Slave records

LegacyUser

Barbara Engel said: On forms, i.e., baptisms, deaths etc where the person was a slave can there be an owner's name as this is the only possible way to identify this individual? It's so sad to see only a first name and nothing else but I want to enter even that to say 'you did exist' and sometimes a descendant has nothing to go on but a perceived last name that may have been that of an owner

LegacyUser

Randy Hoffman said: I'm not sure if I fully understand your question, but if you are looking for help with African American research, you can check the African American Research article on the FamilySearch Research Wiki. If that doesn't help, you could ask your question on the African American forum on FamilySearch forums.

LegacyUser

Randy Hoffman said: Oh, I just noticed you were talking about indexing. I am not involved in the indexing program, but I do know that the forms are identical for an entire project. If I have heard correctly, sometimes the forms are even set by the archive that FamilySearch obtains the information from.

There have been many times that I have been indexing and I REALLY wish I could add more information from the record, because it would be extremely useful in finding the record.

The researcher will be able to check all of the results and then look at the original documents, but that could add quite some time to their search, especially if the slave had a common name.

LegacyUser

Barbara Engel said: Thanks for responding Randy. Yes, I hate to enter that "Moses" was baptized in Jamaica in 1700 something and that's it. Might as well forget those records but once I know "Moses" exists I feel frustrated that I cannot link him to his owner's name as frequently a slave has obtained his surname this way and may be the ONLY way a descendant might find any link at all. It's a sad situation all the way around but I quit indexing Jamaica and some Barbados records because of this.

Thank you for your quick response. I've made phone calls to Family Search before and hung up after being kept on hold for 25 minutes and couldn't find another source that answered my questions until now. I will use this forum as a source for at least getting some input to my inquiries.

LegacyUser

CDHC said: Do you REALLY think they would WANT their owner's last name? think it through

LegacyUser

CDHC said: you could add " PROPERTY OF" then OWNER"S NAME .

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: PBS has an excellent series called "Finding Your Roots." It often explores the ancestry of African-Americans with slave ancestry and what the show's genealogists found.

In many instances, the African-Americans on the show have a fair percentage of white ancestry. The show's host Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has over 50% white ancestry. And sometimes, chasing down one's roots involves slave owners.

A very painful show to watch is the "Roots" original miniseries. Normally, we think of pre- US Civil War slavery, but human slavery has existed for all of our history and even still exists today. There were "an estimated 29.2 million [slaves] at the end of 2009." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery)

What the PBS series does (especially the last few seasons) is provide what records were searched for its guests and those may be very helpful for those wanting to know their heritage, as painful as that may be.

LegacyUser

Juanita Ruth Boles said: It is my opinion that until we make every bit of identifying information available we are wasting time and effort. We should have standardized fields to fill with information or leave blank if it’s not available. Personally, I can see trying to follow individuals mentioned in wills and pegging them for following.

LegacyUser

Juanita Ruth Boles said: Ie: “To my daughter Margaret Towers I leave a slave, Jane, who is 14.” We learn from the will that Margaret and her spouse, James, live in another county, so is important to pass this information along. We need a way of communicating what might help identify the individual. The slave in question could have the last name that was Margaret’s maiden name, or, now, the married name mentioned. We have an obligation to try to do what we can to go reunite families.

LegacyUser

Juanita Ruth Boles said: Nevertheless, for a variety of reasons many did take their former owners last name, which, for their posterity may be a shortcut to finding them. With very little to go on, it’s a means to an end if that is the case.

Ronnie Ellen Kingsbury

do you add a slave name into family search, that has only a first name?