United States, Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939

What is in This Collection?

This collection contains indentures, apprenticeships, and manumissions for the following states and localities:

Indentures & Apprenticeships

• Georgia: Monroe, Morgan and Taliaferro Counties
• Kentucky: Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bracken, Caldwell, Carlisle, Fulton, Hickman, Livingston, Lyon, Marshall, McLean, Muhlenberg, Nicholas, Ohio, Taylor, Todd, Trimble, Spencer, and Woodford Counties
• Maryland: Worcester County
• Mississippi: Lowndes, and Wilkinson Counties
• North Carolina: Bertie, Buncombe, Camden, Chatham, Chowan, Craven, Davie, Duplin, Forsyth, Gates, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Randolph, Wayne, Wilson and Yadkin Counties
• South Carolina: Charleston
• Virginia: Accomack and Surry Counties

Manumissions

• Alabama: Mobile County
• Georgia: Taliaferro County
• Indiana: Knox County
• Kentucky: Butler, and Hickman Counties
• Louisiana: Orleans Parish
• Maryland: Carroll County
• Mississippi: Lowndes, Wilkinson Counties
• New Jersey: Essex, Gloucester, Middlesex, Salem, Sussex and Woodbury Counties
• North Carolina: Orange County
• Ohio: Greene, Logan and Miami Counties
• Pennsylvania: Philadelphia (Pennsylvania Abolition Society) and Darby, Delaware County
• Virginia: Accomack and Surry Counties

For additional information see also Benjamin Joseph Klebaner. American Manumission Laws and the Responsibility for Supporting Slaves Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 63 (1955): 443-453.

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

Related National Archives Collections

• Domestic Claims Commission. Definitive List of Slaves and Property, ca. 1827–ca. 1828
• Department of the Tennessee. District of West Tennessee. Lists of Fugitive Slaves and Details, 1862–1863
• Department of the Cumberland. Subdistrict of Mississippi. Register of Former Slaves, 1864 ?–1867 ?

National Archives Microfilm Publications: District of Columbia

• Records of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Relating to Slaves, 1851–1863, National Archives, M433, 3 rolls
• Habeas Corpus Case Records, 1820–1863, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, National Archives, M434, 2 rolls
• Records of the Board of Commissioners for the Emancipation of Slaves in the District of Columbia, 1862-63, National Archives, M520, 6 rolls

What Can These Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  District of Columbia Indenture record, page 1

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  District of Columbia Indenture record, page 2

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  Georgia Apprenticeship, Indentures 1871

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  South Carolina, Bill of sales of Negro slaves 1807

Inventory

For a list of all the titles included in this Historical Records publication see United States, Indenture and Manumission Records - Inventory