BOOKS African American

How do you approach the unique challenges of African- American genealogy? How can you make the most of your research time and effort? In this volume Franklin Carter Smith and Emily Anne Croom explore successful strategies for getting started and moving beyond the basics.

Using examples, illustrations, and case studies, A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your African-American Ancestors shows you how to

• gather and preserve your family's special oral and social history;
• research census records, especially the important 1870 census;
• use African-American-specific sources, including the Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records; and
• Work with and evaluate county and federal records.

This book is unique because it includes methods for successful research in slavery-era records as well as strategies to help you identify your ancestors' slaveholder and slaveholding family. Case studies from various states and time periods tell the stories of real families whose lives were recorded in public records that you too can use. Discovering your family history can be a powerful experience that also allows you to create a special legacy for your loved ones.

"One of the most challenging aspects of American research is tracing black ancestors during and beyond slavehood. Smith and Croom offer practical, easy-to-follow guidance using sound genealogical research techniques. But more importantly, they offer hope for a difficult era in genealogical research."--Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, CG, author of You Can Write Your Family History.

How do you approach the unique challenges of African- American genealogy? How can you make the most of your research time and effort? In this volume Franklin Carter Smith and Emily Anne Croom explore successful strategies for getting started and moving beyond the basics.

Using examples, illustrations, and case studies, A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your African-American Ancestors shows you how to

• gather and preserve your family's special oral and social history;
• research census records, especially the important 1870 census;
• use African-American-specific sources, including the Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records; and
• Work with and evaluate county and federal records.

This book is unique because it includes methods for successful research in slavery-era records as well as strategies to help you identify your ancestors' slaveholder and slaveholding family. Case studies from various states and time periods tell the stories of real families whose lives were recorded in public records that you too can use. Discovering your family history can be a powerful experience that also allows you to create a special legacy for your loved ones.

"One of the most challenging aspects of American research is tracing black ancestors during and beyond slavehood. Smith and Croom offer practical, easy-to-follow guidance using sound genealogical research techniques. But more importantly, they offer hope for a difficult era in genealogical research."--Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, CG, author of You Can Write Your Family History.

The first half of Tapestry consists of a historical overview of African-Americans in southeastern Connecticut from 1680 to 1865. The authors focus on the arrival of blacks in Connecticut, the African-American family, and the role played by African-Americans in the Revolutionary and Civil wars. Much of the action takes place in the towns of Groton, East Haddam, New London, Chatham, and Hebron.

In the second part of the volume, Dr. Rose and Mrs. Brown produce, as illustrations, genealogical sketches of the following African-American families: Beman, Boham, Bush, Freeman, Hallan, Hyde, Jacklin, Jackson, Lathrop, Magira, Mason, Moody, Peters, Quash, Rogers, and Wright.

The first half of Tapestry consists of a historical overview of African-Americans in southeastern Connecticut from 1680 to 1865. The authors focus on the arrival of blacks in Connecticut, the African-American family, and the role played by African-Americans in the Revolutionary and Civil wars. Much of the action takes place in the towns of Groton, East Haddam, New London, Chatham, and Hebron.

In the second part of the volume, Dr. Rose and Mrs. Brown produce, as illustrations, genealogical sketches of the following African-American families: Beman, Boham, Bush, Freeman, Hallan, Hyde, Jacklin, Jackson, Lathrop, Magira, Mason, Moody, Peters, Quash, Rogers, and Wright.

Between 1937 and 1938, the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Project Administration (WPA) conducted thousands of interviews with former African-American slaves. While historians have known about these oral histories for some time, few, if any researchers, have exploited the genealogical potential of these African-American sources--until now!

For the first time, the DVD series Generations presents these ex-slave narratives with critical genealogical evidence pertaining to each interviewee. While varying from one ex-slave to another, Generations' genealogical content includes census record extracts, death certificates, probate records, plantation records, pictures of plantations, and biographical information on slave owners. When available, pictures of the ex-slaves--such as the two depicted on the cover of this DVD--are also included. By linking these sources with the recollections of hundreds of former slaves, Generations affords African-American genealogists the rare opportunity to surmount the brick wall of the 1870 U.S. census, the first federal census to identify all blacks by their full names.

This work discusses ex-slaves who were either born in Virginia, or who had parents or grandparents born in Virginia. While a minority of these freedmen continued to reside there, by 1937-38 most of the individuals found on this DVD had migrated to one of the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, or Texas. In each case Dr. Rose and his collaborators trace the former slave to his/her origins in the Cavalier State. The appendixes to Generations: Volume I, moreover, include an article by and video commentary with one of the ex-slave's descendants. Finally, the appendixes to the DVD contain genealogical findings on former slaves living in Alabama and Georgia who did not have Virginia origins.

Between 1937 and 1938, the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Project Administration (WPA) conducted thousands of interviews with former African-American slaves. While historians have known about these oral histories for some time, few, if any researchers, have exploited the genealogical potential of these African-American sources--until now!

For the first time, the DVD series Generations presents these ex-slave narratives with critical genealogical evidence pertaining to each interviewee. While varying from one ex-slave to another, Generations' genealogical content includes census record extracts, death certificates, probate records, plantation records, pictures of plantations, and biographical information on slave owners. When available, pictures of the ex-slaves--such as the two depicted on the cover of this DVD--are also included. By linking these sources with the recollections of hundreds of former slaves, Generations affords African-American genealogists the rare opportunity to surmount the brick wall of the 1870 U.S. census, the first federal census to identify all blacks by their full names.

This work discusses ex-slaves who were either born in Virginia, or who had parents or grandparents born in Virginia. While a minority of these freedmen continued to reside there, by 1937-38 most of the individuals found on this DVD had migrated to one of the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, or Texas. In each case Dr. Rose and his collaborators trace the former slave to his/her origins in the Cavalier State. The appendixes to Generations: Volume I, moreover, include an article by and video commentary with one of the ex-slave's descendants. Finally, the appendixes to the DVD contain genealogical findings on former slaves living in Alabama and Georgia who did not have Virginia origins.

When Black Genesis was originally published in 1978, it was the first book to provide researchers with information on resources and a methodology specific to African-American genealogy. The 2nd edition of Black Genesis provides guidance not only to the same basic resources presented in the original edition but also to a substantial amount of additional material. The original goal, however, remains the same--to introduce the novice and professional researcher to African-American genealogical research methods and resources.

Some 100 pages larger than the first edition, the 2nd edition of Black Genesis boasts a format that makes locating resources pertaining to slaves and free blacks in the United States easier than ever. Part I provides an overview of general research principles and methodology, while Part II contains a rundown of specific resources for all fifty states, Canada, and the West Indies. Under each location, the information is organized by the following categories: Important Dates, State Archives, Census Records, State and County Records, Cemetery and Church Records, Military Records, Newspapers, Manuscript Sources (personal papers, slave records, and diaries), Internet Resources, Research Contacts, and Bibliography. Resources described include research guides, published genealogies, community studies on African-American families and, most importantly, original research material that can be found in national, state, county, and city archives, and in historical societies and libraries.

Author James M. Rose, Ph.D., was the holder of the first doctorate in the United States in African-American Genealogy, as well as the author of a number of books on African-American genealogy. In the 1970s he served as a research consultant with Alex Haley and, with co-author Alice Eichholz, founded the Ethnic Genealogy Research Center at Queens College (N.Y.).

