Enslaved Ancestors Quick Reference Chart

The Enslaved Ancestors Quick Reference Chart sets the sources most often used to trace enslaved ancestors, from the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules to slave narratives, against the questions genealogists most often bring to them, and marks for each source whether it answers a question directly, gives clues to it, or doesn't cover it.

The federal census has been taken every ten years since 1790 to count the population for apportioning seats in the House of Representatives. Its questions collected demographic and other information for the government's use; the records they produced are also a major source for genealogical research.

The 1850 and 1860 censuses counted enslaved people on a separate slave schedule, listed under the slaveholder's name and usually not by their own. The enumerator took it during the same visits as the population schedule, and the slave schedules are filed separately from it.

Also known as — the U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule, or Schedule 2 ("Slave Inhabitants"), or the slave census.

The mortality schedules list people who died in the 12 months before the census, from June 1st of the year before through May 31st of the census year. They were taken during the same visits as the population schedules. On the early schedules, a person's household is worked out by matching the order of entries with the population schedule; from 1870 the schedule gives the family number. They give the person's name, age, sex, color, birthplace, occupation, and the month and cause of death.

The Line by Line cards give more information about each determination and how it applies to the question.

Explicit — The source asked the question, and the answer is given directly.

Inferred — The source didn't ask the question, but the answer can be narrowed down or figured out from the information available. Confirming an inference often needs another record. The inference can sometimes require more than one record, but this determination is only used where the information usually can't be found any other way.

Not Recorded — The source didn't ask the question, and nothing in it helps answer it.

Not Applicable — The question doesn't apply to anyone at the time the record was taken.

Rarely Available — The source can only answer the question for a small share of people.

Records of enslaved people were mostly made by or about slaveholders, so one record often can't answer a question alone. A slave schedule, for example, names the slaveholder, whose estate papers may name the plantation. Such a lead is only as strong as the match between the records, so ages, given names and family groups are compared across them before two entries are treated as the same person. See Determine age, sex, and race?, Identify the slaveholder?, Trace a sale/gift/inheritance?, Find the plantation name? and Connect before/after 1865?

The Dawes Commission, also known as the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, was appointed in 1893 to negotiate with the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole tribes. In return for abolishing their tribal governments and recognizing state and federal laws, tribal citizens were allotted a share of land. The Dawes Rolls are the final list of those approved. To process the applications, the Commission prepared enrollment cards between 1898 and 1914. Freedmen, people formerly enslaved by tribal citizens, and their children, were enrolled on cards of their own.

The 1850 slave schedule was the first time the U.S. census counted enslaved people on a schedule separate from the population schedule. See What is a slave schedule?

Finding the records — The records are filed in the National Archives microfilm collection M432. They are held by the National Archives and are available online at FamilySearch and other sites.

The 1860 slave schedule follows the 1850 form and adds the number of slave houses on each slaveholder's entry. See What is a slave schedule?

Finding the records — The records are filed in the National Archives microfilm collection M653. They are held by the National Archives and are available online at FamilySearch and other sites.

The 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules list people who died during the census year, with age, sex, color, birthplace, occupation, and the month and cause of death. Unlike the population schedules, these mortality schedules included enslaved people alongside the free, and their enslavement status.

Finding the records — The records are filed in multiple microfilm collections. They are held by various repositories and are available online at FamilySearch and other sites.

The 1870 population schedule (see What is a U.S. federal census?) was the first census after emancipation. It was the first time many of these people were ever listed by full name and in their own household. A freed person may be found living near a former slaveholder or sharing that slaveholder's surname. This can help connect them to earlier records, some of which didn't include their names. See Connect before/after 1865?

Finding the records — The records are filed in National Archives microfilm collections M593 and T132. They are held by the National Archives and are available online at FamilySearch and other sites.

County probate and estate files, often kept by a probate or orphans' court, include wills, inventories, appraisals and divisions. Enslaved people appear in them as property, sometimes by given name, with an age or a value. A division shows which heir received whom, following a person from one slaveholder to the next. Estates often hired enslaved people out by the year, and the hire accounts can name them. The files are indexed under the slaveholder's name, not the enslaved person's.

Finding the records — These files are often kept by the county courthouse or the state archives. Many have been digitized, and some tools can search their handwriting for a name, such as FamilySearch's Full-Text Search.

