Finding slaves and their enslavers is very difficult and takes a lot of luck. First talk to the oldest members of your extended family to see if there is any oral history as to the plantation their ancestors worked on. Then trace your ancestors back to the 1870 census, the first census after emancipation. Not all slaves took the owner's name, but it is a place to start. In the 1870 census are there whites with the same surname as your ancestor. Look at the 1860 and 1850 slave schedules for the county where your ancestor's reside in 1870. Check the Freedman's Savings and Trust bank records, especially if any of your ancestors lived near a big city. The earliest signature cards of the FST Bank ask the former owner's name. Look at probate (wills, administration of estates) records of owners that died before emancipation. Slaves, as property, were named in these records and a value assigned for the purposed of probate. Often children under the age of 5 were not named, but listed with their mother ("Sarah and her child"). A few places (usually county level records) taxed slaves as property and sometimes the slaves are named in the records. Look at the local Freedmen's Bureau records (usually one office served 2-4 counties in GA, which has small counties) to see if your ancestor is named.
You are really looking for that needle in a haystack.
Finding slaves and their enslavers is very difficult and takes a lot of luck. First talk to the oldest members of your extended family to see if there is any oral history as to the plantation their ancestors worked on. Then trace your ancestors back to the 1870 census, the first census after emancipation. Not all slaves took the owner's name, but it is a place to start. In the 1870 census are there whites with the same surname as your ancestor. Look at the 1860 and 1850 slave schedules for the county where your ancestor's reside in 1870. Check the Freedman's Savings and Trust bank records, especially if any of your ancestors lived near a big city. The earliest signature cards of the FST Bank ask the former owner's name. Look at probate (wills, administration of estates) records of owners that died before emancipation. Slaves, as property, were named in these records and a value assigned for the purposed of probate. Often children under the age of 5 were not named, but listed with their mother ("Sarah and her child"). A few places (usually county level records) taxed slaves as property and sometimes the slaves are named in the records. Look at the local Freedmen's Bureau records (usually one office served 2-4 counties in GA, which has small counties) to see if your ancestor is named.
You are really looking for that needle in a haystack.
I find this wonderful and helpful. Most of my research is for enslaved and newly manumitted in the mid-1700s. I hit so many brick walls and having only first names makes it even more challenging, or frustrating. I have been trying to prove certain enslaved were brought into Delaware from Maryland. From one old established tobacco plantation to a plantation being built. So logic says the enslavers brought part of the enslaved with him to establish the new plantation and leave others behind. However, I have not been able to prove this theory nor can I disprove it. It is in this search to seek family connections to those in Delaware with those in Maryland.