Alice Eichholz, Ph.D., C.G., is a nationally known researcher, an author and lecturer in family history, and the editor of Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.

"Black Genesis reveals the true scope and richness of the Black heritage . . . ."--New England Historical and Genealogical Register

"Kudos are in order for Black Genesis. This well-written, exhaustive compilation will soon be known as the atlas of resources for African-American studies."--Marcella Pasay, author of Full Circle--A Directory of Native and African-Americans in Windham County, CT, and Vicinity, 1650-1900

When Black Genesis was originally published in 1978, it was the first book to provide researchers with information on resources and a methodology specific to African-American genealogy. The 2nd edition of Black Genesis provides guidance not only to the same basic resources presented in the original edition but also to a substantial amount of additional material. The original goal, however, remains the same--to introduce the novice and professional researcher to African-American genealogical research methods and resources.

Some 100 pages larger than the first edition, the 2nd edition of Black Genesis boasts a format that makes locating resources pertaining to slaves and free blacks in the United States easier than ever. Part I provides an overview of general research principles and methodology, while Part II contains a rundown of specific resources for all fifty states, Canada, and the West Indies. Under each location, the information is organized by the following categories: Important Dates, State Archives, Census Records, State and County Records, Cemetery and Church Records, Military Records, Newspapers, Manuscript Sources (personal papers, slave records, and diaries), Internet Resources, Research Contacts, and Bibliography. Resources described include research guides, published genealogies, community studies on African-American families and, most importantly, original research material that can be found in national, state, county, and city archives, and in historical societies and libraries.

Author James M. Rose, Ph.D., was the holder of the first doctorate in the United States in African-American Genealogy, as well as the author of a number of books on African-American genealogy. In the 1970s he served as a research consultant with Alex Haley and, with co-author Alice Eichholz, founded the Ethnic Genealogy Research Center at Queens College (N.Y.).

Alice Eichholz, Ph.D., C.G., is a nationally known researcher, an author and lecturer in family history, and the editor of Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.

"Black Genesis reveals the true scope and richness of the Black heritage . . . ."--New England Historical and Genealogical Register

"Kudos are in order for Black Genesis. This well-written, exhaustive compilation will soon be known as the atlas of resources for African-American studies."--Marcella Pasay, author of Full Circle--A Directory of Native and African-Americans in Windham County, CT, and Vicinity, 1650-1900

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (By the way, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

This volume is a transcription of the free black registers for the Georgia counties of Elbert, Hancock, Jefferson, Liberty and Warren. Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the record books in a series of tables, county by county and chronologically thereunder. A full-name index at the back of the volume provides for easy searching. Because the recording styles of the county clerks differ from one another, or from year to year, the author has provided an overview of the registers he found in each county, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion, in the front matter, of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798. Finally, since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818, researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (By the way, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

This volume is a transcription of the free black registers for the Georgia counties of Elbert, Hancock, Jefferson, Liberty and Warren. Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the record books in a series of tables, county by county and chronologically thereunder. A full-name index at the back of the volume provides for easy searching. Because the recording styles of the county clerks differ from one another, or from year to year, the author has provided an overview of the registers he found in each county, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion, in the front matter, of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798. Finally, since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818, researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (By the way, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

Volume II in this series by Michael A. Ports contains transcriptions of the free black registers for the Georgia counties of Appling,Camden, Clarke, Emanuel, Jones, Pulaski, and Wilkes. Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the record books in a series of tables, county by county and chronologically thereunder. A full-name index at the back of each volume provides for easy searching. Because the recording styles of the county clerks differ from one another, or from year to year, the author has provided an overview of the registers he found in each county, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion, in the front matter, of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798.

Finally, since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818, researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (By the way, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

Volume II in this series by Michael A. Ports contains transcriptions of the free black registers for the Georgia counties of Appling,Camden, Clarke, Emanuel, Jones, Pulaski, and Wilkes. Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the record books in a series of tables, county by county and chronologically thereunder. A full-name index at the back of each volume provides for easy searching. Because the recording styles of the county clerks differ from one another, or from year to year, the author has provided an overview of the registers he found in each county, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion, in the front matter, of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798.

Finally, since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818, researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (By the way, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

Transcriptions of the aforementioned registers are available in the series from genealogist Michael A. Ports Georgia Free Persons of Color. This is the third book in that series; it consists of transcriptions of the free black registers for the Georgia counties of Baldwin, Columbia, Lincoln, Lumpkin, Taliaferro, and Thomas. Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the record books in a series of tables, county by county and chronologically thereunder. A full-name index at the back of the volume provides for easy searching. Because the recording styles of the county clerks differ from one another, or from year to year, the author has provided an overview of the registers he found in each county, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion, in the front matter, of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798. Finally, since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818, researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (By the way, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

Transcriptions of the aforementioned registers are available in the series from genealogist Michael A. Ports Georgia Free Persons of Color. This is the third book in that series; it consists of transcriptions of the free black registers for the Georgia counties of Baldwin, Columbia, Lincoln, Lumpkin, Taliaferro, and Thomas. Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the record books in a series of tables, county by county and chronologically thereunder. A full-name index at the back of the volume provides for easy searching. Because the recording styles of the county clerks differ from one another, or from year to year, the author has provided an overview of the registers he found in each county, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion, in the front matter, of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798. Finally, since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818, researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (Incidentally, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

Transcriptions of the aforementioned registers are available in the series from genealogist Michael A. Ports called Georgia Free Persons of Color. This volume in that series consists of transcriptions of the free black registers for Chatham County, Georgia.

Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the Chatham County volume in a series of tables, and chronologically thereunder, according to the dates of coverage of the three registers from which they are derived. He has provided an overview of each register, allowing for variations in their original format, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion in the front matter of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798. Finally--since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818--researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (Incidentally, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

Transcriptions of the aforementioned registers are available in the series from genealogist Michael A. Ports called Georgia Free Persons of Color. This volume in that series consists of transcriptions of the free black registers for Chatham County, Georgia.

Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the Chatham County volume in a series of tables, and chronologically thereunder, according to the dates of coverage of the three registers from which they are derived. He has provided an overview of each register, allowing for variations in their original format, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion in the front matter of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798. Finally--since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818--researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (Incidentally, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

Transcriptions of the aforementioned registers are available in the series from genealogist Michael A. Ports called Georgia Free Persons of Color. This is the fifth and final book in that series and consists of transcriptions of the free black registers for Richmond County, Georgia, spanning the period 1799-1863. (The preceding books in this series covered the Georgia counties of Chatham [Volume IV], Columbia, Lincoln, Lumpkin, Taliaferro, and Thomas [Volume III]; Appling, Camden, Clarke, Emanuel, Jones, Morgan, Pulaski, and Wilkes [Volume II]; and Elbert, Hancock, Jefferson, Liberty, and Warren [Volume I].)

Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the Richmond County volume in a series of tables, and chronologically thereunder, according to the dates of coverage of the three registers from which they are derived. He has provided an overview of each register, allowing for variations in their original format, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion in the front matter of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798. Finally--since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818--researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

An 1818 statute of the Georgia legislature required all free persons of color to register with the inferior court of their county of residence. According to the statute, county clerks were required to inscribe each freed man or woman by name, age, place of birth, residence, year arrived in Georgia, and occupation. While not all clerks performed their duties to the letter of the law, these source records contain vital identifying information for African-American Georgians long before the Civil War or the watershed 1870 U.S. census. The ensuing registers, varying in their completeness, survive for twenty-one Georgia counties. (Incidentally, the only way to emancipate a slave in Georgia was by an act of the legislature. Antebellum manumissions, though rare, were granted for unusual acts, such as defending an owner's property during a British incursion during the War of 1812, extinguishing a fire at the state capital, and other faithful service.)

Transcriptions of the aforementioned registers are available in the series from genealogist Michael A. Ports called Georgia Free Persons of Color. This is the fifth and final book in that series and consists of transcriptions of the free black registers for Richmond County, Georgia, spanning the period 1799-1863. (The preceding books in this series covered the Georgia counties of Chatham [Volume IV], Columbia, Lincoln, Lumpkin, Taliaferro, and Thomas [Volume III]; Appling, Camden, Clarke, Emanuel, Jones, Morgan, Pulaski, and Wilkes [Volume II]; and Elbert, Hancock, Jefferson, Liberty, and Warren [Volume I].)

Mr. Ports has arranged the contents of the Richmond County volume in a series of tables, and chronologically thereunder, according to the dates of coverage of the three registers from which they are derived. He has provided an overview of each register, allowing for variations in their original format, references to any gaps in the registers, handwriting irregularities or peculiarities, and so on. In addition to the required information, a few clerks recorded the registrant's height, weight, skin color, and name of their guardian. Persons of a historical mindset will appreciate Mr. Ports' inclusion in the front matter of the wording of salient Georgia laws from 1818 to 1835 that mandated the registration of free Negroes. These are followed by the Georgia manumission statutes enacted after 1798. Finally--since, in theory, the freedmen and women were required to register themselves every year after 1818--researchers will be able to track the whereabouts or disappearance of individuals over time.

This is the second book in which Mrs. Motes makes the genealogical records of South Carolina's ante-bellum African-American population more accessible to researchers. On the heels of her Free Blacks and Mulattos in the South Carolina 1850 Census, she has now abstracted all references to African Americans that could be found in the Deed Books for Laurens and Newberry counties, South Carolina, between 1780 and 1827. Both of these counties in northwest central South Carolina were formed from the Ninety-Six District in 1785, so some of the record abstracts actually pre-date the existence of the counties by five years, when deeds were first recorded in Charleston.

Based on Laurens County Deed Books A-L and Newberry County Deed Books A-G, Blacks Found in the Deeds of Laurens & Newberry Counties, SC covers Deeds of Gift, Deeds of Sale, Mortgages, and references to manumission found in deeds, among twenty-six different kinds of deeds found in the Deed Books. Each abstract gives the date the deed was filed; the names and counties of residence of all parties to the transaction; the amount of the transaction, if any; the names of the African Americans mentioned in the sources, along with any identifying comments (age, height, children, etc.); the names of witnesses and the justice of the peace; and the date the deed was recorded. In some cases, the abstracts list the surnames of free blacks, their dates of birth, or an occupation. In all, more than several thousand African-American slaves and freed men and women living in South Carolina between 1780 and 1827 have been rescued from the obscurity of South Carolina's deed books, and each of them is easily found in the index to Mrs. Motes' carefully transcribed volume.

This is the second book in which Mrs. Motes makes the genealogical records of South Carolina's ante-bellum African-American population more accessible to researchers. On the heels of her Free Blacks and Mulattos in the South Carolina 1850 Census, she has now abstracted all references to African Americans that could be found in the Deed Books for Laurens and Newberry counties, South Carolina, between 1780 and 1827. Both of these counties in northwest central South Carolina were formed from the Ninety-Six District in 1785, so some of the record abstracts actually pre-date the existence of the counties by five years, when deeds were first recorded in Charleston.

Based on Laurens County Deed Books A-L and Newberry County Deed Books A-G, Blacks Found in the Deeds of Laurens & Newberry Counties, SC covers Deeds of Gift, Deeds of Sale, Mortgages, and references to manumission found in deeds, among twenty-six different kinds of deeds found in the Deed Books. Each abstract gives the date the deed was filed; the names and counties of residence of all parties to the transaction; the amount of the transaction, if any; the names of the African Americans mentioned in the sources, along with any identifying comments (age, height, children, etc.); the names of witnesses and the justice of the peace; and the date the deed was recorded. In some cases, the abstracts list the surnames of free blacks, their dates of birth, or an occupation. In all, more than several thousand African-American slaves and freed men and women living in South Carolina between 1780 and 1827 have been rescued from the obscurity of South Carolina's deed books, and each of them is easily found in the index to Mrs. Motes' carefully transcribed volume.

From a genealogical standpoint, the 1850 federal census was a watershed event because it marked the first U.S. census to record the full name and a significant amount of demographic data on each person in a given household, whether family member or not. In a work that will have significance for social historians as well as genealogists, Margaret Motes has combed through a microfilm copy of the 1850 census manuscript for the state of South Carolina in order to unearth every reference to a free black or mulatto that can be found there. The end result of her efforts is the new book, Free Blacks and Mulattos in South Carolina 1850 Census, an alphabetically arranged listing of 8,160 free blacks and mulattos between the ages of one month and 112 years of age.

The data for free persons of color in South Carolina in 1850, which spans twenty-nine different counties, records the following for each individual named in the census: name, age, sex, occupation, color, place of birth, household and dwelling number, and county. Also noted are persons in the household of another family member; in the household of someone else; listed at hotels (servants); or in a household headed by a white person. While the majority of persons tabulated were born in South Carolina, other free blacks were born in Africa, St. Domingo, Cuba, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and New York. Similarly, while most South Carolina free blacks were employed as farmers, carpenters, laborers, planters, tailors and shoemakers in 1850, a number of others had found work as barbers, blacksmiths, brick masons, engineers, locksmiths, mechanics, painters, pilots, saddlers, wagon makers, washwomen, and numerous other occupations. This new publication, which boasts of indexes to names, places and occupations, is bound to inform and intrigue genealogists and historians alike as they discover what it meant to be free and African-American only a few years before the Civil War.

From a genealogical standpoint, the 1850 federal census was a watershed event because it marked the first U.S. census to record the full name and a significant amount of demographic data on each person in a given household, whether family member or not. In a work that will have significance for social historians as well as genealogists, Margaret Motes has combed through a microfilm copy of the 1850 census manuscript for the state of South Carolina in order to unearth every reference to a free black or mulatto that can be found there. The end result of her efforts is the new book, Free Blacks and Mulattos in South Carolina 1850 Census, an alphabetically arranged listing of 8,160 free blacks and mulattos between the ages of one month and 112 years of age.

