Where can I find names of slaves on North Carolina plantations?

Question

Hi. I am trying to locate slave ancestors who were on plantations in NC. Any thoughts on where these types of records might be found? Also, is there any possibility that there may even be ship manifests that have the slaves listed?

LOC Manuscript Division · Answer

Hello Dianne, You might also find the Records of the Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations to be useful in your search. This is a microfilm set of manuscripts dealing primarily with the pre-1865 period from several repositories throughout the south. The accompanying Index to Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations by Jean L. Cooper helps identify specific collections in which related material in a given location may be found. (Can access portions of the Index on GoogleBooks ) All of these collections are microfilmed and are available for service both at the Library of Congress and many other institutions. It was published under the imprint of University Publications of America (UPA). These microfilms were published in Series A through N, each containing materials from one library, and within each series the manuscripts are arranged by location or theme. Series J pertains particularly to the Southern Historical Collection at UNC Chapel Hill. We hope this information proves useful in your search. Reference Staff Manuscript Division Library of Congress

Research Services at the National Archives · Answer

Dear Ms. Daniels, &#160; Thank you for contacting the History Hub.&#160; This in response to your inquiry regarding slaves on plantations in North Carolina and ship manifests. &#160; In Record Group 36: Records of the U.S Custom Service, 1745-1997, here are the following series containing slave manifests arriving to and from different ports with links to their descriptions from NARA&#8217;s Online Catalog and at which NARA facility they are located at: &#160; Coastwise Slave Manifests, 1820-1860 (National Archives at Atlanta) Coastwise Slave Manifests, 1820-1858 (National Archives at Atlanta) Coastwise Slave Manifests, 1826-1830 (National Archives at Atlanta) Coastwise Slave Manifests, 1801-1860 (National Archives at Atlanta) Slave Manifests, 1817-1861 (National Archives at Fort Worth) Slave Manifests for the Port of Philadelphia, 1800 - 1860 (National Archives at Philadelphia) Slave Manifests for the Port of Annapolis, 1822 (National Archives at Philadelphia) Slave Manifests for the Port of New York, 1822 - 1852 (National Archives at Washington, DC) &#160; Here is a link to from the National Archives website on records pertaining to American Slavery and the International Slave Trade: &#160; https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/slavery-records.html &#160; Regarding lists of slaves on plantations in North Carolina, you may have to contact the state&#8217;s archives for that information.&#160; Here is a link to their website: https://archives.ncdcr.gov/ &#160; Best of luck with you research and thank you again for contacting the History Hub!

Terri Oguz · Answer

Have you searched the University of North Carolina Slave Database at URL https://library.uncg.edu/slavery/? &#160; Another option, if you know the county where the plantation was located, is to search the county old deed databases, e.g., Pitt County, which was formed out of Beaufort county in 1761 has digitized their entire deed collection starting in 1762, http://regdeeds.pittcountync.gov/External/HTML5Viewer/ImageViewer.aspx?OIB=true , and it is searcable by Grantor or Grantee, or Book and Page . Also, Wills and Slave Census records are available on Ancestry.com and familysearch.org.