County deed books hold bills of sale, deeds of gift, mortgages and deeds of trust, with an occasional deed of manumission. They are indexed by grantor and grantee, so the search runs through both slaveholders' names, and a person can sometimes be followed from one slaveholder to the next. Many sales were never recorded, and some of their papers survive only in family collections.

Finding the records — Deed books are often kept by the county courthouse or the state archives. Many have been digitized, and some tools can search their handwriting for a name, such as FamilySearch's Full-Text Search. Family papers sometimes survive in libraries, historical societies and university manuscript collections.

The Freedmen's Bureau, officially the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, was a U.S. government agency operating from 1865 to 1872. It was set up to help newly emancipated people make the transition from slavery after the Civil War. Its relief efforts helped white refugees who were also harshly impacted. Its agents worked across the areas most affected by the war and emancipation, helping formerly enslaved people negotiate and witness labor contracts, legalize marriages, locate missing family, and set up bank accounts (see Freedmen's Bank), along with various humanitarian efforts. This resulted in about 1.5 million documents and roughly 4 million names. They are among the earliest records to name so many freed people.

Finding the records — The records are filed in National Archives Record Group 105. They are held by the National Archives and are available online at FamilySearch and other sites. They include marriage records, labor contracts, employment registers, medical and hospital records, ration lists, relief registers, and bounty and pension claims, among others.

The Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, commonly known as the Freedman's Bank, was a private corporation chartered by Congress in March 1865 as a savings bank for freed people. It helped bridge the gap between slavery and free life by encouraging saving and good money habits, helping families build the savings needed to purchase property, start businesses, and fund education. Account applications often asked for a depositor's full name, physical description, birthplace, residence, occupation, names of parents, spouses, children and siblings, military service information, and sometimes the former slaveholder and the plantation they lived on.

Finding the records — The depositor registers are filed in the National Archives microfilm collection M816, and are available online at FamilySearch and other sites.

The Dawes Freedmen cards are the Dawes Commission's enrollment cards (see What is the Dawes Commission?) for people formerly enslaved by tribal citizens. They give each person's name, age, sex and relationship to others on the card, with the former slaveholder of the person and of each parent. Cards survive for rejected applicants as well as approved ones.

Finding the records — The enrollment cards are filed in the National Archives microfilm collection M1186, and are available online at the National Archives Catalog, FamilySearch (images, not searchable), and other sites. A searchable index of the enrollment applications can help find a person first, such as FamilySearch's Five Civilized Tribes Enrollment Records.

An application is the Commission's file, containing testimonies, birth and death affidavits, marriage licenses, letters and other papers, and the Commission's decision. What it holds depends on the case: the testimony and papers gathered were whatever that case needed, so an application can hold information this chart doesn't cover.

Finding the records — An application often runs to many pages, each filmed or scanned as its own image, so the first image may be only part of the file. The applications are filed in the National Archives microfilm collection M1301, and are available online at the National Archives Catalog, FamilySearch and other sites.

The slave narratives are personal stories and interviews of formerly enslaved people. Chief among them is Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, more than 2,300 interviews taken from 1936 to 1938. The interviewees are named, and their accounts can name parents, other family and former slaveholders.

Finding the records — The narratives are often found in library and university collections. Grand Valley State University's guide lists the main collections, with tips on using the narratives and finding more.

The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules rarely listed enslaved people by name; the 1860 instructions asked enumerators to name only those aged 100 or over, though a few named others. The 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules, estate inventories, wills, and bills of sale often supplied a given name. The 1870 census, Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records, Dawes cards and applications, and the slave narratives all identified freed people by their own names.

Before 1865, an enslaved person who was named at all usually went by a given name alone, so the slave schedules, mortality schedules, and deeds gave no surname; an estate paper occasionally did. From 1865 on, freed people usually appear with surnames in the 1870 census, Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records, Dawes cards and applications, and the slave narratives. A surname taken after freedom was sometimes a former slaveholder's, so it can suggest a connection but doesn't prove one.

On the slave schedules, enslaved people were usually listed without names, so age, sex, and color are often the only details that set one person apart from another. Comparing this information across records and census years is how an unnamed person can be followed, and possibly linked to a name in other records. The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules recorded each person's exact or estimated age, along with sex and color; the 1860 instructions called sex "very essential" because names were left out. All three appear as well in the 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules and the 1870 census. Dawes cards and applications include age and sex, and a freedmen card shows that the person or a parent was enslaved by a tribal citizen, which implies race but doesn't confirm it. Estate inventories, wills, deeds, and Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records sometimes noted an age or a description such as "boy" or "woman," and narrators generally gave their age while being interviewed.