The data for free persons of color in South Carolina in 1850, which spans twenty-nine different counties, records the following for each individual named in the census: name, age, sex, occupation, color, place of birth, household and dwelling number, and county. Also noted are persons in the household of another family member; in the household of someone else; listed at hotels (servants); or in a household headed by a white person. While the majority of persons tabulated were born in South Carolina, other free blacks were born in Africa, St. Domingo, Cuba, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and New York. Similarly, while most South Carolina free blacks were employed as farmers, carpenters, laborers, planters, tailors and shoemakers in 1850, a number of others had found work as barbers, blacksmiths, brick masons, engineers, locksmiths, mechanics, painters, pilots, saddlers, wagon makers, washwomen, and numerous other occupations. This new publication, which boasts of indexes to names, places and occupations, is bound to inform and intrigue genealogists and historians alike as they discover what it meant to be free and African-American only a few years before the Civil War.

Citing Online African-American Historical Resources fits squarely in the tradition of Mrs. Mills' acclaimed QuickSheets, which are used by genealogists everywhere as a guide for citing online sources.

The basic citation models given here help researchers evaluate the reliability of online historical sources by recording all relevant information about both the historical material itself and the website that provides the material.

In citing online historical sources Mrs. Mills offers two basic style formats:

• Source-list style, used in bibliographies, gives a short and general identification of a source.
• Reference-note style, used for footnotes and endnotes, adds specific details about particular information within the source.

With this basic template, the African-American QuickSheet provides models for citing common resources such as databases, image copies, transcripts, blogs, books, and articles, using the widely accepted citation principles established in the QuickSheet series. Arranged in tabular format, the sample citations are easy to follow and can be applied to your specific needs in citing your sources.

While it provides standards for citing online sources, this QuickSheet is, of course, tailored to the African-American experience, so source citation models bear on subjects such as slave manifests, slave narratives, Freedmen's Bureau records, and slave census schedules. This QuickSheet is a laminated four-sided sheet designed for heavy use.

Citing Online African-American Historical Resources fits squarely in the tradition of Mrs. Mills' acclaimed QuickSheets, which are used by genealogists everywhere as a guide for citing online sources.

The basic citation models given here help researchers evaluate the reliability of online historical sources by recording all relevant information about both the historical material itself and the website that provides the material.

In citing online historical sources Mrs. Mills offers two basic style formats:

• Source-list style, used in bibliographies, gives a short and general identification of a source.
• Reference-note style, used for footnotes and endnotes, adds specific details about particular information within the source.

With this basic template, the African-American QuickSheet provides models for citing common resources such as databases, image copies, transcripts, blogs, books, and articles, using the widely accepted citation principles established in the QuickSheet series. Arranged in tabular format, the sample citations are easy to follow and can be applied to your specific needs in citing your sources.

While it provides standards for citing online sources, this QuickSheet is, of course, tailored to the African-American experience, so source citation models bear on subjects such as slave manifests, slave narratives, Freedmen's Bureau records, and slave census schedules. This QuickSheet is a laminated four-sided sheet designed for heavy use.

The boundaries of Mathews County, formed in 1791, embraced virtually all of Kingston Parish, formed between 1651 and 1657. Mathews County also included some acreage to the south and west, within neighboring Ware Parish. Fortunately for family history researchers and social historians, substantial portions of Kingston Parish's early parish register (1746-1827), which contains parishioners' vital records, also includes the dates on which their slaves were born and baptized. In some instances, a slave's date of death is recorded. All of this important information is published here for the first time.

Generally, each of the 1,860 entries includes the name of the slave (usually the first name only), name of the slaveholder, date of birth, date of baptism, and the page number in the Kingston Parish Register where the information can be found. Although slaves are listed only by their first name in connection with the name of the owner, the dates of birth and baptism, plus the full name of the owner, provide indispensable clues for family history research. The recording of this unique body of information came about because slaves, as personal property, were both taxable and transferable, and birth records would provide unimpeachable proof of ownership.

The boundaries of Mathews County, formed in 1791, embraced virtually all of Kingston Parish, formed between 1651 and 1657. Mathews County also included some acreage to the south and west, within neighboring Ware Parish. Fortunately for family history researchers and social historians, substantial portions of Kingston Parish's early parish register (1746-1827), which contains parishioners' vital records, also includes the dates on which their slaves were born and baptized. In some instances, a slave's date of death is recorded. All of this important information is published here for the first time.

Generally, each of the 1,860 entries includes the name of the slave (usually the first name only), name of the slaveholder, date of birth, date of baptism, and the page number in the Kingston Parish Register where the information can be found. Although slaves are listed only by their first name in connection with the name of the owner, the dates of birth and baptism, plus the full name of the owner, provide indispensable clues for family history research. The recording of this unique body of information came about because slaves, as personal property, were both taxable and transferable, and birth records would provide unimpeachable proof of ownership.

This book contains a complete checklist of African American newspapers identified in all major bibliographic sources--newspaper directories, union lists, finding aids, African American bibliographies, yearbooks, and specifically African American newspaper sources. In short, it is a comprehensive checklist of every newspaper that has served African Americans since 1827--a total of 5,539 newspapers.

For reference purposes the text is arranged in tabular format under the following headings: newspaper title, city and state of publication, frequency of publication, dates, and sources. Newspapers are listed by state and city, which are in alphabetical order, then, by city, in alphabetical order by title.  The papers are again listed alphabetically in the index, this time in a single, comprehensive list which serves as the best fingertip reference to black newspapers in existence. This is a core book for any collection of African American reference materials.

This book contains a complete checklist of African American newspapers identified in all major bibliographic sources--newspaper directories, union lists, finding aids, African American bibliographies, yearbooks, and specifically African American newspaper sources. In short, it is a comprehensive checklist of every newspaper that has served African Americans since 1827--a total of 5,539 newspapers.

For reference purposes the text is arranged in tabular format under the following headings: newspaper title, city and state of publication, frequency of publication, dates, and sources. Newspapers are listed by state and city, which are in alphabetical order, then, by city, in alphabetical order by title.  The papers are again listed alphabetically in the index, this time in a single, comprehensive list which serves as the best fingertip reference to black newspapers in existence. This is a core book for any collection of African American reference materials.

The Third Edition of Paul Heinegg's Free African Americans of North Carolina and Virginia was awarded the American Society of Genealogists' prestigious Donald Lines Jacobus Award for the best work of genealogical scholarship published between 1991 and 1994. This Fifth Edition is Heinegg's most ambitious effort yet to reconstruct the history of the free African-American communities of Virginia and the Carolinas by looking at the history of their families.

Now published in two volumes, and 300 pages longer than the Fourth Edition, Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina from the Colonial Period to About 1820 consists of detailed genealogies of 600 free black families that originated in Virginia and migrated to North and/or South Carolina from the colonial period to about 1820. The families under investigation represent nearly all African Americans who were free during the colonial period in Virginia and North Carolina.

Like its immediate predecessor, the Fifth Edition traces the branches of a number of African-American families living in South Carolina, where original source materials for this period are much scarcer than in the two states to its north. Researchers will find the names of the more than 10,000 African Americans encompassed by Mr. Heinegg's genealogies conveniently located in the full-name index at the back of the second volume.

