Finding A Former Slave/Slaves After Emancipation

[Peter Stines]

This may need to be posted in the ancestry forum. My gr-gr grandmother had one slave in Galveston Tx. She was bought in 1853 from the owner named Samuel Parr. Name was Elizabeth. She was the same age as my ancestor. She was a house servant. (The family was NOT wealthy!) She appears in Tax rolls until emancipation was announced in Texas. Any idea how I might be able to track her ? She may have used our family surname (Stines, Staines) There was also a 40 year old male slave who worked with my gr-gr grandfather. No name found yet. Not sure when he was bought but maybe he went with Elizabeth ? I have copies of the slave schedules for Galveston and surrounding counties. Also checked the Texas slave narratives compiled by WPA

 

[tomlamarcooughlin]

There is a website called AfriGeneas.com that you could try.

 

[lelliott19]

Hello @Peter Stines I've actually had some luck locating a few formerly enslaved by name. Some formerly enslaved individuals did retain the surname of their former owner - especially those who were enslaved on larger plantations, so that family members could locate each other after the war. Have you looked at actual census records? If not, Im happy to take a look for you. What county were your ancestors living in? And about what year would Elizabeth have been born?

 

[OldSarge79]

You might try looking at Freedmen Bureau records on familysearch.org. They have records of all kinds of things concerning former slaves during the Reconstruction era, such as sharecropper contracts, complaints, etc. It's always possible that she (or they) were hired by your family or their neighbors after the war.
Familysearch is a great site, totally free and easy to register.

 

[Zella]

Thanks so much to all of you who have contributed! This issue isn't one I have much personal experience researching, so I am saving this thread for future reference.

 

[tomlamarcooughlin]

Peter: One other thing that worked for me was the section of Ancestry that allows you to post questions and information by family name. I used the slave owner's name and located black posters with that name. In that case there was a DNA relationship and the poster was looking for the DNA donor.