The Freedman’s Bank, a distinct entity from the Freedman’s Bureau, was established by Congress on March 3, 1865. The bank’s official name was the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company. The bank’s purpose was to assist African-Americans recently freed from bondage to adjust and thrive economically. It had branches in 16 states and the District of [...]
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Last week, Ancestry.com updated and repackaged its U.S. Directories and U.S. Public information databases. These are now all a part of Ancestry’s “1940 Census Substitute.” Part of the upgrade was acquisition of what Ancestry VP for Content Gary Gibb called ” a huge collection of city directories.” I was excited about this from the outset. [...]
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“No census taken between 1790 and 1860 contains even one slave’s name.”
Harriet C. Frazier, Runaway and Freed Missouri Slaves and Those Who Helped Them, 1763-1865, (McFarland & Company: 2004), p. 12.
Most genealogists will not find this statement particularly surprising. We all know that, except for a very few free blacks, African-Americans were not enumerated [...]
Some Lessons about Census Records
Contestant #1: My name is Julia McDavid. I was born in the nineteenth century and had a daughter named Helen. Can you find me in the 1880 or 1900 census?
Contestant #2: My name is Julia McDavid. I was born in the nineteenth century and had a daughter named Helen. [...]
An important tip in genealogical research is to re-plow ground you’ve already been over before. And if that’s not productive, do it again!
Why?
Because it works.
Miriam at Ancestories had a Christmas Day surprise when she finally found some elusive in-laws for whom she had searched for years. In an idle moment, she tried again on-line and [...]
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