1850 Slave Schedule Template printable pdf download

1850 Slave Schedule

Schedule 2.–Slave Inhabitants in ___________________________ _____ in the County of ____________________ State

of ____________ , enumerated by me, on the _________ day of _______________, 1850 _______________ Ass’t Marchal.

DESCRIPTION

Deaf & Dumb,

NAMES OF SLAVE OWNERS

blind, insane

NAMES OF SLAVE OWNERS

blind, insane

or idiotic

African Americans in the Federal Censuses

African Americans were enumerated in the census as all other U.S. residents from

county in which the African American family resided in 1870.

1870 (the first census year following the Civil War and emancipation) onward. Prior

Starting in 1850, another supplemental schedule, the mortality schedule, listed

to 1870, however, the situation was far different. Although free African Americans

all deaths within a year before the regular census enumeration.

The deaths of

were enumerated by name in 1850 and 1860, slaves were consigned to special, far

blacks and mulattoes, both free and slave, are recorded in them, even though their

less informative, schedules in which they were listed anonymously under the names

names have not been included in many of the indexes to these schedules.

The

of their owners. The only personal information provided was usually that of age,

deaths of slaves were generally enumerated in four fashions: unnamed (as in the

gender, and racial identity (either black or mulatto). As in the free schedules, there

slave schedules), but perhaps with the owner identified; by first name only; by first

was a column in which certain physical or mental infirmities could be noted. In some

name and surname; and by first name with the owner noted.

instances, the census takers noted an occupation, usually carpenter or blacksmith,

in this column. Slaves aged 100 years or more were given special treatment; their

Notes

names were noted, and sometimes a short biographical sketch was included. In at

1. The use of the slave schedules as supporting documentation is amply demon-

least one instance, that of 1860 Hampshire County, Virginia, the names of all slaves

strated in David H. Streets, Slave Genealogy: A Research Guide with Case Studies

were included on the schedules, but this happy exception may be the only instance

(Bowie, MD: Heritage, 1986), although, not surprisingly, their use is confined to

when the instructions were not followed.

small slaveholdings.

Sometimes the listings for large slaveholdings appear to take the form of family

2. See Loretto Dennis Szucs, “Research in Census Records” in The Source: A Guide-

groupings, but in most cases slaves are listed from eldest to youngest with no appar-

book of American Genealogy, Rev. ed. (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, 1997).

ent effort to portray family structure. In any event, the slave schedules themselves

3. A notable exception is found in Jonnie B. Arnold, Index to 1860 Mortality Sched-

almost never provide conclusive evidence for the presence of a specific slave in the

ule of South Carolina (Greenville, SC: the author, 1982). On the other hand, many

household or plantation of a particular slaveowner. At best, a census slave schedule

of the indexes appearing on the National Archives microfilm publications of these

can provide supporting evidence for a hypothesis derived from other sources.

Prior

schedules, as well as those published by Accelerated Indexing, should be treated

to 1850 there were no special slave schedules for the manuscript census, as slave

with caution.

data was recorded as part of the general population schedules. In these, only the

heads of household were enumerated by name.

Editor’s Note: This article was excerpted from Finding Your African American

In the absence of any contradictory information, it might be assumed that a fam-

Ancestors, by David Thackery. Other sources covered in the book include: pro-

ily of freed people enumerated in the 1870 census was living not far from its last

bate records; deeds and other local records; plantation records; other records of

owner, whose surname they also bore. There would, of course, be reasons to dispute

slave births and deaths; runaway slaves; The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and

both assumptions. (Knowledge of the Civil War history of a locality could come into

Abandoned Lands; The Freedman’s Savings and Trust; and military records. Also

play here; for example, such relative stability would not have existed in a Georgia

included are case studies, a selection of slave narratives from a variety of states,

county that was in the path of Sherman’s march to the sea.) Even so, this assump-

bibliographic information, and an extensive listing of additional resources for Afri-

tion represents one of the more obvious exploratory lines of research, especially in

can American research.

the absence of any other options. The first step in testing the hypothesis would be

to search for slaveowners of the same surname in the 1860 slave schedules of the

1850 Slave Schedule Template

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