Mr. Heinegg's findings are the outgrowth of 20 years of research in some1,000 manuscript volumes, including colonial and early national period tax records, colonial parish registers, 1790-1810 census records, wills, deeds, Free Negro Registers, marriage bonds, Revolutionary pension files, newspapers, and more. The author furnishes copious documentation for his findings and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

A work of extraordinary breadth and detail, Free African Americans is of great importance to social historians as well as genealogists. This edition traces many families who were covered in previous editions back to their 17th- and 18th-century roots (families like those of humanitarian Ralph Bunch, former NAACP president Benjamin Chavis, and tennis stars Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson, that would go on to fame or fortune). Providing copious documentation for his findings and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources, Mr. Heinegg shows that most of these families were the descendants of white servant women who had had children by slaves or free African Americans, not the descendants of slave owners. He dispels a number of other myths about the origins and status of free African Americans, such as the "mysterious" origins of the Lumbees, Melungeons, and other such marginal groups, and demonstrates conclusively that many free African-American families in colonial North Carolina and Virginia were landowners.

The two volumes include the following family surnames: Abel, Acre, Adams, Africa, Ailstock, Alford, Allen, Alman, Alvis, Ampey, Ancel, Anderson, Andrews, Angus, Archer, Armfield, Armstrong, Arnold, Artis, Ashberry, Ashby, Ashe, Ashton, Ashworth, Atkins, Aulden, Avery, Bailey, Baine, Baker,Balkham, Ball, Baltrip, Banks, Bannister, Barber, Bartly/Bartlett, Bass, Bates, Battles, Bazden, Bazmore, Beckett, Bee, Bell, Bennett, Berry, Beverly, Bibbens, Bibby, Biddie, Bing, Bingham, Binns, Bizzell, Black, Blake, Blango, Blanks, Blizzard, Blue, Bolton, Bond, Boon, Booth, Bosman, Bow, Bowden, Bowers, Bowles, Bowman, Bowmer, Bowser, Boyd, Brady, Branch, Brandican, Brandon/ Branham, Braveboy, Braxton, Britt, Brogdon, Brooks, Brown, Bruce, Brumejum, Bryan, Bryant, Bugg, Bullard, Bunch, Bunday, Burden, Burke, Burkett, Burnett, Burrell, Busby, Busy, Butler, Byrd, Cane, Cannady, Carter, Cary, Case, Cassidy, Causey, Cauther, Chambers, Chandler, Chapman, Charity, Chavis, Church, Churchwell, Churton, Clark, Cobb, Cockran, Cole, Coleman, Collins, Combess, Combs, Conner, Cook, Cooley, Cooper, Copeland, Copes, Corn, Cornet, Cornish, Cotanch, Cousins, Cox, Coy, Craig, Crane, Cuff, Cuffee, Cumbo, Cunningham, Curle, Curtis, Custalow, Cuttillo, Cypress, Dales, Davenport, Davis, Day, Dean, Deas, Debrix, Demery, Dempsey, Dennis, Dennum, Derosario, Dixon, Dobbins, Dolby, Donathan, Douglass, Dove, Drake, Drew, Driggers, Dring, Driver, Drury, Duncan, Dungee, Dungill, Dunlop, Dunn, Dunstan, Durham, Dutchfield, Eady, Easter, Edgar, Edge, Edwards, Elliott, Ellis, Elmore, Epperson, Epps, Evans, Fagan, Faggott, Farrar, Farthing, Ferrell, Fielding, Fields, Findley, Finnie, Fletcher, Flood, Flora, Flowers, Fortune, Fox, Francis, Francisco, Franklin, Frazier, Freeman, Frost, Fry, Fullam, Fuller, Fuzmore, Gallimore, Gamby, Garden, Gardner, Garner, Garnes, George, Gibson, Gilbert, Gillett, Godett, Goff, Goldman, Gordon, Gowen, Grace, Graham, Grant, Grantum, Graves, Gray, Grayson, Gregory, Grice, Griffin, Grimes, Groom, Groves, Guy, Gwinn, Hackett, Hagins, Hailey, Haithcock, Hall, Hamilton, Hamlin, Hammond, Hanson, Harden, Harmon, Harris, Harrison, Hartless, Harvey, Hatcher, Hatfield/Hatter, Hawkins, Hawley, Haws, Haynes, Hays, Hearn, Heath, Hedgepeth, Hewlett, Hewson, Hickman, Hicks, Hill, Hilliard, Hitchens, Hiter, Hobson, Hodges, Hogg, Hollinger, Holman, Holmes, Holt, Honesty, Hood, Hoomes, Horn, Howard, Howell, Hubbard, Huelin, Hughes, Humbles, Hunt, Hunter, Hurley, Hurst, Ivey, Jackson, Jacobs, James, Jameson, Jarvis, Jasper, Jeffery, Jeffries, Jenkins, Johns, Johnson, Joiner, Jones, Jordan, Jumper, Keemer, Kelly, Kendall, Kent, Kersey, Key/ Kee, Keyton, King, Kinney, Knight, Lamb, Landum, Lang, Lansford, Lantern, Lawrence, Laws, Lawson, Lee, Lephew, Lester, Lett, Leviner, Lewis, Lighty, Ligon, Lively, Liverpool, Locklear, Lockson, Locus/Lucas, Logan, Longo, Lowry, Lugrove, Lynch, Lyons, Lytle, McCarty, McCoy, McDaniel, McIntosh, Maclin, Madden, Mahorney, Manly, Mann, Manning, Manuel, Marshall, Martin, Mason, Matthews, Mayo, Mays, Meade, Mealy, Meekins, Meggs, Melvin, Miles, Miller, Mills, Milton, Mitchell, Mitchum, Mongom, Monoggin, Month, Moore, Mordick, Morgan, Morris, Mosby, Moses, Moss, Mozingo, Muckelroy, Mumford, Munday, Muns, Murray, Murrow, Nash, Neal, Newsom, Newton, Nicholas, Nickens, Norman, Norris, Norton, Norwood, Nutts, Oats, Okey, Oliver, Otter, Overton, Owen, Oxendine, Page, Pagee, Palmer, Parker, Parr, Parrot, Patrick, Patterson, Payne, Peavy, Peacock, Pendarvis, Pendergrass, Perkins, Peters, Pettiford, Phillips, Pickett, Pierce, Pinn, Pittman, Pitts, Plumly, Poe, Pompey, Portions, Portiss, Powell, Powers, Poythress, Press, Price, Prichard, Proctor, Pryor, Pugh, Pursley, Rains, Ralls, Randall, Ranger, Rann, Raper, Ratcliff, Rawlinson, Redcross, Redman, Reed, Reeves, Revell, Reynolds, Rich, Richardson, Rickman, Ridley, Roberts, Robins, Robinson, Rogers, Rollins, Rosario, Ross, Rouse, Rowe, Rowland, Ruff, Ruffin, Russell, Sample, Sampson, Sanderlin, Santee, Saunders, Savoy, Sawyer, Scott, Seldon, Sexton, Shaw, Shepherd, Shoecraft, Shoemaker, Silver, Simmons, Simms, Simon, Simpson, Sisco, Skipper, Slaxton, Smith, Smothers, Sneed, Snelling, Soleleather, Sorrell, Sparrow, Spelman, Spiller, Spriddle, Spruce, Spurlock, Stafford, Stephens, Stewart, Stringer, Sunket, Swan, Sweat, Sweetin, Symons, Taborn, Talbot, Tann, Tate, Taylor, Teague, Teamer, Thomas, Thompson, Timber, Toney, Tootle, Toulson, Toyer, Travis, Turner, Tyler, Tyner, Tyre, Underwood, Valentine, Vaughan, Vena/Venie, Verty, Vickory, Viers, Walden, Walker, Wallace, Warburton, Warrick, Waters, Watkins, Weaver, Webb, Webster,Weeks, Welch, Wells, West, Wharton, Whistler, White, Whitehurst, Wiggins, Wilkins, Wilkinson, Williams, Willis, Wilson, Winborn, Winn, Winters, Wise, Womble, Wood, Wooten, Worrell, Wright, and Young.