These sources rarely stated a birth date, but subtracting a person's age from the year of the census or record yields an approximate birth year. Ages of enslaved people were often estimated by the slaveholder or the enumerator, so they can vary from one record to the next.

The 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules listed enslaved people who died during the census year, with the month and cause of death; an enslaved person's entry may carry the slaveholder's surname rather than a surname of their own. The slave schedules, the 1870 census, and deeds didn't ask about deaths. Wills and estate papers occasionally mentioned that an enslaved person had died. Someone missing from a later inventory could have died, but might instead have been sold, given away or hired out, so an absence alone doesn't confirm a death. Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records and Dawes cards sometimes noted a death, and a Dawes application included a death affidavit only when the death bore on the case. Narrators told of family members' deaths at times.

Before 1865, a Black person in the United States could be free or enslaved, and the two appear in different records. A free person of color was named on the population schedule and could own property, while an enslaved person is usually found only through the slaveholder's records. Knowing which applied decides where to look. Anyone on the 1850 or 1860 slave schedule was enslaved, and the 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules marked whether a person who died was free or enslaved. Wills, estate inventories, and bills of sale and deeds treated enslaved people as property. Freedman's Bank records often asked about former status, and Dawes freedmen cards and applications were made for people once enslaved by tribal citizens, or their descendants. Freedmen's Bureau records mostly concern formerly enslaved people, but not only them; a record doesn't always state a person's status, though its details may allow it to be inferred. The slave narrators were all formerly enslaved.

Some records name a person's former slaveholder; others name the slaveholder at the time. Before 1865, most records of an enslaved person were made by or about the slaveholder and are filed under that name, so identifying the slaveholder is usually the first step to finding a person in the years before freedom. The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules entered enslaved people under the person who held them, in the column headed "Name of Slave Owner"; that could be an estate, a trustee, or someone who hired them rather than held them. The 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules didn't ask, but the slaveholder can often be narrowed down from the free households entered just before and after the person. Wills, estate inventories, and bills of sale and deeds identified the slaveholder outright, and wills, estate divisions, bills of sale and deeds also identified the next one. The 1870 census didn't ask either, though a former slaveholder can sometimes be inferred from it (see Connect before/after 1865?). Dawes freedmen cards and applications named the person's former slaveholder, as narrators usually did. Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records sometimes did too, for example on a labor contract or where an early bank register entry named a "Master" or "Mistress."

An enslaved person could pass from one slaveholder to another by sale, by gift, or by inheritance. Each move places the person in a new slaveholder's records, so tracing the moves leads from one set of records to the next, and it is often where a family's separation shows. Wills, estate inventories, and estate divisions show enslaved people passing to heirs, and bills of sale, deeds of gift, and mortgages cover sales and other transfers between slaveholders. Matching the same given names, ages, and family groups through successive inventories and deeds can follow a person across decades. The 1850 and 1860 slave and mortality schedules showed only where a person was at the time, not how they got there. Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records and Dawes cards didn't document sales or transfers, though testimony in a Dawes application occasionally mentioned one when it bore on the case. Narrators now and then described being sold, given away, or passed on to an heir.

Some enslaved people escaped, alone or with family, and some were never returned. An escape can explain why a person disappears from a slaveholder's records between one census and the next, and knowing of one usually changes research parameters. The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules had a column headed "Fugitives from the State," with a count on the slaveholder's line of the people who had fled during the year and hadn't been brought back. With no name, age, or description, the count shows that someone from that household got away but not who. The mortality schedules, wills, estate papers, deeds, Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records, and Dawes cards didn't mention escapes. Narrators sometimes told of their own flight or someone else's.

Beyond this chart — Records of escapees can also be found in newspaper advertisements. Freedom on the Move has a large collection available online.

A manumission is the voluntary release of an enslaved person by the slaveholder. A person freed before 1865 leaves the slaveholder's records and appears afterward as a free person, so a manumission can explain why someone seems to vanish from them. The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules gave the number each slaveholder had released during the year, under the heading "Number Manumitted," but no names, so the figure reveals that someone was freed without saying who. Wills and deeds of manumission named the person, though such deeds were rare. The mortality schedules, Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records, and Dawes cards and applications didn't mention manumissions. Some narrators recalled others being freed before the war.

