Are records
available about black Americans prior to the 1870 Census? You’re darned tootin’
they are! Many believe that the so-called “1870 Brick Wall” stifles the research
of those of us who descend from these Ancestors, but that is absolutely not the
case! Check out these slides from some of the presentations I do that address
this topic.
Image 1
From “Researching Free People of Color in Antebellum North Carolina” Slide 12, updated June 2018. Author, Renate Yarborough Sanders. All rights reserved. Except for the “freedom badges,” the other record types mentioned on this slide are mostly extant, and provide helpful documentation of the lives of emancipated or free-born Blacks.
From “Researching Free
People of Color in Antebellum North Carolina” Slide 15,
updated June 2018. Author, Renate Yarborough Sanders. All rights reserved.
These are two samples from the very rich collection of slavery related
petitions, collected by UNC’s
Digital Library on American Slavery.
|
From "Finding Calvin: Following My Enslaved Through Multiple Owners - A Case Study Ancestor" Slide 12. Updated July 2020. Author, Renate Yarborough Sanders. All Rights Reserved. People often say that there’s no such thing as a slave record, but this slide shows records which certainly give us information about the enslaved.
Image 5
Cohabitation record for my great-grandparents, Calvin and Precilla (Shaw) Yarborough From "Finding Calvin: Following My Enslaved Ancestor Through Multiple Owners - A Case Study" Slide 13. Author, Renate Yarborough Sanders. All rights reserved. I discovered this document at the North Carolina State Archives, in 2007, and took this photo, myself. This was the record that confirmed and documented the fact that my great-grandparents had, indeed, been enslaved.
My goal in writing this post was
to find and share a few slides from my presentations that gave somewhat of an overview
of what type of documentation is available about the lives of our Ancestors of
color, and/or how and where to find it. I do not wish to share too many of my
slides that show that specific documentation. For that, you need to hire me to
speak! 😊
However, before I close, I
absolutely must add something that just happened two nights ago. I got an email
from my DNA-connected cousin (and fellow researcher), Kristen Williams, who,
like me descends from ancestors enslaved by Josiah Collins, of Somerset
Place in Washington County, North Carolina. She, with the help of her
mother, had the privilege of photoscanning original record books from two places
of worship – The St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church in Edenton, NC and The Lake Chapel, located directly
on the premises of Somerset Place. The two record books, combined, contained lifelong
vital documentation of many of our ancestors, as well as many (most) of those
who were enslaved along with them. The St. Paul’s book contains information about
“Masters and Slaves,” while one from the Lake Chapel register contained
information about those enslaved at Somerset, as well as at other neighboring plantations.
Both registers contained the following dated information about our
Ancestors:
- births
- parent(s) and siblings names
- marriages (yes)
- baptisms
- confirmations
- communicants
- deaths
- burial locations
These registers repeatedly
confirmed the names of the enslavers of our Ancestors. Additionally, there were
indications of when someone was a free person of color and notations of
if an enslaved person had removed to another location (i.e. Georgia). Another
precious research gem was when particular enslaved persons were of “Guinea”
descent, and even when a particular person was “the oldest” enslaved
person on the plantation, at age 90. (See below.)
Here's just a glimpse of
what’s included:
Image 6
Marriage record of Peter
King and Amy Elsy (Amy Littlejohn), December 28, 1858. This is not the date given on their 1866 Cohabitation
Record. I am changing my records to reflect this date, which should be
more accurate. Amy is named "Amy Elsy" because Elsy Littlejohn was
her mother, and all of her children are named that way in the Somerset records.
Amy was my second-great-grandmother. Before marrying Peter, she was with
Mack Tredwell, who is thought to my my ancestor, father of my
great-grandmother, Pinkey Tredwell King, but there are some conflicting
records. Having this marriage date will help to clear up that confusion! (I
also learned from this register that Peter King’s first wife, Sally, had died
just a few months before his marriage to Amy.)
Image 7
Lastly, I’ll share the page
that shows some of the notations I mentioned above. I want to share this photo
in its entirety, for context, but click on it to see notations of Guinea
slaves, parental identification, the “oldest on the plantation,” and more. This
is from The Lake Chapel Register from Somerset Place, officially labeled, “1836 – ‘65
Parish Register of Sommerset Place, Lake Scuppernong, N.C., Masters and Slaves.”
These Parish Registers are
treasure troves of information and contain dated documentation for
genealogy researchers! Though reading through these registers is emotionally
challenging, it is worth every tear drop
to see into this window of the lives of those enslaved by these church
members and to gather more insight into their personal stories. Like
the parish register I posted
about, previously, from the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Louisburg, NC,
where many of these same enslaved people from Somerset are also documented
during the Civil War, these pre-1870 records can be found and do
provide us with valuable documentary information about the lives of our African
American ancestors. These two books, now shared with me by my cousin, are prime
examples of the types of resources that remain hidden in private places, but need
to be released, publicly, so that those of us who descend from the Ancestors
who built this country, can continue to find them and learn about their lives.
Thanks for reading. Renate
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