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Need help with slave records

I have some practical questions:

1.What are slave narratives? Where do I find them?

2. Where do I go to look up property records of slaves? Do I go to the county and ask the county clerk if I can search the records? Is there a charge?

3. Was it customary for blacks to have birth certificates, death certificates and marriage certificates prior to 1920? I haven't found any for the ancestors I'm looking for.

4. If a child was born out of wedlock, are we just out of luck of finding the father (this would be over 70 years ago).

Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Marilyn Jones James on April 23, 2012 at 5:37pm

1.http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/ this is the link to the Federal Writer's project.

2. state archives. you can go to the county clerk for marriage certificates etc. there is a charge for copies.

3. The only records for birth or death certificates (that I'm aware of) are slave owners documents or bibles.

4. this may take a while to find. You may want to interview family members... the secret can be found, it just takes time.

Need help with slave records

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