Beyond this chart — Manumissions were also entered in county court minutes, and in some states freed people had to register with the county, so registers of free people of color and "free papers" can name them.

The 1850 and 1860 slave and mortality schedules didn't name parents. An adult in the same 1870 household as a child may be the parent, but the census didn't say so. In wills, estate inventories, and deeds, a woman listed with children may be their mother, though the relationship isn't always stated. Freedmen's Bureau records frequently asked about parents, and Freedman's Bank registers usually asked for the depositor's, often naming them even when they had died or had been separated during slavery. Dawes freedmen cards and applications gave each person's father and mother, with the former slaveholder of each parent. Many narrators talked about their parents, though not always by full name.

The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules didn't list marriages. The mortality schedules' column for married or widowed can hint that a person had a spouse, but doesn't name them. Wills, estate papers, and deeds were silent on the matter, because enslaved people's marriages had no legal standing. From 1861 to 1869 the Freedmen's Bureau and the Union Army collected certificates, licenses, and monthly reports of marriages, including unions begun during slavery. The 1870 census placed a husband and wife together and marked couples married within the census year, but didn't otherwise state that a couple was married. Freedman's Bank registers often named a spouse. Dawes cards gave each person's relationship to the head of the family group, so the head's own marriage shows as a wife or husband, while other marriages appear only indirectly, through entries such as "son-in-law." An application could include a marriage license. Narrators sometimes described their own or their parents' marriage.

Relationships weren't shown on the 1850 and 1860 slave and mortality schedules. Nor did the 1870 census state them, though children living in the same household as an adult may be theirs. Wills, estate inventories, and deeds sometimes grouped a woman with her children or kept a family together in a sale or division, which points to a relationship without always stating it. Freedmen's Bureau records, Freedman's Bank registers, and Dawes cards and applications often named children and siblings, and narrators usually spoke of their brothers, sisters, and children.

The 1850 and 1860 slave and mortality schedules didn't account for family members who had been sold or sent away. A relative found in a different household in 1870 may have been parted from the family earlier, though the census doesn't show it. Wills, estate divisions, and deeds can show relatives going to different heirs or buyers, which is often where a separation began. Freedmen's Bureau records, including transportation records for people reuniting with kin, and Freedman's Bank registers sometimes named relatives living elsewhere or noted that they had been sold away. On Dawes cards, mismatched slaveholder names can point to a split, and testimony in an application occasionally states one outright. Narrators often talked about family members they were parted from.

Beyond this chart — After the war, freed people placed "Information Wanted" ads in newspapers to search for relatives lost to sale, and some resources collect these ads, such as Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery.

The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules didn't ask where a person was born. The 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules and the 1870 census gave a state or country of birth. Wills, estate papers, deeds, and Dawes cards left it out, though Dawes applications usually hold enough detail to infer it. Freedman's Bank registers generally asked for the depositor's birthplace, often down to the county or plantation where they grew up. Freedmen's Bureau records sometimes mentioned where a person came from, and narrators often said where they were born.

The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules placed each slaveholder in a state, county, and district. An enslaved person was likely there too, though some were kept on another property the slaveholder held or were hired out elsewhere. The 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules and the 1870 census gave the person's place of residence. Wills, estate papers, and deeds often named the plantation, farm, or tract where enslaved people were held. Freedmen's Bureau records were kept by local field office, and Freedman's Bank registers noted the depositor's residence. Dawes cards listed the nation, district, and local post office where a person enrolled, and applications sometimes went as far as describing exactly where they lived. Many narrators described the places they had lived over the years.

Beyond this chart — County lines changed over time, so a place in a record may now lie in a different county. Historical boundary maps show which county held it at the time, such as the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Many slaveholders gave their plantations names, used in deeds, wills, and letters. Such a name ties a person to a particular place and to the slaveholder's land, and it can lead to the plantation's own papers, such as account books and journals, where they survive; these can sometimes show family ties not traceable elsewhere. Some records don't give the plantation directly but include, or point to, the slaveholder, which can help work it out. The slave schedules list the slaveholder outright, and the mortality schedules can be matched to the population schedule to narrow one down (see Identify the slaveholder?). The 1870 census can offer clues toward it (see Connect before/after 1865?). Wills, estate papers, and deeds often identified the plantation or tract. Freedman's Bank registers frequently gave the plantation where the depositor was raised or had lived. A Freedmen's Bureau labor contract occasionally named the plantation, and sometimes the former slaveholder. Dawes cards and applications didn't name a plantation, although they did name the former slaveholder. Narrators usually mentioned the place where they had been enslaved, or the family who held it.

