type of crops they raised and where the property was located, when it was purchased and from whom it was purchased as well as the price of the purchase. In the Livestock and Brand Book, information of the Slaveowners property, including their Slave Names and the Brands that they were branded with to show, whose property they were and the location of the property, and year of the brand was recorded. In the Old School Records, the names and ages of the Family Children when they first started attending school in that County, their parents and siblings names, this information continued throughout their recorded school life in that County. All these searches are hands-on, availble on-line and will take time to uncover the wealth of information contained in each of them. The Death Records, Birth Records, Marriage Records and Rations Records of those that needed help are invaluable means of help in African American Research. I hope have helped in a small way for someone.

Permalink Reply by Family Griot on August 10, 2009 at 3:32pm

Angela, as you know I'm very new to genealogical research. However, I've recently discovered that death certificates can also contain useful information. My example is my great-great grandmother Celie Williams b. abt 1850 d. 1933, of Dallas County, AL. She as well as her parents were born into slavery. On her death certificate was the names of her last husband Pierce and her parents, Andrew Smith and Phillis. The DC even included the county her father had been born in, Madison County, AL. It also listed where she had been buried, Jones, Autagua county, AL. I'm still working on tracking down the last known slave owner, but this has just gotten me many steps closer.