Located within many record groups in the county courthouse here in Mississippi are references to the slave inhabitants of the county spanning the years 1836 through 1865. These records documenting slaves are found within such record groups as warranty deeds, mortgages, deeds of trust, wills and probate records.Over the past twenty-five years while researching these records, every time I came across a reference to slaves, I would copy the document and file it away. Over the years my file continued to grow and it was this year I finally decided to publish the information I had compiled over the years. The end result of this compiled research is the publication Itawamba County, Mississippi Slave Data - 1837-1864 (Adobe PDF file, approx. 500 kb). In this 47-page volume approximately 400 slave residents of Itawamba County, Mississippi are documented from such sources as old warranty deeds, gift deeds, property schedules, wills, trust deeds and probate records. Covering the years 1837 through 1864, this is not a complete documentation – only documentation of what I have found in researching the records of the county. The book is fully indexed by the slave’s given name and associated surnames. Also included in an appendix is a concise history of early Itawamba County, Mississippi I wrote several years ago.
I have decided to make this publication available online on my website and also through the local historical society’s website. The book is in Adobe PDF format which makes it easily searchable. Researching slave ancestry can be challenging for even the most experienced researcher as the records are found within various county documents, and it was for this reason I decided to make the publication available online. If this little volume helps but only one person with their family research, I will consider the project well worth the effort.
5 comments:
Bob, Thank you for sharing this important original research. You have performed a much needed service to the historical community with this publication. And I recommend that all read your concise history of Itawamba County.
Terry Thornton
Fulton, MS
What a valuable resource this is, and thank you for sharing it online.
Thanks Terry and Janice for your kind comments. There's nothing more fun than digging through old records and obscure documents and sharing the results of such research with others.
Bob, this was a very generous deed on your part, both with your time and effort, and like so many other of your deeds, many people will benefit. Thanks!
Thanks for the comments Mona. That was one of those projects that just kept getting put on the back burner, but I finally got it finished.
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