I'm going to be honest here. The problem that I have with tracing slaves
from family to family is usually the lack of slaves having surnames. If you
have an ancestor with a common given name, you are probably not going to be
able to determine with any accuracy that a slave that is seen in the
documents is really the ancestor you are looking for. I think this method is
a highly overrated way of researching anyone who was considered a slave. The
slave schedules are no better. Both call for an assumption as opposed to
concrete evidence. IMHO, the best way for a slave descendant to determine a
connection to a particular family is thru DNA testing.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lyle E. Browning
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 1:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Finding Slaves
The only viable track is to determine who got what property. If they were
sold (and as you don't see any slaves listed in the 1850 census they either
were sold or died), then court records should have a record of their sale or
other disposition as via gift. You should be able to follow the descendants
in the property tax lists and in the grantor indexes in the court house.
What has endlessly vexed me is the practice of the wife's property being
sold in the husband's name, but if you know the names of Capt. Willis'
children and their spouses and successor spouses in some cases, you should
be able to track them.
But is this what you meant by the other side brick wall and you've already
done that?
Lyle Browning
On Mar 16, 2012, at 3:24 PM, Huffstutler, Eric S. wrote:
> I mentioned this before but wonder in my case if this is a lost cause?
>
> I am wanting to track down the slaves owned by Capt. Charles Wills. He
> died in 1820 and his estate was itemized leaving no known will. The
> first names of his then 7 slaves were listed and of course, only listed
> as property.
>
> Each of the children moved on and the wife died in 1826. I don't see
> any slaves listed on the only 2 children that made it past the 1850
> census.
>
> Have I hit that brick wall concerning them from the other side and they
> are lost to history? Or any way to track them down?
>
> Thanks!
> Eric
>
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