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African American Genealogical Research

Beginning Your Research

When researching an African American family, start by using the same sources as other researchers (see our Genealogy & Local History section for more information). This guide focuses on additional resources of special interest for African American families.

Primary Sources

Census

Separate “Slave Schedules” were created as part of the 1850 and 1860 censuses. The slave schedules do NOT include the names of the slaves. They list the name of the slave owner and give details on the number of slaves owned by age and sex.

For more information on censuses, see our research guides on the topic:

Local Vital Statistics
  • 929.3 WHI NCC. Somebody Knows My Name: Marriages of Freed People in North Carolina, County by County (3 vols.). compiled by Barnetta McGhee White. Index of available North Carolina cohabitation records. [Cohabitation records have survived from the following counties:  Alexander, Alleghany, Beaufort, Bertie, *Caldwell, *Camden, Carteret*Catawba, Chowan, *Columbus, *Craven, Currituck, Davidson, *Davie,*Duplin, Edgecombe, *Forsyth, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Guilford, Halifax, Hyde, Iredell, Johnston, Lincoln, *Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Nash, New Hanover, Orange, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Richmond, Robeson, *Rowan, Stokes, Surry, Union, Wake, *Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wilkes, Wilson.  Records of counties marked with an asterisk (*) are on microfilm, and the originals remain in the county," according to Becky McGee-Lankford, Section Head, Government Records Section, State Archives of NC]
  • 929.5 SAI NCC. Saint Benedict Catholic Cemetery [Gaston County], compiled by Richard E. Wilson.
    • Also known as the Black Catholic Cemetery. Only 3 pages long.

Cohabitation Records

WPA Slave Narratives

Between 1936 and 1938, writers and journalists working for the Works Progress Administration interviewed over 2300 former slaves. (It appears that none of the people interviewed were from Gaston or Lincoln Counties.) These interviews are available in several ways with different approaches to searching:

  • U.S., Interviews with Formerly Enslaved People, 1936-1938. Ancestry Library Edition includes a keyword search.
  • Born in Slavery, the Library of Congress site, is supplemented with 500 photographs.
    Go to: https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/
  • 973.0496073 CIV. The Civitas anthology of African American slave narratives, edited by William L. Andrews, Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Enslaved People Records
Federal Archives
  • Confederate Slave Payrolls "The Confederate Quartermaster Department created the payrolls for slave labor on Confederate military defenses. The rolls show the period covered, the entity or person that employed the slaves working for the Confederacy, the place of service, the name of owner, the name and occupation of the hired enslaved person, the time employed, rate of wages, amount paid, and the signature of the person receiving the money (usually the owner or an attorney)." Read more.
    Go to: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/719477
  • Bureau of Pensions Law Division Case Files, 1862–1933. "The Law Division prosecuted pension fraud, promoted compliance with legal requirements for pension payments, and answered inquiries about legal questions." "Some files contain correspondence or affidavits in which African Americans gave information about their identity and ownership before the Civil War. "
    Go to: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2538355
  • See Online websites and Databases for more records.
A Note about FamilySearch.org
Many of the sources given here are found on FamilySearch.org. This site is continually adding new files and indexing existing files. Be sure to keep checking FamilySearch.org for new information!

Freedmen’s Bureau Records

The “Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands” also known as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was formed at the end of the Civil War. The Freedmen’s Bureau created many records containing the names of newly freed slaves in the period before the 1870 census. Records include labor contracts between planters and freedpeople, apprenticeship disputes and complaints, court, education, ration,transportation, hospital, marriage, and more.

Databases

Freedman's Bank Records

The Freedman's Savings and Trust Company was an institution where former slaves and their dependents could place and save their money. The bank branches were primarily in large and coastal cities.

Education

Family & Local Histories

Search our Catalog by Subject for: African American* OR Slave*

Family & Local Histories

Military

Newspapers

  • N.C. Runaway Slave Notices 1751-1865 provides online access to runaway slave advertisements published in North Carolina newspapers.
    Go to: https://gateway.uncg.edu/dlas

  • Articles of Enslavement “new collection of newspaper articles containing details on more than 183,000 formerly enslaved people. The new collection will help descendants of previously enslaved people in the U.S. discover more about their families. They also serve as an important resource for understanding the forced movement of enslaved people in the United States and the actions that they took to seek freedom." Free Ancestry account required.
    Go to: https://www.ancestry.com/c/articles-of-enslavement

  • African-American Newspapers in North Carolina,
    Go to: http://www.digitalnc.org/exhibits/african-american-newspapers-in-nc/

  • Chronicling America (Select State and Ethnicity to search for African-American newspapers)
    Go to: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/#tab=tab_newspapers

  • Historic North Carolina Digital Newspaper Collection. 3.5 million pages of digitized content from over 1,000 NC county newspapers. Log in to NC Live with your library card number.
    Go to: https://www.nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?rsrc=411

  • Ancestry Library Edition "U.S., African American Newspapers, 1829-1947" contains issues of African-American newspapers printed in the 19th and early 20th century. (Available in Library)


  • 306.362 WIL Help me to find my people: the African American search for family lost in slavery. Williams, Heather Andrea. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. "
    After the Civil War, African Americans placed poignant "information wanted" advertisements in newspapers, searching for missing family members. Inspired by the power of these ads, Heather Andrea Williams uses slave narratives, letters, interviews, public records, and diaries to guide readers back to devastating moments of family separation during slavery when people were sold away from parents, siblings, spouses, and children."

Voter Registration

929.375 WYN NCC. North Carolina extant voter registrations of 1867, by Frances Holloway Wynne.

FamilySearch.org has the North Carolina, Voter Registers and Certificates of Registration, 1868-1964. Index and images of voter registration lists and certificates of permanent registration from various counties in North Carolina.
Go To: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/3326982

Online

Gaston County

Databases

Ancestry Library Edition contains the African American Collection which includes many data collections.
(Available in all library branches)

 

 

Fold3 contains the Black History Collection which includes the following publications and more:
  • Court Slave Records for DC
  • Board of Commissioners - Emancipation of Slaves in DC
  • Colored Troops - Civil War Service Records
  • Amistad - court records
  • Danish West Indies - Slavery and Emancipation
  • US, South Carolina Estate Inventories and Bills of Sale, 1732-1872

Go to: https://fold3library.proquest.com/barcode?accountid=11047 Log into Fold3 with your library card or visit library branch.

Author: Gaston County Public Library
Title: African American Genealogical Research
URL: http://gastonlibrary.libguides.com/african-american-genealogical-research
Revised: 5 August 2024

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