I was recently “over my head” in tracing the origins of some former slaves – that is, “over my head” in both the sense that slave research is difficult (emotionally and academically) and the research was even more complicated because of the specific goal the client had in mind.

While I can’t help anyone with the emotional aspect, I am fairly competent when it comes to academic methodology. The freedmen I was researching, as well as their descendants, lived in areas of Mississippi that had suffered a huge loss with regard to their early county records because of courthouse fires. Many people will tell you that some of the most difficult genealogical research in the United States is tracing former slaves’ ancestry or working in a burned county and … here I was striving to jump both hurdles. Let me share some ideas that may help you boost your success level if you ever find yourself in this situation.

First, learn as much as you can about the family of interest in more contemporary existing (non-burned) records. Contacting other descendants on the family tree can often help you learn whether or not there were any oral traditions … or perhaps family records … that have been passed down the generations. Traditions, although they may eventually prove to be wrong in many points, may yet offer some clues to an ancestor’s origins. Obtain the death certificate for the freedman generation and for as many of their children as possible.

Mississippi began requiring statewide death registration in 1912 (although compliance is limited in earlier years). In some cases, obtaining the death certificates of former slaves or their children can help to identify the maiden names of mothers (important when marriage records were burned or non-existant) as well as offering approximate birth dates, marriage dates and places. Collect as many census records as you can for the freedmen and their families, too.

Researching former slaves and their origins will require learning who the slave owner was. To do this, you will need to learn, and become familiar with, the various surnames associated with the former slave ancestors. Former slaves had varied reasons for choosing the surnames upon which they eventually decided to take. In some areas of the country, slaves often took the surname of their most recent former owner, but this is not always the case. Sometimes they took the name of their earliest remembered slave owner, and sometimes they chose the name of someone they admired. You should also take a look at the land owners near whom the former slaves were living in the 1870 census.

When you have identified a likely slave owner (or at least a few possibilities), you can look at the ages of slaves in these households in the Slave schedules of the pre-Civil War censuses. In some cases, you may be able to locate family papers for these slaveholders or records of their plantation. These documents may provide proof that your ancestor lived on the plantation. They may also provide proof of parentage or indicate if an ancestor was brought from another plantation or location.

Depending on the approximate birth year of the freedman and the date of migration of the slave owners into the county, you may be able to trace the slave owners out of the county to an area where the records are still extant. It may then be possible to identify your ancestor in records of that locality.

Don’t overlook the personal papers of local physicians who may have recorded visiting your ancestor when he or she was sick, either. Likewise, don’t forget to check for former slave narratives, newspapers advertising runaway slaves, slave sales, and local news involving slaves and freedmen, bank records, and the Freedman’s Bureau records. Local church records can also be an invaluable source of information when they named the slaves who attended the church.

As with any Southern states research … just because the courthouse burned, that does not mean that your research has come to an end. While it is certainly more difficult and time consuming to research in a burned county, it may still be possible to achieve success!

If you have African American or Southern states research, our research team will be happy to evaluate your research problem. Ask for a free estimate!