NOTICE

Information wanted of my two brothers Nelson, and Wesley Smothers, and my six sisters, Mary Ann Russell, Harriet, Matilda, Elizabeth, Henrietta, and Cornelia Smothers. They formerly belonged to Ruth Rigla, who resided two miles from the Old Harper’sFerry Road, Frederick County, Md. In 1837, we were all sold to South Carolina. I have not seen them since. Any information will be thankfully received by Rev. Cyrus Boey, Oswego, N.Y. (The Christian Recorder, Philadelphia PA October 28,1865)

In 1865, Reverend Cyrus Boey had no better way to search for his brothers and sisters than to place an ad in a newspaper.  Although modern communication has brought many advances, today anyone seeking information on enslaved ancestors faces almost as many hurdles as Reverend Boey. The information is trapped in millions of scattered and disconnected documents in the custody of thousands of sources across thousands of locations.

One of the purposes of the Northeast Slavery records Index (NESRI) is to assist people seeking information about their enslaved ancestors and their families, particularly if they lived in the northeastern United States. In this essay we summarize the challenges faced, and suggest ways that NESRI can help in the search.

The Challenges

The following is a summary of the special problems researching for enslaved ancestors, particularly in the northeast.

Shifting Definitions of Enslavement: Enslavement is the primary nexus for all NESRI index records, but in the northeast, definitions and modalities of slavery changed over time. There was chattel slavery, partial-freedom, leasing, indentured servitude in general and as a condition of manumission, and state versus federal enslavement status for fugitives. For purposes of the NESRI, enslavement is defined as a functional status enabled and practiced in a range of ways. This involves degrees of the following:

• Ownership of the enslaved person, which can be transferred by sale or other means
• Subjugation of the will of the enslaved person to the owner’s authority
• Social and legal alienation of the enslaved person and that person’s family and children. Forms of alienation include exemption from legal rights, the extension of enslavement and ownership to children of enslaved people, and the limitation of marriage and family rights.

Guided by these definitions, NESRI includes evidence of the 1525 capture and transport to Portugal for enslavement of 58 indigenous persons by the explorer Esteban Gomes. NESRI also includes information on individuals in New York escaping from Southern-state slavery after slavery had been abolished in New York. These persons were still subject to a federal form of interstate enslavement.

Depersonalization: Many documents provide counts of enslaved persons who are identified only in relation to an owner, since further details were not considered legally or socially important at the time. Where there is a name, often there is only a first name. NESRI has 65 indexed records for enslaved persons with the first name “Margaret,” but only 14 include last names, and of these 9 are from cemetery files. The Connecticut Census of 1670 listed no women, and listed no enslaved people despite separate records of slavery by some of the listed men.

Missing or Changed Last Names: Many enslaved people were referred to only by their first names, which makes it harder to individually identify enslaved individuals in records and across records. In the northeast, this was particularly true for enslavement in the 1600s and 1700s. In New Jersey, where enslavement persisted until 1866, and in later decades enslaved people were more frequently referred to with first and last name.

Private Slave Ownership Records:  Enslaved people were considered private property, and in New York as in every other jurisdiction, ownership was ultimately based on privately maintained documents like bills of sale, wills or inventories.

Jurisdictional Decentralization: Even when dealing with official government files, we found that accounts may be maintained differently in different jurisdictions.  For example, faced with the 1799 law requiring the registration of babies born to enslaved women, some jurisdictions entered the name of the mother, others did not.

Human Error:  Most historical documents related to enslavement are hand-written, so illegibility and inconsistent spelling of names can create difficulties for linking information.  For example, one first name has a range of spellings in the NESRI: Margaret, Margarette, Margarit, Marget, Margot, Margrett, and Margrit. These may all be accurate spellings for the people involved, or some may be errors.  Last names, typically those of slaveholders, are subject to similar errors, particularly in census documents.

Custodial Decentralization: Over time, governments change where and how they archive their files. The documents may go to off-site storage, libraries, historical societies, museums or independent archives. For example, New Rochelle’s birth registries of children born to enslaved mothers initially were kept by the City of New Rochelle. At some point, they went to the New Rochelle Library, then to the Thomas Paine Society, then to the Westchester Historical Society, and finally to the Westchester County Archive, where they remain today. Finding the files required patient detective work.

Private Document Collections:  Some enslavement documents are in private collections, unavailable to the public. Collectors who lack legitimate ownership may conceal the existence or location of these documents.