Free African Americans ranks as the greatest achievement in black genealogy of this generation. No collection of African-American genealogy or social history is complete without this two-volume work.

The Third Edition of Paul Heinegg's Free African Americans of North Carolina and Virginia was awarded the American Society of Genealogists' prestigious Donald Lines Jacobus Award for the best work of genealogical scholarship published between 1991 and 1994. This Fifth Edition is Heinegg's most ambitious effort yet to reconstruct the history of the free African-American communities of Virginia and the Carolinas by looking at the history of their families.

Now published in two volumes, and 300 pages longer than the Fourth Edition, Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina from the Colonial Period to About 1820 consists of detailed genealogies of 600 free black families that originated in Virginia and migrated to North and/or South Carolina from the colonial period to about 1820. The families under investigation represent nearly all African Americans who were free during the colonial period in Virginia and North Carolina.

Like its immediate predecessor, the Fifth Edition traces the branches of a number of African-American families living in South Carolina, where original source materials for this period are much scarcer than in the two states to its north. Researchers will find the names of the more than 10,000 African Americans encompassed by Mr. Heinegg's genealogies conveniently located in the full-name index at the back of the second volume.

Mr. Heinegg's findings are the outgrowth of 20 years of research in some1,000 manuscript volumes, including colonial and early national period tax records, colonial parish registers, 1790-1810 census records, wills, deeds, Free Negro Registers, marriage bonds, Revolutionary pension files, newspapers, and more. The author furnishes copious documentation for his findings and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

A work of extraordinary breadth and detail, Free African Americans is of great importance to social historians as well as genealogists. This edition traces many families who were covered in previous editions back to their 17th- and 18th-century roots (families like those of humanitarian Ralph Bunch, former NAACP president Benjamin Chavis, and tennis stars Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson, that would go on to fame or fortune). Providing copious documentation for his findings and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources, Mr. Heinegg shows that most of these families were the descendants of white servant women who had had children by slaves or free African Americans, not the descendants of slave owners. He dispels a number of other myths about the origins and status of free African Americans, such as the "mysterious" origins of the Lumbees, Melungeons, and other such marginal groups, and demonstrates conclusively that many free African-American families in colonial North Carolina and Virginia were landowners.

The two volumes include the following family surnames: Abel, Acre, Adams, Africa, Ailstock, Alford, Allen, Alman, Alvis, Ampey, Ancel, Anderson, Andrews, Angus, Archer, Armfield, Armstrong, Arnold, Artis, Ashberry, Ashby, Ashe, Ashton, Ashworth, Atkins, Aulden, Avery, Bailey, Baine, Baker,Balkham, Ball, Baltrip, Banks, Bannister, Barber, Bartly/Bartlett, Bass, Bates, Battles, Bazden, Bazmore, Beckett, Bee, Bell, Bennett, Berry, Beverly, Bibbens, Bibby, Biddie, Bing, Bingham, Binns, Bizzell, Black, Blake, Blango, Blanks, Blizzard, Blue, Bolton, Bond, Boon, Booth, Bosman, Bow, Bowden, Bowers, Bowles, Bowman, Bowmer, Bowser, Boyd, Brady, Branch, Brandican, Brandon/ Branham, Braveboy, Braxton, Britt, Brogdon, Brooks, Brown, Bruce, Brumejum, Bryan, Bryant, Bugg, Bullard, Bunch, Bunday, Burden, Burke, Burkett, Burnett, Burrell, Busby, Busy, Butler, Byrd, Cane, Cannady, Carter, Cary, Case, Cassidy, Causey, Cauther, Chambers, Chandler, Chapman, Charity, Chavis, Church, Churchwell, Churton, Clark, Cobb, Cockran, Cole, Coleman, Collins, Combess, Combs, Conner, Cook, Cooley, Cooper, Copeland, Copes, Corn, Cornet, Cornish, Cotanch, Cousins, Cox, Coy, Craig, Crane, Cuff, Cuffee, Cumbo, Cunningham, Curle, Curtis, Custalow, Cuttillo, Cypress, Dales, Davenport, Davis, Day, Dean, Deas, Debrix, Demery, Dempsey, Dennis, Dennum, Derosario, Dixon, Dobbins, Dolby, Donathan, Douglass, Dove, Drake, Drew, Driggers, Dring, Driver, Drury, Duncan, Dungee, Dungill, Dunlop, Dunn, Dunstan, Durham, Dutchfield, Eady, Easter, Edgar, Edge, Edwards, Elliott, Ellis, Elmore, Epperson, Epps, Evans, Fagan, Faggott, Farrar, Farthing, Ferrell, Fielding, Fields, Findley, Finnie, Fletcher, Flood, Flora, Flowers, Fortune, Fox, Francis, Francisco, Franklin, Frazier, Freeman, Frost, Fry, Fullam, Fuller, Fuzmore, Gallimore, Gamby, Garden, Gardner, Garner, Garnes, George, Gibson, Gilbert, Gillett, Godett, Goff, Goldman, Gordon, Gowen, Grace, Graham, Grant, Grantum, Graves, Gray, Grayson, Gregory, Grice, Griffin, Grimes, Groom, Groves, Guy, Gwinn, Hackett, Hagins, Hailey, Haithcock, Hall, Hamilton, Hamlin, Hammond, Hanson, Harden, Harmon, Harris, Harrison, Hartless, Harvey, Hatcher, Hatfield/Hatter, Hawkins, Hawley, Haws, Haynes, Hays, Hearn, Heath, Hedgepeth, Hewlett, Hewson, Hickman, Hicks, Hill, Hilliard, Hitchens, Hiter, Hobson, Hodges, Hogg, Hollinger, Holman, Holmes, Holt, Honesty, Hood, Hoomes, Horn, Howard, Howell, Hubbard, Huelin, Hughes, Humbles, Hunt, Hunter, Hurley, Hurst, Ivey, Jackson, Jacobs, James, Jameson, Jarvis, Jasper, Jeffery, Jeffries, Jenkins, Johns, Johnson, Joiner, Jones, Jordan, Jumper, Keemer, Kelly, Kendall, Kent, Kersey, Key/ Kee, Keyton, King, Kinney, Knight, Lamb, Landum, Lang, Lansford, Lantern, Lawrence, Laws, Lawson, Lee, Lephew, Lester, Lett, Leviner, Lewis, Lighty, Ligon, Lively, Liverpool, Locklear, Lockson, Locus/Lucas, Logan, Longo, Lowry, Lugrove, Lynch, Lyons, Lytle, McCarty, McCoy, McDaniel, McIntosh, Maclin, Madden, Mahorney, Manly, Mann, Manning, Manuel, Marshall, Martin, Mason, Matthews, Mayo, Mays, Meade, Mealy, Meekins, Meggs, Melvin, Miles, Miller, Mills, Milton, Mitchell, Mitchum, Mongom, Monoggin, Month, Moore, Mordick, Morgan, Morris, Mosby, Moses, Moss, Mozingo, Muckelroy, Mumford, Munday, Muns, Murray, Murrow, Nash, Neal, Newsom, Newton, Nicholas, Nickens, Norman, Norris, Norton, Norwood, Nutts, Oats, Okey, Oliver, Otter, Overton, Owen, Oxendine, Page, Pagee, Palmer, Parker, Parr, Parrot, Patrick, Patterson, Payne, Peavy, Peacock, Pendarvis, Pendergrass, Perkins, Peters, Pettiford, Phillips, Pickett, Pierce, Pinn, Pittman, Pitts, Plumly, Poe, Pompey, Portions, Portiss, Powell, Powers, Poythress, Press, Price, Prichard, Proctor, Pryor, Pugh, Pursley, Rains, Ralls, Randall, Ranger, Rann, Raper, Ratcliff, Rawlinson, Redcross, Redman, Reed, Reeves, Revell, Reynolds, Rich, Richardson, Rickman, Ridley, Roberts, Robins, Robinson, Rogers, Rollins, Rosario, Ross, Rouse, Rowe, Rowland, Ruff, Ruffin, Russell, Sample, Sampson, Sanderlin, Santee, Saunders, Savoy, Sawyer, Scott, Seldon, Sexton, Shaw, Shepherd, Shoecraft, Shoemaker, Silver, Simmons, Simms, Simon, Simpson, Sisco, Skipper, Slaxton, Smith, Smothers, Sneed, Snelling, Soleleather, Sorrell, Sparrow, Spelman, Spiller, Spriddle, Spruce, Spurlock, Stafford, Stephens, Stewart, Stringer, Sunket, Swan, Sweat, Sweetin, Symons, Taborn, Talbot, Tann, Tate, Taylor, Teague, Teamer, Thomas, Thompson, Timber, Toney, Tootle, Toulson, Toyer, Travis, Turner, Tyler, Tyner, Tyre, Underwood, Valentine, Vaughan, Vena/Venie, Verty, Vickory, Viers, Walden, Walker, Wallace, Warburton, Warrick, Waters, Watkins, Weaver, Webb, Webster,Weeks, Welch, Wells, West, Wharton, Whistler, White, Whitehurst, Wiggins, Wilkins, Wilkinson, Williams, Willis, Wilson, Winborn, Winn, Winters, Wise, Womble, Wood, Wooten, Worrell, Wright, and Young.

