Wilson County African American Genealogy Page

Wilson County African American Research Page

Dedicated To Assisting the Efforts of African American Researchers

The African American genealogist has a difficult job. Prior to the end of the Civil War, especially in the South, vital records were not kept for slaves. As a result, this causes problems when it comes to family research. Slaves' names were usually recorded in wills, deeds, and court records. At the end of the Civil War, most slaves took the last name of their former "master". They acquired land, married and started families of their own. This page is for the descendants of these former slaves. If you have any documents that refer to names of former slaves, please post that information here.

NAME	Lisa Henderson
E-MAIL	[email protected]
SURNAMES	HENDERSON, ARTIS, HALL, HAGANS, LASSITER, REID, BARNES, ELLIS, GAY, FARMER, JONES, POWELL, EATMAN, WOODARD, THOMAS, etc.
COMMENTS	I have done research on 100+ African-American families with origins in Wilson and Wayne (and to a lesser extent, Edgecombe, Johnston, Nash, Sampson, and Duplin) Counties. My focus has been upon families who were free prior to the Civil War, but I have researched many families descended from slaves as well. Am happy to share what I have, as well as advice and tips. I don't live in Wilson anymore, so I can't do much research, but I may be of some assistance in this difficult area.

NAME	Rita Korbach
E-MAIL	[email protected]
SURNAMES	Various
COMMENTS	1867-1872 Wilson County Marriage Register: I can do lookups by groom's name. This register shows name of bride & groom; their parents' names; date & place of marriage; and who married them.

NAME	Rita Korbach
E-MAIL	[email protected]
SURNAME	BARNES
COMMENTS	I can do BARNES lookups in the following Wilson County sources: 1900 Federal Census (333 African American Barnes families from Wilson & parent counties; shows month & year of birth). 1850 and 1860 Slave Census (lists name of slaveholder only & the age of each slave). 1880-1893 Marriage Licenses (also lists the names of the parents of both bride & groom). 1867-1872 Marriage Register (also lists the names of the parents of both bride & groom). Listing of freed slaves living together as a married couple prior to March 1866. Slaves mentioned by name in Barnes' wills. 1908, 1920, 1930 Wilson City Directory (shows street address and occupation). 1913-1940s Wilson County Death Index (limited information: name, parent name, year & certificate number only; race is not specified).

NAME	Ronda M. Jones
E-MAIL	[email protected]
SURNAMES	TOMPKINS, JONES, MCDOUGALD
RECORD TYPE	Plantation Records

NAME	Sankofa Center for Southern Black Family and Community History
E-MAIL	[email protected]
COMMENTS	We are a new organization seeking to increase the documentation of African- American communities in public county and state libraries. If you have a book, tape, article, or any other documented form of a community, please let us know. We also sponsor African-American community history writing workshops at a low cost. Please e-mail us for any information, until we acquire a web site.

African-American Research Bibliography

Byers, Paula K., ed. African American Genealogical Sourcebook. New York : Gale Research, c1995.
Blockson, Charles L. Black Genealogy. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1977.
Johnson, Anne E. Student's Guide to African American Genealogy. New York : Oryx Press, 1996.
Rose, James. Black Genesis. Detroit : Gale Research Co., c1978.
Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Ethnic Genealogy: A Research Guide. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983. Family Pride: The Complete Guide To Tracing African American Genealogy. New York, NY : Macmillan USA, c1997.
Streets, David H. Slave Genealogy: A Research Guide With Case Studies. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1986.

Links

AAGENE-L is a moderated mailing list for African American genealogy and history researchers. To subscribe, send a message to [email protected] with a subject of SUBSCRIBE.

AAHGS, Inc.
P.O. Box 73086
Washington, D.C. 20056-3086
(202) 234-5350

Guide to African American Documentary Resources Wilson Library, University of North Carolina.
African American Sources in Virginia
W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research
African American Women's Resistance Stories of women slaves and others who resisted.
Lest We Forget African American History, Culture and Current Events.

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Last updated 2.6.2004

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Thanks to G. Hunter Ferrell
© 1999 - 2002

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