"We’ve found in our research it is often harder to trace ancestors for Black Americans than white Americans. How do federal records help identify former slaves and slave owners?"
A regular installment about race and money in America, from the authors of "The Black Dollar"
Good morning. As the holidays approach, many of you may think about your family histories.
For our book, “The Black Dollar,” we have been doing a good deal of ancestry research, and it’s not always so easy with the Black Americans whose prior generations were slaves and not listed on public registries until the mid-1800s, or later in many cases. One resource we have found helpful is the guidance of Claire Kluskens, the senior digital projects archivist at the National Archives in Washington. In 2018, the National Archives held a virtual genealogy fair to help those who want to trace their family histories and Claire has put together a helpful guide on identifying former slaves and former slave owners.
Ebony caught up with Claire to talk about race, money and ancestral research.
Ebony: Where should people start when trying to understand their family tree?
Claire: People should start with themselves. What do you know about your family? Organize your basic knowledge on an ancestry chart and on family group sheets. Talk to your relatives to fill in gaps. Then begin with the 1940 census, the most recent available Federal decennial census, and work your way backwards through the censuses of 1930, 1920, 1910, 1900, and so forth. (Federal censuses were taken every 10 years since 1790; the 1950 census will be released for public use on April 1, 2022.) Federal census records are important basic building blocks of successful genealogical research because they help locate individuals at 10 year intervals. State and county government agencies also create records useful for genealogical research, such as birth, marriage, death, real estate, tax, probate and other court records.
Ebony: We’ve found in our research it is often harder to trace ancestors for Black Americans than white Americans. How do federal records help identify former slaves and slave owners?
Claire: Black families should be able to trace their ancestors in census records back to 1870. They may even find elderly formerly enslaved ancestors alive in 1870 whose ages indicate they were born in the early 1800s. Free Black ancestors can be found in the 1790 to 1860 censuses. Some records provide information about enslaved or formerly enslaved persons and may identify their owners. Useful Federal records include the Federal census records, 1790-1940; Federal slave census schedules, 1850-1860; Civil War and later military service and pension files; Confederate States of America slave payrolls; Freedmen’s Bureau Records; Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company Records (“Freedman’s Bank”); Southern Claims Commission claim files; coastwise slave ship manifests, 1809-1860; fugitive slave case files; and other records. For more information and links to digitized records, researchers should read “Federal Records that Help Identify Former Enslaved People and Slave Holders.” Records created at the local level may also prove useful, such as property, tax, church, and other records.
Ebony: What a list of resources. There are a couple things in there that people may not recognize. “Freedman’s Bank,” for instance. That is a bank that was set up after the Civil War that encouraged former slaves to deposit their money there. (The ending of that was not so good. We’ll leave that for another newsletter.) And “coastwise slave ship manifests.” That is a term that refers to ships that traveled along the coast in the United States participating in the domestic slave trade. (After 1807, international import of slaves was barred in the United States, though there was not total compliance.)
So Claire, my co-author and I are focused on race and money. Are there specific financial records that can help families looking for Black ancestors?
Claire: Some families may find their Black ancestors in the records of Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874, which include 55 volumes of signatures and personal identification data about 67,000 depositors in 29 branches of the bank. This may include an account number, name of depositor, date of entry, place of birth, place brought up, residence, age, complexion, name of employer or occupation, wife or husband, children, father, mother, brothers, sisters, remarks, and signature. There are also dividend payment records for 1882-1889.
Ebony: What are some additional challenges in doing this sort of research?
Claire: Names are often not spelled in historical records the way we expect to find them. Here in the 21st century we expect our names to be spelled the same in every record created about us - but it probably isn’t! For hundreds of years, records have been written by clerks and other record keepers whose level of education and literacy varied widely. Record makers wrote down names according to the “ear” test: What did they hear the person say? Many people could not spell their own name. Also, a person might be recorded by a nickname. For example, Elizabeth might be recorded as Eliza, Betty, Beth, or some other nickname, or by her middle name if she preferred that. Between the end of the Civil War and 1900, formerly enslaved families sometimes flip-flopped on their preferred surname. European and other immigrants often shortened or Americanized their name after settling in the United States in order to be less foreign and more accepted. The blog posts “20 Tips for Census Research Success” at and “Twenty Reasons You May Have Trouble Finding an Ancestor in the Census” may help overcome obstacles in locating relatives in census and other records.
Ebony: There are so many places to look for information on people’s ancestors, and luckily an increasing amount of records are moving online. We’ve found good success on sites like ancestry.com that pull from many national and local records. Thanks Claire.
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We are interested in hearing from readers of this newsletter who have done research to see whether their families descended from slaves or from slaveowners. What challenges did you face in determining your family’s connection to American slavery and in finding the exact names of your ancestors from the mid 1800s? Reply to this newsletter to share your story. (And if you don’t subscribe, sign up for a free subscription so that you can reply to us.)
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We are interested in hearing from you – what do you think of guaranteed income and should race factor into it?
E-mail us anytime. And, have a peaceful holiday. We’ll be back with you in the New Year.