Free African Americans ranks as the greatest achievement in black genealogy of this generation. No collection of African-American genealogy or social history is complete without this two-volume work.

As he did for free blacks in North Carolina and Virginia, Paul Heinegg has reconstructed the history of the free African American communities of Maryland and Delaware by looking at the history of their families.

Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware is a work that will intrigue genealogists and historians alike. First and foremost, Mr. Heinegg has assembled genealogical evidence on more than 300 Maryland and Delaware black families (naming nearly 6,000 individuals), with copious documentation from the federal censuses of 1790-1810 and colonial sources consulted at the Maryland Hall of Records, county archives, and other repositories. No work that we know of brings together so much information on colonial African Americans except Mr. Heinegg's earlier volume on Virginia and North Carolina. The author offers documentation proving that most of these free black families descended from mixed-race children who were the progeny of white women and African American men. While some of these families would claim Native American ancestry, Mr. Heinegg offers evidence to show that they were instead the direct descendants of mixed-race children.

Colonial Maryland laws relating to marriages between offspring of African American and white partners carried severe penalties. For example, one 18th-century statute threatened a white mother with seven years of servitude and promised to bind her mixed-race offspring until the age of thirty-one. Mr. Heinegg shows that, despite these harsh laws, several hundred child-bearing relationships in Delaware and Maryland took place over the colonial period as evidenced directly from the public record. Maryland families, in particular, which comprise the preponderance of those studied, also had closer relationships with the surrounding slave population than did their counterparts in Delaware, Virginia, or North Carolina. Mr. Heinegg recounts the circumstances under which a number of these freedmen were able to become landowners. Some Maryland families, however, including a number from Somerset County, chose to migrate to Delaware or Virginia, where the opportunities for land ownership were greater.

Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware is a work that will be sought after for its commentary on social history as for its genealogical content and methodology. No collection of African American history or genealogy can be without it.

As he did for free blacks in North Carolina and Virginia, Paul Heinegg has reconstructed the history of the free African American communities of Maryland and Delaware by looking at the history of their families.

Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware is a work that will intrigue genealogists and historians alike. First and foremost, Mr. Heinegg has assembled genealogical evidence on more than 300 Maryland and Delaware black families (naming nearly 6,000 individuals), with copious documentation from the federal censuses of 1790-1810 and colonial sources consulted at the Maryland Hall of Records, county archives, and other repositories. No work that we know of brings together so much information on colonial African Americans except Mr. Heinegg's earlier volume on Virginia and North Carolina. The author offers documentation proving that most of these free black families descended from mixed-race children who were the progeny of white women and African American men. While some of these families would claim Native American ancestry, Mr. Heinegg offers evidence to show that they were instead the direct descendants of mixed-race children.

Colonial Maryland laws relating to marriages between offspring of African American and white partners carried severe penalties. For example, one 18th-century statute threatened a white mother with seven years of servitude and promised to bind her mixed-race offspring until the age of thirty-one. Mr. Heinegg shows that, despite these harsh laws, several hundred child-bearing relationships in Delaware and Maryland took place over the colonial period as evidenced directly from the public record. Maryland families, in particular, which comprise the preponderance of those studied, also had closer relationships with the surrounding slave population than did their counterparts in Delaware, Virginia, or North Carolina. Mr. Heinegg recounts the circumstances under which a number of these freedmen were able to become landowners. Some Maryland families, however, including a number from Somerset County, chose to migrate to Delaware or Virginia, where the opportunities for land ownership were greater.

Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware is a work that will be sought after for its commentary on social history as for its genealogical content and methodology. No collection of African American history or genealogy can be without it.

Nothing will get you going faster in African American genealogical research than this Genealogy at a Glance publication. In just four pages, Michael Hait lays out the basic elements of African American research, boiling the subject down to its essence and allowing you to grasp the fundamentals of African American research at a glance.

Hait explains that there are three imperatives in African American genealogical research: (1) you must begin with interviews of family members; (2) you must check records of birth, marriage, and death; and (3) you must check federal census records, especially the crucial 1870 census, which was the first census to include information on former slaves.

Beyond this he offers step-by-step guidance on finding and using other records that are crucial in African American research, such as Freedmen's Bureau records, Freedman's Bank records, records of the Southern Claims Commission, and voter registration lists. In addition, before ending with a helpful list of websites focusing specifically on African American genealogy, he offers tips and guidance on researching slave ancestors.

In keeping with the Genealogy at a Glance theme, the four specially laminated pages of this work are designed to provide as much useful information in the space allotted as you'll ever need. No research tool in genealogy is as effortless and as convenient.

