Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Jul 2020 - 2021 Webinar Offerings


The a3Genealogy Webinar Series isn't new to us, but these online and video offerings are mandatory for now as we suspend all in person presentations, classes and workshops. 

We have spent the past two months tailoring our classes for online only presentations.  Why should learning stop during this country slowdown? These are just a few online webinar titles offered by Kathleen Brandt as Keynote Presenter. All titles are tailored for your audience / organization. Know that all of the presentations are chocked full of actual images and many have real life short case studies conducive to online training. 

Be sure to review the Experience/Qualifications page. 

Kathleen Brandt
Keynote Speaker/Presenter
816-729-5995

2020 - 2021 Webinar / Online Series
Military Records
  •  Tracing State Militia Records
  •  Revolutionary War
    • Finding Your Revolutionary War Soldier
    • African Americans Served Too – Finding Revolutionary & War of 1812 Records
    • Identifying Revolutionary War Era Parents 
    • 7 Best Revolutionary War Resources
    • Your Blacksheep: Courts-martial and Courts of inquiry records
  •  War of 1812
    • War of 1812: 10 Places to Search
    • Researching Your War of 1812 Impressed Seamen
  •  Civil War
    • 10 Best Bets to Civil War Research
    • 7 Tips to Researching Slaves and Slaveholders
    • Grand Army of the Republic (GAR): Where Are the Records
    • Military Records Were Destroyed: What to Do?
    • Civil War POW Records: Finding Your Soldier
  • Modern Wars
    • Military Records Were Destroyed? What to Do?
    • 7 Easy Tips to WWI and WWII Research
    • Forgotten Records - WWI and WWII
Methodology & Brickwalls
  • Turn Brickwalls into Straw Houses: 10 Huffs and Puffs of Research 
  • 60 Mile Radius: Kansas City, The Gateway to Genealogical Resources
  • Destroyed Records: Fire, Water, Thieves
  • The Changing Surname: How to Trace It
Missouri Research
  • 7 Tips to Researching Slaves and Slaveholders in Little Dixie – Missouri
  • 8 Tips to Researching MO Rhineland Ancestors
  • Pioneer Trail From Missouri to California: How to Trace Them
  • 5 Research Tips to MO. Bohemian Ancestors
Tracing Immigrants
  • When They Came to America, Where Did They Go?
  • Tracing Missouri Irish: From Immigration to Emigration
  • Blackbirding: Sugar, Cotton, and Slaves! Researching South Pacific Island Laborers
  • Did Your Ancestor Become a US Citizen? Where to find Records and Documents
  • Tracing Huguenots – From There to Here
  • Researching Germans from Russia Ancestors
 Slave and Slaveholder Records
  • Researching the Road to Freedom: 5 Ways to Freedom & 15 Record Sets to Find Them
  • Where Are the Slave Records?
  • Claim It!  Southern Claims Commission Records
  • African Americans Served Too – Finding Revolutionary & War of 1812 Records
  • Using Ship Manifests Records to Trace Slaveholders and Slaves
Kathleen Brandt
a3Genealogy@gmail.com
816-729-5995 for quotes and bookings


Sunday, June 28, 2020

1807 Law for Tracing Slaves & Slaveholders


At a3Genealogy we have had many blog and presentation requests to address issues in the news of late. So let's unscramble referencing 1807.  Note: This 1807 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves should not be confused with the recent “law and order” conversation that encouraged the use of the 1807 Insurrection Law

An 1807 Law that can help trace ancestors:
ex-slave ancestors and slaveholders.  

We have to remember 1807 was the year that slaves were no longer to be imported on our shores. It was a sort of weak attempt to end slavery. Slave trading was not abolished, so the north just sold their underutilized slaves to the southern planters. When referencing the slave trade we commonly envision domestic purchases and exchanges of plantation owners and traders culminating in the overland transporting of slaves. Shipping human cargo via coastal waterways from one region to another is often forgotten history. But, after 1807 slaves were legally transported via the Inter-coastal Waterways. An easy opening to the 1807 Importation of Slaves that allowed slave trading to continue, slave breading to continue, and the trapping and enslaving “free coloreds” to thrive. Of course, illegal boats also still imported slaves, in spite of the law. 

