Slaves in household
In the chat it was mentioned that a slave could be listed as a household member as "slave" (rather than child or not connected). Is that only in a census record or is that to be under "add child" category? I must have missed part of that discussion.
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Use the Other Relationships area (below Family Relationships where children are listed).
Apprenticeship, Employment, Enslavement, Godparent, Household, Neighbor, and Relative are the types of relationships for people added in this area.
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Initially, I thought that was a great addition to the meeting on Wednesday. But then as I thought about it further I initially didn't see the value of it. Enslaved persons were generally only allowed to have first names, not surnames prior to emancipation. Enslaved people were generally only allowed first names, and did not choose or acquire surnames until after emancipation. Therefore, a search for just "Joe" or "Mary" would result in an almost endless list of search results based on just a first name.
What occurred to me however, is that the researcher may not yet have found the same record indicating the given name of an enslaved person in that family. If the researcher is wisely including searches for family names of potential plantation, farm, or household owners, for example, the entry of an enslaved person on the property or in the household would be nice confirmation to indicate that the researcher may well be on the right track by looking at the possible slave holder's full name.
—Chris
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Here is the Thom Reed class from RootsTech 2024 where he introduces several new features on FamilySearch designed for those doing African American research. Those of us who serve in FamilySearch Centers ought to be familiar with these features to help our patrons.
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These links give guidelines regarding adding enslaved persons to FamilySearch.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/temple-ordinances-for-enslaved-persons
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