Researching Enslaved Ancestors Before 1870

How to work past the 1870 census, identify a likely enslaver, and find enslaved people named in probate, tax, Freedmen's Bureau and military records.

3 min read

For many African American families, the 1870 census is a wall. It was the first federal census to name formerly enslaved people. In the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules, enslaved people are counted but not named, listed only by age, sex and color under the enslaver's name. A few federal records do name enslaved people before 1870, notably the coastwise slave manifests filed for people shipped between U.S. ports, which give names, ages and descriptions. But that wall can often be crossed. It takes a different strategy: because enslaved people were treated as property, their names are often found in the records of the people who enslaved them.

Step 1: Document the family thoroughly after freedom

Start with everything from 1870 forward: every census, marriage record, death certificate, church record and obituary for your ancestor and all their siblings. Pay close attention to:

• Birthplaces and ages in each census
• Neighbors in 1870 and 1880, both Black and white
• Parents named on death certificates of every sibling
• Family stories, including any surname or place connected to slavery

Step 2: Use Reconstruction-era federal records

• Freedmen's Bureau records (1865–1872) include labor contracts, marriage registers, ration and hospital lists, school records and letters. Labor contracts often show a freedperson working for their former enslaver. The records are free on FamilySearch, and volunteers have transcribed many through the Smithsonian.
• Freedman's Savings Bank records (1865–1874): depositors' signature cards often name parents, spouses, children and siblings, and sometimes the former enslaver or plantation.
• United States Colored Troops: about 180,000 Black men served in the Union Army. Service files and especially pension files can contain sworn testimony about family, slavery and former enslavers.
• The Southern Claims Commission files include testimony from formerly enslaved people as witnesses.

Step 3: Identify a likely enslaver

This is the key step, and it requires care. Clues include:

• Proximity in 1870: freedpeople often stayed near where they had been enslaved. Look at white families nearby who owned large amounts of property in 1860.
• Surnames: some freedpeople took the surname of a recent enslaver, but many chose the name of an earlier enslaver, a parent's enslaver, or a name of their own. A shared surname is a lead, never proof.
• Labor contracts and bank records that name a former enslaver.
• The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules, which list enslaved people under the enslaver's name by age, sex and color. Look for a person of the right age and sex under candidate enslavers.

Step 4: Search the enslaver's records

Once you have a candidate enslaver, research that person as thoroughly as your own ancestor. Enslaved people are often named in:

• Probate records: inventories and divisions of estates listed enslaved people by name, often with ages, and sometimes in family groups
• Wills, which bequeathed people by name
• Deeds and bills of sale, including deeds of gift and mortgages
• Tax lists, some of which named enslaved people
• Plantation records, account books and letters, held in state archives and university manuscript collections
• Court cases, including suits over estates and freedom suits

Search for the enslaver's parents and children too. Enslaved people were often passed between family members, so a mother and child might appear in different households.

Free people of color

Not every African American ancestor was enslaved before 1865. Free people of color are named in the 1850 and 1860 censuses, and earlier ones list them as heads of household. Many states also required free Black people to register, creating registers that can include descriptions and how the person gained freedom.

This research can be emotionally difficult, and it often takes years. Each name recovered from an inventory or a contract restores a person to the record, and to the family.