Jul 17, 2017 Orange County Review
Earlier this year I introduced readers to a database that holds an extensive amount of information regarding those who were once enslaved in the United States. The database references the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Bank (1865-1874) commonly referred to as the Freedman’s Bank Records (FBRs). These records can be accessed and searched at www.familysearch.org (free) or ancestry.com (subscription).
One can find the depositor’s name, age, birth state (and in some cases the county), current residence and occupation. In the cases where deposits were made in the years immediately following the end of the Civil War-1865, ’66, ’67 and ’68- the name of the former master/mistress and occasionally the name of the plantation can be found.
For those of us searching for ancestors, this is an extremely valuable resource. But it is more than simply a potential source of significant data regarding a certain ancestor. When the reported facts are dissected, entered into a spreadsheet for analysis and compared with a study of the general history of the period-regionally and nationally- including economics, agricultural trends, and politics, it can provide additional information, or at least theories, that can shed light on the influences and patterns existing in a specific geographic area.
I have begun an analysis of the records for those born in Orange County who made deposits to the Freedman’s Bank. I have only scratched the surface and not yet gathered nearly enough data to formulate any theories; I imagine that will require literally months of effort. In the interim, though, I wanted to share a few recently gleaned observations and a sampling of the names.
So far, I have discovered records for 88 individuals who made bank deposits and listed their place of birth as Orange County. Keep in mind that the 88 refers only to the name of the depositor. Each file includes at least one additional named family member and in most cases two to six additional names of parents, spouses, and/or children. Averaging the number of named at four including depositor we are looking at 352 named persons.
I chose to include one surname for each letter of the alphabet represented in the records. Please remember that 1) only people of color who were formerly enslaved were qualified to be depositors and 2) this is not the complete list for those born in Orange.
Allen, Bailey, Carter, Davis, Evans, Ferguson, Green, Henderson, Johnson, Lucas, Malone, Newman, Porter, Roach, Sharp, Toliver, Vogerstein [sic], and Winters.
A point of interest reflected in the surnames is that though some of the names can be both historically and currently found in Orange, there are some that are not your typical Orange County name, another indication that we researchers have yet to develop a pattern of surnames among the former enslaved.
In reviewing the abstracts for each of these records the column for current residence is often left blank. In fact, it was filled in for only 25 of the records. To pique my own curiosity and hopefully yours, I noted a comparison of place of birth to place of residence when making the first deposit.
Of these 25 born in Orange only one was still living in Orange; seven were living in either Arlington or the District of Columbia and the remaining 17 were scattered about among the states of the deep south. The genesis of that relocation would generally be a result of having been either taken, as in the enslaver moving family and possessions to another state, or sold.
Reading the full record rather than the abstract in many cases provides validation of that theory with statements of who was sold and to what state.
Stay tuned as a study of the records reveals more for more fascinating details.
Until next week, be well.
Zann Nelson is an award -winning freelance writer specializing in historical investigations and is Director of Montpeliers’ African American Descendants’ Project.
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