Dear Friends,

In response to the recent question about Greenwood I would
like to post the following two items regarding the
Freedman's Bureau.  The first is a Guide I wrote to using
the VA records of the FB (academic sources usually use the
acronym BRFAL), and the second is a list of the freed
people's "Cohabitation Records" or marriage records, that
have been found to date. Henry Wiencek

A BRIEF GUIDE TO SEARCHING THE VIRGINIA RECORDS OF THE
BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN, AND ABANDONED LANDS, ALSO
KNOWN AS THE FREEDMAN'S (OR FREEDMEN'S) BUREAU.

[This guide was prepared by Henry Wiencek and may be freely
reproduced and circulated in electronic form for research
purposes only; the author reserves copyright and this guide
may not be included in any anthology in any form, including
electronic, without written permission from the author.  It
may not be reprinted in paper form without written
permission from the author. -- Henry Wiencek,
Charlottesville, Virginia, [log in to unmask] April 20, 2000]


Many of the Freedman's Bureau papers relating to Virginia
are on microfilm at various libraries (the originals are in
the National Archives).  The papers are difficult to use
because of the arcane 19th-century filing system, and
because the records are fragmented chronologically.
Different years are contained on different film reels.
If you are searching for information regarding a particular
person, such as someone with the last name "Fossett," you
should look first at the "Registers of Letters Received."
The "Registers of Letters" are for the most part indexed by
names of senders, receivers, and persons mentioned in the
letters.  If someone named Fossett wrote to the Bureau, or
was mentioned prominently in a letter written by someone
else, there should be an entry in the index under Fossett.
(The indexes are not absolutely alphabetical--all the "Fs"
are heaped together and you have to scan the whole column.)
The Register will contain a digest of the letter (these
digests are on so-called "endorsements"--basically notes
written on an envelope enclosing each letter).          The
entry in the Register may be all that you will find.  If
the actual letter survives there will be an asterisk next
to the entry in the Register and a notation telling you
where the actual letter is filed.  The Register will direct
you to look in a "Letters Received" file or a "Letters
Sent" file, where the letter might be filed under
"Fossett," but more than likely it would be filed under the
name of the bureau officer who handled the inquiry.     For
a variety of reasons, it is unlikely that you will find a
letter written by the person you are interested in.  Do not
give up.  Start thinking in terms of the county where the
person or family resided.  Local officers of the bureau
filed a variety of reports on a variety of subjects, and
these reports sometimes offer a great deal of information
about the community as a whole and about individuals.  The
best way to obtain a documentary portrait of, for example,
Charlottesville and Albemarle County, is to compile a list
of all the bureau officers who served there and the
officers at the regional headquarters to whom the local
officers reported, and then to search the Registers for
their names. This is not as daunting as it sounds, and it
can yield great results.  I found letters and inspector
general reports with highly detailed narratives that shed a
great deal of light on life during Reconstruction.      How
do you find the names of the officers?  Start by reviewing
the "Monthly Report of Outrages."  These are filed
separately, in chronological order.  Each region of the
state filed a report every month.  By scanning the entire
run of these reports you will find, first of all, the level
and types of complaints the freedpeople made about their
treatment, and you will be able to make a comparison to
other areas.  You may very well find mention of an
individual you are interested in.       The Monthly Reports
of Outrages are signed by the local officer and by the
regional officer.  Make a note of these names, taking care
to scan the whole run of reports, since officers are
transferred in and out, and assistants sometimes sign the
reports.        Take all these names and settle in once
more with the Registers of Letters.  You should find many,
many entries for these officers, with digests of their
correspondence.  You can then look for the actual letters
in the "Letters Received" or "Letters Sent" files.      In
addition, there are some subject indexes to the letter
files -- you could scan these indexes looking for
"outrages."  You may also find some useful information in
the records of the FB's Superintendent of Education.    Not
all the FB papers have been filmed, but I have looked
through some of the unfilmed papers from Virginia that are
held at the National Archives and it seems that they filmed
just about all the important and interesting material,
although there are unfilmed papers of the Adjutant General
and Inspector General offices that I have barely skimmed.
The usefulness of the FB records varies by state.  I found
that the North Carolina and Mississippi records were
sketchy compared to the Virginia records.  Tennessee
records, however, were quite rich.  You will also encounter
variations in the quality of the records region by region.
Some officers were diligent, others were not.  I suggest
that you keep your eyes open for any Inspector General
reports--these can be very detailed overviews of conditions
in a region.    If you wish to broaden your search, I
suggest looking at the records of the Department of
Justice.  I found very valuable information about Virginia
in "Letters Sent by the Department of Justice--Instructions
to U.S. Attorneys and Marshals 1867-1904."  These files,
for example, contained a report from an informant within
the Ku Klux Klan in southwest Virginia.  Henry Wiencek


Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 16:21:05 -0600 (CST)
From: Lori Hunter <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Cohabitation Records and 1865 Census in VA

Hi VA researchers!

I received this list from the Library of Virginia,
Manuscript Division. The Cohabitation records vary in
information from county to county.  The best registers look
just like the marriage registers listing the names, age,
place of birth and parents of the couple.  I have not
looked at the Registers of colored population yet so I do
not know if the names of the owners are given.  As for the
abbreviations, C.H. is Courthouse, LVA is Library of
Virginia and NARA is National Archives.

Known Surviving Cohabitation Registers and 1865 Census (As
of 1998 October):

Amelia - Freedmen's marriage license book 1865-1869 (LVA)
Augusta - Freedmen's cohabitation register (C.H.) Caroline
- Freedmen's cohabitation register (C.H.) Floyd -
Freedmen's cohabitation register (C.H.) Goochland -
Freedmen's cohabitation register (LVA) Hanover - Freedmen's
cohabitation register (C.H.) Henry - Freedmen's
cohabitation register (C.H. and transcript at Blue Ridge
Reg Lib) Louisa - Freedmen's cohabitation register (NARA)
Lynchburg - Register of colored population, 1865
(LVA) Montgomergy - Register of colored population, 1865
(NARA) Nelson - Freedmen's cohabitation register (NARA)
New Kent - 1866 list of male freed negroes and former
owners (LVA) Prince Edward - Freedmen's cohabitation
register (LVA) Princess Anne - Freedmen's cohabitation
register (LVA) Rappahannock - Freedmen's cohabitation
register (C.H. and LVA film) Richmond County - Freedmen's
cohabitation register (LVA) Roanoke County - Freedmen's
cohabitation register (LVA) Rockbridge - Freedmen's
cohabitation register (NARA) Surry - Freedmen's
cohabitation register (C.H. and LVA film) York - Register
of colored population, 1865 (NARA & film at Yorktown
Library)

___

Hope this helps somebody!

Lori Hunter
Washington, DC

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