My Best Genealogy Tips: Finding Formerly Enslaved Ancestors

By Robin R. Foster

Did you ever wonder about the enslaved people in your ancestry?

Have you asked the oldest living relative what they remember? Do you know what to do next? I was able to find my second great grandfather, Beverly Vance (1832-1899), in 1880 and 1870 on the census along with his mother, his wife, and his children. Have you located your formerly enslaved ancestor in the 1880 and 1870 censuses? This book, entitled My Best Genealogy Tips: Finding Formerly Enslaved Ancestors, will lead to discovering ancestors who had been enslaved.

My move to South Carolina

When I first moved to South Carolina in 2005, I no longer had to research my ancestors from afar. I lived in the same town as the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. I went regularly to Richland Library where I learned about my family in Richland County, and I identified Abbeville County as the place where they were enslaved.

After going through and documenting everything I had, I reached out to the community where Beverly was enslaved in Abbeville County, South Carolina. Originally, I was puzzled because I could not find them in 1880. Greenwood County was redistricted in 1897. They did not move, but Greenwood County did not exist before 1897. It was Abbeville County, SC before 1897.

Digging a little deeper

I moved to Greenwood County, SC and spent two years trying to uncover what I could. The research included in this book is for those of you who would like to take my examples and use them to find burials for those who were formerly enslaved. I documented formerly enslaved ancestors and worked with the descendants of enslavers to discover what they knew.

I did not take the advice given to me by other people while I was researching. It is so important to have a clear head when you are looking for family. I was told that I would not be able to document my ancestors before 1870. I was told that I would not find them married after enslavement. I was told that I did not need to search for them on land deeds or even in newspapers. These are the things that I was told. Let me say that if I had entertained any of what I was told, I would not have had the findings presented in this book.

I did not listen, and I have found all but one of my ancestors married after enslavement. So, just remember when you have become a little down because you have made that overwhelming discovery and grandma just does not want to talk or people with the best intentions give the wrong advice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781312560857

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Copyright © 2022 by Robin R. Foster

Written by Robin R. Foster.

IBSN: 9 781312 560857

No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Printing, 2022 

My Best Genealogy Tips: Finding Formerly Enslaved Ancestors

Published by Benjamin Book Publishing, LLC

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

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All rights reserved.

Visit the author’s website: www.genealogyjustask.com

Email: [e-mail]

Library of Congress Control Number: TXu002327824

Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

The publisher and the author make no guarantees concerning the level of success you may experience by following the advice and strategies contained in this book, and you accept the risk that results will differ for everyone. The examples provided in this book show exceptional results, which may not apply to the average reader and are not intended to represent or guarantee that you will achieve the same or similar results.

Dedication

To Rev. Lafayette Franklin Vance (1861-1952), my great grandfather, who was born in Hodges, South Carolina and passed away in Columbia, South Carolina. He was the bridge between me and the past. He taught what was right, and he lived it until his last breath. Even though he lived upon this earth before I was conceived, I am grateful that I was able to find the mark he left. I will spend my entire life putting the pieces of his life together again for my posterity. I also owe my Uncle Buddy, Robert Foster, Sr, (1919-1990) for his oral history interview. Because he told me what he knew about his grandparents, Hence and Lucy Nelms, of DeSoto County, Mississippi, I eventually uncovered my second great grandfather, Buck Nelms (B. 1830), who was taken while enslaved from Anson County, North Carolina in 1841.

    From there, I owe the Anson County Historical Society in Wadesboro, North Carolina for contacting me and inviting me over. On the second visit, they found my third great grandmother, Lucy Nelms (B. 1805) in 1880. She was the mother of Buck Nelms. Finally, I am grateful to my husband, Ellis McClure, pictured on the front cover. Over the summer of 2016, we journeyed further South to Orleans and Feliciana Parishes in Louisiana. The document Ellis is holding on the cover is the marriage record of his great grandparents, Joseph Marshall (B. 1846) and Josephine Jones (B. 1853). We were ecstatic to find this record because this is the earliest record documenting them so far, and they had spent the first part of their lives enslaved.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Introductionx

Finding Burials for Formerly Enslaved People

A Surprise Waiting Deep in Fairview Cemetery

Resources are Tied to Geography

Places to Uncover the Burial of an Enslaved Ancestor

More Resources for Formerly Enslaved People

Documenting the Former Enslaver and the Enslaved Among Manuscripts

For Descendants of the Enslaver

Untangling the Genealogy of the Former Enslaver and Enslaved

Uncovering Records That Link the Enslaver and Enslaved in Records

Former Enslaver and Enslaved in Records Prior to 1870

Researching Your Baptist Ancestor in South Carolina

Tracing an African American Episcopalian Ancestor

Digging Deeper in the Records to Find Beverly Vance (1832-1899)

