African American genealogy: getting past the 1870 brick wall

The 1870 census was the first to record most formerly enslaved people by name. Before it, they appear in records as property, usually without a surname. This is the hardest wall in American genealogy, and it can be crossed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. has shown it done on television many times. The method is below.

1. Work back to 1870 without skipping

Trace every line through each census from 1950 back to 1870. In 1870, record the exact county, the household's neighbors, and every person's age and birthplace. The location in 1870 is the key to everything earlier.

Also check the 1880 census for the same family. It states each person's relationship to the head of household and the birthplace of their parents.

2. Search the records created at emancipation

• Freedmen's Bureau records, 1865 to 1872. Labor contracts, ration lists, marriage registers, hospital and school records. Some labor contracts name a former slaveholder and whole family groups.
• Freedman's Bank records, 1865 to 1874. Account applications often list the depositor's parents, siblings, spouse, children and former residence.
• United States Colored Troops service and pension files. Pension files contain sworn statements from relatives and neighbors and may name a former slaveholder.
• The 1867 voter registrations in the former Confederate states, which list Black men by name three years before the census.
• Cohabitation and marriage registers that legalized marriages made during slavery.

Search them through the Freedmen's Bureau search portal and FamilySearch.

3. Identify the likely slaveholder

Many freed families stayed near where they had been held. A minority took the slaveholder's surname, so treat a shared surname as a lead and not as proof.

1. List the white landowners living near your family on the 1870 census page, especially any with the same surname.
2. Find those landowners in the 1860 and 1850 slave schedules. The schedules list each enslaved person under the holder's name by age, sex and color, usually with no name.
3. Compare. Does a holder's 1860 schedule contain people whose ages and sexes fit your family ten years before 1870?

4. Follow the slaveholder's property records

Enslaved people were named in the legal papers of the people who held them. Search the county courthouse and state archive for the candidate holder's:

• Will and probate inventory, which often list enslaved people by first name, age and value, and sometimes by family group
• Deeds, bills of sale, mortgages and deeds of gift
• Estate divisions among heirs
• Plantation account books, letters and church minutes

A first name, an age and a family grouping that match your 1870 household across several of these documents make a strong case.

5. Use DNA where the paper stops

DNA matches can connect branches of a family that were separated by sale, and can link you to descendants of the same enslaved community. Matches who descend from the slaveholding family may confirm which household your ancestors were held in. Sort your matches using the steps in the DNA guide.

Take care of yourself in this work

These records list people beside livestock and furniture. Finding an ancestor's name in an inventory is a research victory and a hard thing to read. Go at your own pace, and say their names when you find them.