Matching a freed person in records made after 1865 with the same person in records made before it is the link to their life before and after freedom. It is often the hardest question to answer, and most sources give only clues. Formerly enslaved people, freed by emancipation, were named in their own households for the first time in the 1870 census. Some were still living on or near the property where they had been held, sometimes working or renting part of it, and some had taken the former slaveholder's surname as their own. Either can point to a slaveholder whose 1850 and 1860 slave and mortality schedule entries, estate inventories, and deeds can then be searched for matching ages, given names, and family groups. A match found this way is still an inference until another record confirms it. Freedmen's Bureau records and Dawes cards and applications can name a connection outright. A Freedman's Bank register or a narrative that names the person's former slaveholder or plantation is a strong link.

The slave narratives are the main source here (see Slave Narr.). Dawes enrollment testimony sometimes captured a person's own answers about their family and past, and Freedmen's Bureau complaints and letters occasionally preserved a freed person's own words. The census, wills, estate papers, deeds, and Freedman's Bank registers hold facts about a person rather than their own account.

Not all records can be searched by the person's own name. The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules, wills, estate papers, and deeds were indexed under the slaveholder, not the enslaved person, and the slave schedules rarely named enslaved people at all, so the way into these records is the slaveholder's name. The 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules, the 1870 census, Freedmen's Bureau and Freedman's Bank records, Dawes cards and applications, and the slave narratives all list people under their own names.

Beyond this chart — Many online indexes can be searched directly by name, such as FamilySearch's Historical Records, and some are built for records of enslaved and freed people, such as Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade and the Smithsonian's Freedmen's Bureau Search Portal.

About 180,000 Black soldiers served in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, many of them formerly enslaved. Their service and pension files can name family members, a birthplace, and sometimes the former slaveholder, details that may survive in no other record. The 1850 and 1860 slave and mortality schedules, the 1870 census, wills, estate papers, deeds, and Dawes cards and applications hold nothing on military service. The Freedman's Bank grew out of savings banks set up for Black Union soldiers, and its registers often listed a depositor's regiment and company. Freedmen's Bureau records point to service where the Bureau helped Black soldiers, sailors, and their heirs claim back pay, bounties, and pensions. Narrators sometimes described their own service or a relative's.

Beyond this chart — The service and pension files are held at the National Archives, and some resources index the men of the United States Colored Troops by name, such as the National Park Service's Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database and FamilySearch's Civil War Service Records of Union Colored Troops.

Many enslaved people worked at skilled trades or in households as well as in the fields. A trade can tell apart two people with the same name and age, and the same skill often carried on after freedom, so it can link a person across 1865. The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules didn't give an occupation, while the 1850 and 1860 mortality schedules and the 1870 census asked for each person's specifically. Estate inventories and bills of sale occasionally named a trade, such as "blacksmith" or "cook," since a skill raised a person's appraised value or price. Freedman's Bank registers usually asked the depositor's occupation, and Freedmen's Bureau labor contracts showed the labor a freed person agreed to, which points to their abilities. Dawes cards and applications didn't ask about occupations. Narrators often described the work they did while enslaved.

The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules had a column headed "Deaf & Dumb, Blind, Insane, or Idiotic," and the 1870 census asked the same question. The mortality schedules, deeds, Freedman's Bank registers, and Dawes cards and applications didn't ask. Estate inventories could describe a person as "unsound" or give them a low or no appraised value, which can point to a disability or illness. Freedmen's Bureau records at times mentioned people who couldn't work and needed aid, and some narrators described an injury or condition.

An identifier for a specific form. The same identifier goes on every page of the form, so pages that become separated can be put back together, and another form can refer to it.

The prefix is unique to each type of form. The rest, up to four characters, is chosen by the researcher and can be numbers, letters, or both. Combining letters with numbers allows more forms to be referenced with fewer characters. Each Quick Reference chart carries a fixed identifier instead, such as "QRC-C2", which names the chart itself and has nothing to fill in.

National Archives (NARA) — archives.gov

IPUMS USA — usa.ipums.org

Library of Congress — loc.gov

Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery — informationwanted.org