Mrs. L. F. Vance (1880-1927) Departs in Columbia, South Carolina

Researching to Find the Tucker Enslaved in Union County, South Carolina

Researching Inez Johnson McClure (1911-1995) Back to the Formerly Enslaved in Louisiana

Searching for the Alabama Ancestors of Columbus McClure (1881-1930) Who Were Formerly Enslaved

Grandma, Ora Nelms Foster, Hands Off the Baton to Me

Finding Henderson and Lucy Nelms in DeSoto County, Mississippi

Buck Nelms (B. 1830) is Lucy Nelms' (1856-1929) Father

Researching the Nelms Family in DeSoto County Courthouse in Mississippi

Getting to Anson County Historical Society in North Carolina

Finding Lucy Nelms (B. 1805), Mother of Buck Nelms

Where was David Nelms and Andrew after 1841?

Notes

Index

About Robin R. Foster

Introduction

Did you ever wonder about the enslaved people in your ancestry? Have you asked the oldest living relative what they remember? Do you know what to do next? I was able to find my second great grandfather, Beverly Vance (1832-1899), in 1880 and 1870 on the census along with his mother, his wife, and his children. Have you located your formerly enslaved ancestor in the 1880 and 1870 censuses? This book, entitled My Best Genealogy Tips: Finding Formerly Enslaved Ancestors, will lead to discovering ancestors who had been enslaved. 

    When I first moved to South Carolina in 2005, I no longer had to research my ancestors from afar. I lived in the same town as the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. I went regularly to the Richland Library where I learned about my family in Richland County, and I identified Abbeville County as the place where they were enslaved.

      After going through and documenting everything I had, I reached out to the community where Beverly was enslaved in Abbeville County, South Carolina. Originally, I was puzzled because I could not find them in 1880. Greenwood County was redistricted in 1897. They did not move, but Greenwood County did not exist before 1897. It was Abbeville County, SC. before 1897. 

      I moved to Greenwood County, SC. and spent two years trying to uncover what I could. The research included in this book is for those of you who would like to take my examples and use them to find burials for those who were formerly enslaved. I documented enslaved ancestors and worked with the descendants of enslavers to discover what they knew.  

  I did not take the advice given to me by other people while I was researching.  It is so important to have a clear head when you are looking for family. I was told that I would not be able to document my ancestors before 1870. I was told that I would not find them married after enslavement. I was told that I did not need to search for them on land deeds or even in newspapers. These are the things that I was told. Let me say that if I had entertained any of what I was told, I would not have had the findings presented in this book.

    I did not listen, and I have found all but one of my ancestors married after enslavement. I learned the name of my third great grandfather, Theophilus Coleman, on a deed that also named his children who were born in the late 1860's. So, just remember who you are researching for when you have become a little down because you have made that overwhelming discovery and Grandma just does not want to talk, or people with the best intentions give the wrong advice. 

    For these reasons, I have a habit of visiting courthouses, libraries, historical societies, and archives to see their resources in-person after I have exhausted researching online. Even with all that has been put online, I notice parts of collections. All the original documentation is kept at the repository.  Do not get me wrong though. Databases such as familysearch.org and Ancestry.com are vital. FamilySearch Books, WorldCat.org, Internet Archive, and Amazon.com are places I have found my ancestors.

    After covering the Greenwood County, SC. ancestors, I researched many places in South Carolina. My second grandparents, Andrew

Johnson and Jane Smith Johnson McCoy also lived next door to the Vance's in Abbeville County, South Carolina. I did not have to wonder where they were when the county changed to Greenwood County. 

Martha Sims Talley in Union County, South Carolina was at one point the end of the line for me. You will see how a few historical records enabled me to find her parents. Elenia Coleman Chick was the daughter of Theophilus Coleman from Union County, South Carolina.  I have only found him on a land deed so far. Then there is Anderson Chick, and I was able to find his mother, Eliza.

    By 2016, I was confident that I could visit places in the South and uncover formerly enslaved ancestors. Ellis and I went on an adventure to discover more about his family in Louisiana. We started out in New Orleans and discovered his Grandmother Louise’s parents after searching among the clerk of court records in East Feliciana Parish.

      I will share my recent findings with you. They are a much harder group of people to research involving Buck Nelms (B. 1830) and his family from Mississippi and North Carolina back to 1841. For me oral history has played an integral part in my finding documentation.

      Namely, the oral history interview I did with my Uncle Buddy helped me to know Buck Nelms was enslaved in North Carolina before being brought to DeSoto County, Mississippi around 1841. It was through the Anson County Historical Society in Wadesboro, North Carolina that I learned the mother of Buck Nelms was Lucy Nelms (B. 1805). Historical societies can lead you to find your ancestor before 1865. I have gathered many examples of historical records that you will want to know about so that you too can find your formerly enslaved ancestor.

Chapter 1

Finding Burials for Formerly Enslaved People

Figure 1: Fairview Cemetery in Greenwood, SC, April 2014.