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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2007-09 > 1190643667


From: marianne dillow <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Family Slaves
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:21:07 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <003501c7fe91$abc25060$877e63d8@oemcomputer>


Hi Walt,
Yesterday, I was responding to a posting encouraging giving family data on slaves to a website that helps those who might descend from a slave. That took me back to Alex Haley and "Roots", in which the mini-series is what got me involved into what is now 25 years of genealogy.

In my own case I would be willing to share what I have with others to prove their line but I don't think I have enough information to do that. I only have family wills and I don't have any sale bills.

One example is my mother's Robert's line who was in North Carolina before moving to Kentucky. When they lived in North Carolina it was at a time when several counties were being formed out of one county to another. So, that means they lived in four different counties in NC.. After they moved to Ky and the will was in 1840, I have no other records to provide after the will because I can't track the slaves that were given as property with each member of the family. And I don't know when or where they bought the slaves either.

I would gladly share what I have as I have given others anything I have since starting genealogy but it doesn't seem possible in this case. My hat is off to Alex Haley who brought many into genealogy including myself which has now gotten me interested in DNA and doing my FGS. Now on to learning this process. But Alex Haley deserves a lot of praise for his work and hanging in there till he was able to trace his family and creating a interest in genealogy. He brought a lot of people on board thrugh his efforts and "Roots" is still one of my favorites to this day.

Marianne Dillow





"Walter S. Gabennesch" <> wrote:

Marianne,

You have to use "Bills of Sale" to trace slaves. They are found in the recorded deeds of the county. In North Carolina the deeds are there, but they don't index slave deeds so they are difficult to find. At the archives in NC, and some county libraries, there are large books that can be found of compiled abstracted information about slaves and the plantations where they lived.

When the slaves were freed a lot of them just walked off with nothing. They didn't know where they were going or how they would live, they just wanted to go. Others stayed in the same area on the same plantation and became "share croppers".

My ancestors lived in Eastern Ky. and didn't have slaves. The land was poor, they were subsistence farmers and could barely feed themselves.

Walt

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