This Abolition Act of 1807 prohibited the import of slaves into the United States, effective 1 Jan 1808; however, domestic slave trading from one slave state to another was legal until 2 July 1864. An overlooked treasure for slave researchers are the ship manifests that document the legal trade and migratory path of slaves transported by water within the jurisdiction of the United States.

Ship Manifests
Ship Manifests, 1828 Baltimore to Savannah
It is estimated that over 1 million slaves were transported using either coastwise ships to the southern ports along the Atlantic, or channeling them along the southern coast and the Mississippi River using southern tributaries. 
To fulfill the law that required proof that slaves were not illegally imported into the United States after 1808, manifests of cargo carrying slaves were submitted at both ports of departure and arrival with appropriate statements swearing that the slaves listed "have not been imported into the United States since the first day of January, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eight..."
Sworn Statement
Slave Names and Hints
The manifests contained the name of the shipper or slave owner as well as their residence. They specified the name, sex and age of each slave to include a physical description - stature and designation of "negro, mulatto or person of colour."  Names of slaves are sometimes provided. 
Once slaves arrived at the port of destination they were often sent to neighboring areas. In a recent search we were able to locate a slave arriving in Charleston and within days exchanged in Augusta, Georgia.

Tracing Northern Slaveholders and Slave Movements to South Slave research using ship manifests requires persistent sleuthing. The family historian must gather information on the records of slave masters as well as the slave. The extant manifests are tools to research the migratory path of your slave ancestor and in many cases the movement and business efforts of the slave owner, trader or shipper. The researcher will find that due to the pirating of vessels, coastwise shipments before the War of 1812 were few; but in 1821, the boom year of coastwise slave trading, over 2,600 manifests are available for research.
  1. Slave Traders. To help determine your ancestor's place of origin, be sure to trace shippers, traders and captains of that region. A recent search highlighted a well-known Cahawba, Alabama slave trader, "Shoestring" Barker. It appears Shoestring owned the local slave exchange. Corroborating information, including census record analysis and business deeds, resulted in positively identifying a slave ancestor and his owners; as well as papers that tied a slaveholder to “business dealings with Barker.”
  2. Northern Slavemaster to Cotton Belt. Since most slaves were transported under the shipper's name, master records may reveal sales to a shipper, allowing the researcher to trace the vessel. A successful search may result by tracing the family unit. This was possible since the slave master moved his entire plantation to the cotton belt. After the Civil War, a Pennsylvania-born family member, as described on the earlier Philadelphia manifests, were still living in close proximity.
  3. Outbound manifests from 1820 to 1860 with destination of Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans, Pensacola, Florida – may contain not only slave names, but allow researchers to trace a slavemaster, a slave ship and its cargo-passengers from origin to destination. The researcher should be familiar with the various slave ships. Visit the Slave Ships, South Carolina Genealogy Trails website for a listing of some slave vessels. Newspaper advertisements may also confirm active coastwise trading for your timeframe.
  4. Analysis of 1870 and 1880 census records may also uncover a migratory pattern. Perhaps you have noted that a disproportionate community of Georgian ex-slaves or ex-slaveholders recorded their parents' birth as Maryland? Or did your Alabama ancestor record his birth or his parents' birth as Virginia? In 1836, the height of the slave trade, Virginia exported over 120,000 slaves using coastwise vessels. Combining census data with deeds, sales, wills and local history, the researcher may be able to identify their slave ancestor in the manifests or the origin of a slave holder.
  5. If you are researching a New Orleans slave ancestor, you may wish to also check Louisiana Slave Records, 1719-1820, as compiled by Gwendolyn Hall. 
This blog is part of the following Presentation:
Using Ship Manifests for Slave & Slaveholder Research. 


Kathleen Brandt
a3Genealogy@gmail.com
Be Historically Correct