Exceptionality: At various times and for various purposes, there were no obligations to record enslavement. For example, prior to the 1799 law, babies born to an enslaved mother were property of the mother’s owner, no registry required. If the children were never sold, or never ran away, or never fell afoul of the law, there may be no evidence of their existence.  They may not even appear in a census, since before 1790, censuses were neither consistent nor comprehensive.

Political Boundary Ambiguity: As the NESRI attempts to link individuals with their locations, we encounter difficulties when the borders of a community have shifted over time.

Sources not Directly Related to Enslavement:  Much relevant information is tucked into obscure corners.  In addition to obvious sources, the NESRI has found evidence of enslavement in files kept for numerous unrelated purposes, such as records of churches, military service, businesses, cemeteries, and art collections. For example, the New York State Comptroller has records of compensation for the care of abandoned children born to enslaved mothers.

Incentives for Concealment: Slaveholders might have had reasons to conceal sales, making it difficult for the NWSRI to locate documented enslavement. For example, owners of slaves in the North might have hidden proof of sales to Southerners, once these sales became illegal.  In 1771, the census shows 3,430 enslaved persons in Westchester County.  In 1786, another census shows only 1,250. The best explanation of the drop is that they were illegally sold and transported to the South by New York slaveholders who faced strengthening support for abolition in the North and rising demand and prices for enslaved labor on Southern plantations. 

Given all of the above complicating factors and the multiplicity of possible sources of information, simply locating and gathering data on enslavement has been very challenging. The NESRI goal of finding all records and documentary information about enslavement from New Jersey to Maine, in all of the disparate silos, may be more aspirational than practical. However, we continue to add new information to the NESRI, with assistance from students and community partners, such as historical societies and local historians. 

Searching by Name

NESRI offers several ways to search for enslaved people based on a name. The Names Index for Enslaved Persons consists of a table with more than 16,000 records naming enslaved people, clustered by name. So if one knew the first name of an enslaved ancestor, for example “Anthony,” the names index lists 24 enslaved persons named Anthony across five states. For each record there is a “details” field that presents all of the information in the record. The information includes a last name when the record provides one.

Another name-based strategy is to search for enslavers with the family name. Enslaved people sometimes were assigned or adopted the family name of the enslaver. If the search is for an enslaved person named “Mary” and the family name is “Smith,” then a search for records with the last name of the enslaver as “Smith” might be productive. The best way to do this is with a general search.

Searching by Location

A family may be aware of a location where ancestors resided while enslaved or when free. NESRI allows for a search by a location. The State, County, Town or City Reports  produces a general report about enslavement in a selected geographical area within the NESRI states. If you select only a state you will see all of the records for the state. If you also select a county then only that county’s records will be presented, or you can focus in on a particular locality. The report is organized in six sections with information customized for the selected state, county and city/town.

1. General introduction to the types of enslavement records available.
2. Presentation of numerical census records – total numbers of free and enslaved people at various times.
3. Presentations listing individual enslavers and the people they enslaved. Records of enslaved persons may include their names, and point to additional records documenting events in their lives. Records of enslavers practically always include their names, and point to additional records that document the numbers of people they enslaved and events like purchases, sales, and emancipations.
4. Presentations listing enslaved people who enlisted and fought, on both the American and the British sides, in the Revolutionary War.
5. Presentations of additional information about this place such as homes and buildings where enslavement took place, and information about resistance such as the underground railroad.
6. A Topical Search section, permitting further online search and analysis of slavery records in the locality.

Whenever  the report says “No records found” this means that for the locality specified there were no records in the database for the table involved. That may be because the records have not yet been located and indexed, or it may be because the category of activity did not take place in the locality. For example, some counties may not have records of enslavement taking place, but might have records of underground railroad support for fugitives. Also, records relating to shipping may be more common in coastal localities.

Because a locality report produces a table of records listing enslaved people and another table listing enslavers, the name search strategies described above can be used. The tables can sort the names alphabetically.  

While this still may not lead to definitive information about an ancestor, the report might help a family to understand what life was like for their ancestors, based on what happened to other people in similar situations in the same locality. 

Decisions Based on a Lack of Records

A NESRI search for enslaved ancestors may not be productive, but an important rule still applies: absence of proof is not proof of absence. Many enslaved people lived lives that were not documented. The NESRI project is a continuing undertaking an every month additional records are added, so it is important to check back from time to time. However, at any time, NESRI can jump-start a search by providing a foundational set of records upon which to base additional search. An if you subsequently find additional records, please let if know through our Comment Survey. We will add the records you found to our dataset to that they can be helpful to others.