Slave ancestery?

Question:I am reseaching my friend line. She told me some of her ancestors were black slaves in the south. Any suggestions on how to trace them? I have not had much luck so far. She has an old bible with names and birth dates in it and some old letters, but that is all I have thus far.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I am reseaching my friend line. She told me some of her ancestors were black slaves in the south. Any suggestions on how to trace them? I have not had much luck so far. She has an old bible with names and birth dates in it and some old letters, but that is all I have thus far.

I can tell you what worked for me. I traced my African American ancestors back to 1870 by using the census reports, death certificates, and other vital records. Once I found my family on the 1870 Census, I looked at the names of the white's that lived near them. Then I checked the 1860 and 1850 slave schedules for names of the white's that I found. They were indeed listed on the slave schedules. I matched the ages of the slaves with the ages of my ancestors. (they matched). Then I started checking to see if they slave owners left wills. (they did). If you can get the will, it might give you more information like names and ages.

Another thing that helped me was to use the date of death from the death certificates, and then look at old newspapers around that date. I often found obits that listed other information. (I also found a lot of other things too, like circumstances surrounding the death.

Some of my other sources have been: Funeral home records (Many of them keep the programs, which are a wealth of information). The black slave narratives on ancestry.com. (I found information about the other slaves, and about the plantation). Church records. Homestead property records. Grave canvassing. (try www.findagrave.com)

But the VERY BEST website to get more help is the Afrigeneas website at www.afrigeneas.com. They are devoted to helping with African American genealogy.

Most of all tell your friend not to give up! I have traced my roots back to 1740. Good Luck

ancestry.com has the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules. That might be some help

Between the present and 1870, she will use just about the same sources as anyone.. ie census, birth/death certs, so forth.
The issues are prior to 1870.. the reality being that IF they appear in records, it will be as someone's property. This DOES happen, although not guaranteed.. the trick is determining the (owner) family name, and researching their documents such as deeds, or probate files. I personally have seen that more and more Caucasian families are making efforts to share these records for the benefit of all.
The Bible is a huge treasure, since it probably has info that will NOT be found anywhere else. Using a Bible (a person from here) we were able to track almost the entire line in a few days (using ancestry.com, which has all the census records).

1870 is the first time the census listed Negroes by name. Before that is was just who owned them and how many, sometimes by age. Knowing Beaufort Smith owned 14 males and 23 females isn't going to help much, if you are trying to prove your friends' GGGGF and GGGGM were two of them. The slave schedules are not usually much help.

Genforum both have a forums devoted to African-American genealogy. The Mormons do too. Most big sites have a section of "How to". Most of them tell you not to get your hopes up.

The Mormons have a CD of Freedman's Bank records at each of their Family History Centers, and they will sell you one for a modest fee. There is some genealogy there.

Your best trail is if Robert Smith I wills "My negro boy Charles" to his son, Robert Smith II in 1830, Robert Smith II in turn wills "My negro man Charles" to his son, Robert Smith III in 1850 and you find Charles Smith, black, age 50, working on Robert Smith III's plantation as a farm hand / cook / butler in 1870.

That takes digging through a lot of wills. Some slave owners recorded some slave births in family bibles. The Library of Virgina has been microfilming family Bibles for years, and lately they have been digitizing them. You might find something there. That's just an example. There isn't one central source.

If you find someone whose relation is "Father" or "Mother" living with someone in 1870, you are doing well.