Book, Finding the Freedmen: Records from Louisa County, Virginia 1865-1870

Finding the Freedmen provides  relationships between the Freedmen and the people most likely to be their former enslavers. This is a resource for researchers seeking their  ancestors who were freedmen in the county, and also for current  property owners and descendants of slaveholders who desire to know the  names of people that lived and worked on their property or for their  families. Most African-American researchers can find ancestors as far back  as the 1870 census. The challenge is how to get through the "Brick  Wall," the barrier created before 1865 when enslaved people were only  recorded as someone else's property, at best with first names and often  simply as a slash mark on a census. What slaveholder's papers or estate  documents, or which county records should a researcher look in for their  ancestors? Are there any sources that provide evidence of a  relationship between Freedmen and others who might be their former  enslavers? The answer is, "Yes." This book brings together public  records and family papers containing information about the Freedmen of  Louisa County, Virginia, in the years immediately after the Civil War  The combined sources are presented in alphabetical order by the names of  the Freedmen and another list by the names of their employers/where  they are residing, Those sources include the following: Personal Property Tax Records, Louisa County The Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records Louisa County Birth and Death Records 1865-1870 Archival Records