I have been interested in African American history since the early 1970s when I was an undergraduate student at Spring Hill College. About 1981 or 1982 I met historian Dr. Gary B. Mills when I was in graduate school at the University of Alabama. At that time he was researching free people of color in every Alabama county and suggested that I take over part of his work by expanding upon the research he and his wife Elizabeth Shown Mills had conducted in Mobile and Baldwin counties. I agreed to his suggestion and asked him if he thought there was enough information to write a dissertation. He said yes. He and Elizabeth gave me a list of names, about 50 pages or so, of the free people of color in Mobile that they had identified mainly in federal census records. They had conducted onsite research in Mobile County (examining some probate and deed records) and gave me those notes and family group sheets. I soon learned the value and necessity of compiling family group sheets and attaching all information with sources on each family/person to those sheets.
I checked a number of different resources in tracing the lives of Mobile’s free people of color. For instance, Mobile newspapers reported deaths of its residents, both white and nonwhite, slave and free. Various legal notices appeared in newspapers as well as criminal activities of whites and blacks. Mobile court records – city, circuit, chancery, probate – contain information on free people of color, including genealogical data. Acts of the state legislature, state laws, and city ordinances shed light upon the lives of free nonwhites in Mobile. Some free nonwhites advertised their services in Mobile city directories.
Schedules of federal census records reveal pertinent information about free nonwhites and some slaves who appear by given name in the 1840 Mobile County census. Yes, some slaves appear by their given names in federal censuses. I traced free people of color in these schedules: population, slave, mortality, agricultural, and manufacturers or industry. Tables 1-20 in the appendix of my dissertation are based upon the Seventh and Eighth Censuses, 1850 and 1860, agricultural schedules, Mobile County. Each table contains the names of free nonwhite farmers and data on their farms.
Mobile church records were an invaluable resource, especially Catholic birth, marriage, and death registers. As early as 1781 Mobile priests maintained separate registers for whites and nonwhites. Since Alabama did not maintain statewide birth and death records in the period before 1865 these records were important, for example, as they often contained dates of birth as well as the names of parents of the person being baptized. I also checked the “white” registers for records pertaining to people of color.
More on tracing free people of color next time.
I checked a number of different resources in tracing the lives of Mobile’s free people of color. For instance, Mobile newspapers reported deaths of its residents, both white and nonwhite, slave and free. Various legal notices appeared in newspapers as well as criminal activities of whites and blacks. Mobile court records – city, circuit, chancery, probate – contain information on free people of color, including genealogical data. Acts of the state legislature, state laws, and city ordinances shed light upon the lives of free nonwhites in Mobile. Some free nonwhites advertised their services in Mobile city directories.
Schedules of federal census records reveal pertinent information about free nonwhites and some slaves who appear by given name in the 1840 Mobile County census. Yes, some slaves appear by their given names in federal censuses. I traced free people of color in these schedules: population, slave, mortality, agricultural, and manufacturers or industry. Tables 1-20 in the appendix of my dissertation are based upon the Seventh and Eighth Censuses, 1850 and 1860, agricultural schedules, Mobile County. Each table contains the names of free nonwhite farmers and data on their farms.
Mobile church records were an invaluable resource, especially Catholic birth, marriage, and death registers. As early as 1781 Mobile priests maintained separate registers for whites and nonwhites. Since Alabama did not maintain statewide birth and death records in the period before 1865 these records were important, for example, as they often contained dates of birth as well as the names of parents of the person being baptized. I also checked the “white” registers for records pertaining to people of color.
More on tracing free people of color next time.