The Freedmen's Bureau Records for African-American Research

In researching one's ancestors, oftentimes, it becomes necessary to try to bridge the gaps in their lives (those empty periods in their lives to which you don't know what was happening in their lives).  Following your ancestors down through the ages from census year to census year, which spans a 10, 20, 30+ year gap (as the census was taken every 10 years), a need exists to try to tell a story by formulating known events in their lives.  Well, what if you really didn't know anything about your ancestor's lives, whether it was the town in which they lived, who was president at the time, or what was going on in their daily world?

For African-Americans, the Freedmen's Bureau Records may be able to at least help you tell a story about what was going on in your ancestor's lives after slavery (assuming your ancestor was a slave) and/or during Reconstruction (assuming your ancestor lived in Texas, as did my maternal ancestors).  'What are the Freedmen's Bureau Records', you may be asking?

(http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/resource/freepix.htm)

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, known simply as the "Freedmen's Bureau" helped newly freed slaves in the South from 1865 to 1872 and during the Reconstruction period.  Originated by President Abraham Lincoln, it was a federal government agency and was part of the United States Department of War.  It's operations were disbanded under President Ulysses S. Grant. The following excerpt is taken from Wikipedia:

"The Freedmen's Bureau Bill, which created the Freedmen's Bureau in March 1865, was initiated by President Abraham Lincoln and was intended to last for one year after the end of the Civil War.[2] The Freedmen's Bureau was an important agency of the early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (freed ex-slaves) in the South. The Bureau was part of the United States Department of War. Headed by Union Army General Oliver O. Howard, the Bureau was operational from 1865 to 1872. It was disbanded under President Ulysses S. Grant.[2]

The Bureau encouraged former plantation owners to rebuild their plantations, urged African Americans to gain employment, kept an eye on contracts between labor and management, and pushed both whites and blacks to work together as employers and employees rather than as masters and as slaves.[3] (Wikipedia)

Where might you find these records?  The Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research has acquired these records.  (Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research.) These records are on 32 rolls of microfilm at Clayton.  An excerpt from an article, entitled, "Clayton Acquires Texas Freedmen's Bureau Papers" written by Patricia Smith Prather, offers more insight into these dynamic records. (Clayton Library Friends)

"The extensive Freedmen’s Bureau Papers will give researchers first-hand and detailed accounts of the activities going on in many Texas counties between September 1865 and December 1868. These papers are especially helpful to those documenting community and county histories during Texas Reconstruction. Genealogists will want to check roll 19, which contains an alphabetical listing of persons employed by the Freedman’s Bureau from April 1866 to December 1868. A few of the agents were African-Americans, including Ben O. Waltrous, who helped write the Texas Constitution of 1869, and George T. Ruby, who was elected to the Texas Senate in 1870.

Anyone researching criminal activity during Reconstruction in Texas should examine roll 32, which contains three volumes of records of criminal offenses from September 1865 to December 1868. Most of the entries pertain to crimes committed by whites against freedmen, but there is also white-against-white crime, freedmen-against-freedmen crime, and freedmen-against-white crime. This is primary resource material. Among the offenses were whippings, shootings, and killings. The records give the city and county where the criminal acts took place, the name and race of both the criminals and victims, the nature of the crime, and the recommended punishment.

The best place to start reading this voluminous collection of hand-written materials is roll 1 because it contains a typewritten overview of the collection as well as an explanation of the mission of the Freedmen’s Bureau. It also contains the list of contents of the materials on each of the 32 rolls." (Clayton Library Friends.)

I can tell you that while at Clayton perusing these records on microfilm, it was very interesting to discover what was happening in these ex-slaves lives at the time and what they had to endure, whether it was intimidation, whippings, beatings and/or murder.  It was a crazy time, but it was what was happening in a lot of the lives of the freedmen of Texas.  And these records provide details by giving names, counties and descriptions of the attacks and assaults.  Additionally, on the positive side, these records also provide other details and information regarding the building of schools and enrollments for black children during that time in the South.