Nothing will get you going faster in African American genealogical research than this Genealogy at a Glance publication. In just four pages, Michael Hait lays out the basic elements of African American research, boiling the subject down to its essence and allowing you to grasp the fundamentals of African American research at a glance.

Hait explains that there are three imperatives in African American genealogical research: (1) you must begin with interviews of family members; (2) you must check records of birth, marriage, and death; and (3) you must check federal census records, especially the crucial 1870 census, which was the first census to include information on former slaves.

Beyond this he offers step-by-step guidance on finding and using other records that are crucial in African American research, such as Freedmen's Bureau records, Freedman's Bank records, records of the Southern Claims Commission, and voter registration lists. In addition, before ending with a helpful list of websites focusing specifically on African American genealogy, he offers tips and guidance on researching slave ancestors.

In keeping with the Genealogy at a Glance theme, the four specially laminated pages of this work are designed to provide as much useful information in the space allotted as you'll ever need. No research tool in genealogy is as effortless and as convenient.

On a very basic level this is a book about slavery in Baltimore Maryland in the early 19th century. However, it is much, much more than that, as former Maryland State Archivist Edward C. Papenfuse’s introduction reveals. Dr. Papenfuse’s informative essay discusses what we have come to know about the conditions of urban life in the second decade of the 19th century. His introduction summarizes the recent scholarship about urban slavery, that of Baltimore’s in particular, and where we can turn for additional information on that subject.

Goodson and Hollie’s contribution to the social and racial history and genealogy of Baltimore in the wake of the War of 1812 now joins the ranks of that scholarship. Based primarily upon the original tax assessor ledgers for 1813 and 1818 housed at the Baltimore City Archives, this work identifies all free blacks and slave owners in Baltimore by name, race, address, occupation, names/ages of slaves owned (if any), and sometimes by nationality and other particulars.

The authors have supplemented the information found in the tax ledgers with data from city directories, census records, and books and journal articles about 19th-century Baltimore and Maryland. They examined newspapers, court records and biographies of some of the more prominent residents mentioned in the assessments so as to illuminate their lives in a number of biographical sketches. Genealogists, and particularly those of African descent, will find this information invaluable for their research, as it specifies the streets their forebears lived on, the occupations they followed, and the property, both real and human, on which they paid taxes.

African-American genealogists will be able to discover whether their ancestors were free or enslaved and, if enslaved, to whom they "belonged." Historians will be able to ferret out housing patterns, economic conditions, the role and relationships of women, the institution of slavery and the impact of the port/harbor on the economic development of Baltimore. Illustrated and possessing a complete name index, this work belongs in the collection of every African-American genealogist and historian.

On a very basic level this is a book about slavery in Baltimore Maryland in the early 19th century. However, it is much, much more than that, as former Maryland State Archivist Edward C. Papenfuse’s introduction reveals. Dr. Papenfuse’s informative essay discusses what we have come to know about the conditions of urban life in the second decade of the 19th century. His introduction summarizes the recent scholarship about urban slavery, that of Baltimore’s in particular, and where we can turn for additional information on that subject.

Goodson and Hollie’s contribution to the social and racial history and genealogy of Baltimore in the wake of the War of 1812 now joins the ranks of that scholarship. Based primarily upon the original tax assessor ledgers for 1813 and 1818 housed at the Baltimore City Archives, this work identifies all free blacks and slave owners in Baltimore by name, race, address, occupation, names/ages of slaves owned (if any), and sometimes by nationality and other particulars.

The authors have supplemented the information found in the tax ledgers with data from city directories, census records, and books and journal articles about 19th-century Baltimore and Maryland. They examined newspapers, court records and biographies of some of the more prominent residents mentioned in the assessments so as to illuminate their lives in a number of biographical sketches. Genealogists, and particularly those of African descent, will find this information invaluable for their research, as it specifies the streets their forebears lived on, the occupations they followed, and the property, both real and human, on which they paid taxes.

African-American genealogists will be able to discover whether their ancestors were free or enslaved and, if enslaved, to whom they "belonged." Historians will be able to ferret out housing patterns, economic conditions, the role and relationships of women, the institution of slavery and the impact of the port/harbor on the economic development of Baltimore. Illustrated and possessing a complete name index, this work belongs in the collection of every African-American genealogist and historian.

Published originally in 1981, the work at hand is an alphabetical listing of all free African-American heads of household listed in the five U.S. censuses for the State of New York taken between 1790 and 1830. Since it was during this 40-year period that the New York legislature passed a series of statutes resulting in the gradual emancipation of the state's slave population, the scope of this work documents the emergence of a completely free black population by 1830. In all, there are 15,000 references to freedmen, many of whom appear in more than one census.

A few observations about the arrangement and contents of the volume are in order. The householders are listed by surname in a single alphabetical sequence. Persons for whom a first name but no surname is given in the census are interwoven into the alphabetical arrangement by first name. Accompanying each householder is the census year in question, his/her New York county and township of residence, and a page reference to the original record. While the sources given for the 1800 to 1830 censuses refer to pages found on the microfilm copies of the original census enumeration sheets, the 1790 references correspond to pages in the well known 1908 U.S. Census Bureau publication, Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790.

Finally, the researcher must bear in mind that many free blacks of this era worked for and resided with white families. Since only heads of household are identified in these censuses, these black servants/boarders cannot be represented in this volume. Nor can the other members of the African-American households-except as one of the statistics attributed to every household.

Published originally in 1981, the work at hand is an alphabetical listing of all free African-American heads of household listed in the five U.S. censuses for the State of New York taken between 1790 and 1830. Since it was during this 40-year period that the New York legislature passed a series of statutes resulting in the gradual emancipation of the state's slave population, the scope of this work documents the emergence of a completely free black population by 1830. In all, there are 15,000 references to freedmen, many of whom appear in more than one census.

A few observations about the arrangement and contents of the volume are in order. The householders are listed by surname in a single alphabetical sequence. Persons for whom a first name but no surname is given in the census are interwoven into the alphabetical arrangement by first name. Accompanying each householder is the census year in question, his/her New York county and township of residence, and a page reference to the original record. While the sources given for the 1800 to 1830 censuses refer to pages found on the microfilm copies of the original census enumeration sheets, the 1790 references correspond to pages in the well known 1908 U.S. Census Bureau publication, Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790.

Finally, the researcher must bear in mind that many free blacks of this era worked for and resided with white families. Since only heads of household are identified in these censuses, these black servants/boarders cannot be represented in this volume. Nor can the other members of the African-American households-except as one of the statistics attributed to every household.

This extraordinary anthology of antebellum slave songs provides musical settings for 136 musical texts and variants, in the process devoting much commentary to the regional variations in black folk music, the social settings in which the songs were customarily performed, and the distinctiveness of the Negro singing style. It was Slave Songs of the United States that brought black folk music to widespread public attention, whetting the interest in collecting, studying, and performing black folk music that has not abated since 1867.

This extraordinary anthology of antebellum slave songs provides musical settings for 136 musical texts and variants, in the process devoting much commentary to the regional variations in black folk music, the social settings in which the songs were customarily performed, and the distinctiveness of the Negro singing style. It was Slave Songs of the United States that brought black folk music to widespread public attention, whetting the interest in collecting, studying, and performing black folk music that has not abated since 1867.