Advice for Finding Your Last Slave Ancestors

Key Note Advice for Finding Your Last Slave Ancestors

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Look for the records of your family in the Federal 1870 Census.
Pay close attention to the county, township, post office, and neighboring families.
Check 1850 / 1860 slave census for the slave holder's name. Sometimes the surname(s) of ex-slaves recorded in the census are the surname(s) of former slave holders. You may have to check the agriculture census to determine land ownership of the slave holder.
Compare the 1850 or 1860 population census with your findings in the slave census.
Once you've found the owner of an enslaved ancestor, begin research on that family. Start with public and historical records. The Slave holders kept an account of their property (slaves). Estate records (successions) are among the most valuable. Wills, inventories, appraisements, annual returns named slaves and listed their ages, sex, physical characteristics (sometimes). They may even list their occupations, blood and marriage ties.
If the slave holder is still living after the civil war (1865), begin to look at the owner's annual returns, account books, business receipts, medical notes, birth registers, diaries, letters, and bills of sale. many ex-enslaved became tenant farmers or sharecroppers after the war.

**Please note: If the family owned land, deed records are helpful in tracing the original owner. Any legal transactions concerning the land would be recorded.

Revised: May 05, 2008