Pre-1870 research. AAAARGH! Especially if you've done any African-American family history research, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You collect your records; birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family letters, you trace your family's movements back to the south, you get back to 1870 Census, so far so good, and then WHAM! Nuttin' but crickets.
I’ve been researching my husband’s ancestry for about 12 years. At first, it was fairly easy. He was born in New York. Got his birth cert - simple. His parents both died in New York. Got their death certs, both of which indicated where they were born in North Carolina and the names of their parents - piece 'o cake. Located relatives who still live in the area in North Carolina - a little harder, but mission accomplished. Distant relatives, census records and other records I was able to get my hands on helped us get back further - more difficult, but achievable. Records between 1865 and 1870 - few and far between.
I've bounced off that 1870 brick wall enough times to give me a splitting headache - 'twasn't fun. Finding any information about his family before 1870 has required much slow, painstaking, tedious and original research. Most of the tidbits of information I've gleaned are possibilities, rather than proven fact or connection. But in spite of all the obvious obstacles, I have to say that I’m quite proud of the progress that I’ve made so far, considering that most of my husband’s ancestors were enslaved and therefore not to be found in such official records as birth, marriage, death, census, etc.
Where would one then find record of human beings who were considered property? In estate, inventory, sales and deed records. And it makes perfect sense, in a very perverse way. Where else would they be? After all, they were only part of the inventory.
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