black family tree research
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Do Freedmen’s Bureau Records Show the Marriage of My Kin?
Many years ago, I located my maternal great-great-grandparents, Lucy Hoffman and Ben Hoffman, in census records for Mount Sterling, Ky. They are both listed in the 1870 census, with Lucy listed as being born circa 1803 in Georgia and Ben being born circa 1815 in Virginia. In the 1880 Mount Sterling census, only my great-great-grandmother…
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Who Were My Enslaved Ancestor’s Parents?
How do I go about finding the parents of my maternal second great-grandfather Spencer Mott, born about 1820 in Georgia? He was listed in the 1880 census as mulatto, living in Brandywine Claiborne, Miss. I’m guessing he was probably a slave. —Tammy Robinson Tracking enslaved people before the end of the Civil War is tricky…
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Was My Black Ancestor Named After a Confederate General?
I visited Charleston, S.C., last week and walked past a statue of Wade Hampton III and stopped dead in my tracks. You see, my great-grandfather’s name was Wade Hampton Shields. Wade Hampton III was a Confederate general, U.S. senator and governor of South Carolina. He was one of the largest enslavers of people in the South…
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Is My Family’s ‘Slave Name’ the Wrong One?
I have been working on my family tree for years and cannot find anyone on my father’s side earlier than my great-grandparents Texas Williams, 1871-1951, and his wife, Nettie Howard Williams, 1875-1912. My father said that Texas always said that they were really “Dunns”—that the Dunn family sold them to the Williams family and they…
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Did My Black Forebear Have Kids With a White Employer?
Dear Professor Gates:My fourth great-grandmother Delilah Yates was listed as a “domestic servant” in a white household on the 1870 Virginia census in Marshall-Farquhar County along with three of her children, the younger two who are listed as mulatto (Delilah and the oldest child are identified as black). My third great-grandfather Daniel Yates was also a son of…
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Help Me Find My Ancestors in Slave Records
I have been unable to find any records of the Armstrong branch of my family before the 1870 census and look to you for possible answers. The 1870 census shows Tom and Joanna Armstrong living in the Barbecue Township of Harnett County, N.C. There were six children in the house at that time (only the boys),…
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How Do I Connect With Kin of My Ancestor’s Slave Owners?
I have uncovered an interesting and tragic family story. I was able to trace my family to a couple of former slaves: my great-great-grandfather Joseph Hoosier and his uncle Timothy Hoosier (Hauser). Both were former slaves in Yadkinville, N.C. A front-page newspaper article on Dec. 26, 1913, tells of the death of Timothy Hoosier, who died…
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The Brick Wall: Where Was My Black Ancestor Before 1880?
My maternal second great-grandmother was named Sarah Riddick, born around 1862 in Washington County, N.C. Records show that she worked as a servant for L.B. Davis and his wife, Annie E. Davis. I would like to know if Riddick was a slave and where she came from. The 1880 U.S. census shows she had three…
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Tell Me More About My Runaway Slave Ancestor
In my father’s family, there is a story about three brothers: Nash, Kush and Hardy. Our surname is Graham. The brothers were slaves who escaped by setting a cotton gin afire in the middle of the night, and during the commotion, they scat. We don’t know where they escaped from, but my family is strongly…
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How Do I Research My Kin’s Jamaican Origins?
My great-grandparents migrated from Jamaica. I have everyone’s name but no other information about them. Can you tell me more about their origins and how to research Jamaican ancestors in the 19th century? My great-grandfather was Arthur Ephraim Campbell, born May 20, 1879, in Jamaica. He died April 17, 1936, in Roxbury, Mass. His parents…