I am sometimes asked, “What resources are available for local African American genealogy and history?” People are surprised when I answer, “More than you would think.”

There is actually a lot more information available than people realize. Some of the little-used resources include old plantation records, church registers of early white churches, legal or court documents and political broadsides and materials. These are all largely untapped.

Archives such as the Billups-Garth Archives at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library and Special Collections at the Mississippi State University Library are full of collections detailing the lives of people, Black and white, who lived here during the 1800s. In Columbus, old Lowndes County legal records are found in the Billups-Garth Archives. In other area counties those records are still at their county courthouses.

The earliest legal records in this area are in Monroe County, which was established in 1821, and originally contained all of Mississippi situated east of the Tombigbee River. One of the earliest records there concerns William Cooper. He was a free Black man working and trading along the Tombigbee River during the 1790s.

Before the Civil War most African Americans in the South were mostly enslaved and were considered property. Because of that, their names and information about them are given on property inventories contained in probate or estate records and circuit court suits. In Lowndes County, some of the official county slave record books have survived. Pre-Civil War plantation and farm records, which can be found in archives, often contain lists of and information about enslaved persons and post war records contain similar information about tenants.

An example of the information sources are the records of the Billups and Sykes farms in Lowndes County. Those records are located both in the libraries at Columbus and Mississippi State. They contain much slave and tenant information from the late 1840s to the 1880s. An 1863 Sykes letter even tells of an enslaved family servant acting as a Confederate spy during the Vicksburg campaign.

The 1847-1859 John Billups plantation account book in the Billups Garth Archives even lists births, marriages and deaths of enslaved persons. These are the records from 1847 to 1850.

Marriages, Births & Deaths on Plantation 1847
Marriages
John & Lina were married May 15th 1847
Births -none
Deaths
Algernon aged 22 or 23 died March 31st 1847 of Pneumonia
Mariah aged 12 or 14 died April 14th 1847 of Pneumonia
No case of fever on plantation through the year
Four cases of chills & fever but all easily managed.

Marriages, Births & Deaths on Plantation 1848
Marriages none
Isaac & Betty were married April 15th, 1848
Births
Elick – Ely’s child born Sept 23rd 1849
Becca Ann, Mary’s child born Jany 31st 1848
Deaths
Jimmy – aged 4 or 5 yrs. – died Sept 20 1848, of Whooping cough & fever
Three cases of Fever on the plantation through the year to which a Physician was called – 5 cases of chills & fever 2 easily managed & 1 rather obstinate

Marriages, Births & Deaths on Plantation 1849
Marriages [None]
Births
Hannah – Bettys child Born Nov 14
Mary Jane, Mary’s child Born Dec 1st
Margaret’s child born 4 Dec and died 5th – Its birth premature
Deaths [None l]
Several mild cases of fever through the year but not to which a physician was called. Several cases of chills & fevers. Physician was called to see Henry who broke his thigh. The only time called him this year.

Marriages Births and Deaths on Plantation 1850
Marriages [none]
Births
Alice, Ely’s child born July 10th
Deaths
Alice, Ely’s child died July 14th – disease unknown
No case of fever on the plantation through the year,
4 or 5 slight cases of chills but no case to which a Physician was called, (except a case of acute rheumatism Girl Ely.)

Old legal records may contain not only useful genealogical information but also examples of the horrors of slavery. Lowndes County criminal files from the 1850s include cases of slave owners or overseers being charged with the felony of inhumane treatment of a slave and several people charged with murder for the killing of a slave without due process of law. There is one interesting case where several prominent Columbus slave owners were sued and had to pay damages for helping another person’s enslaved cook escape to freedom.

There are many court cases involving ownership or hiring out of enslaved persons. These cases usually provide names, ages and sometimes other family information.

Political materials, especially from the volatile Reconstruction period, are full of information about people. Often broadsides, or single page printed notices, were circulated providing names and occupations of persons either for or against certain candidates or issues.

While their original intent was not good, they now give very useful information. One such circa 1870 document from Lowndes County tells how people Black and white voted in an election and provides their places of employment.

Early African American records can often be found at older white churches. For example, the following African Americans records are found in the Parish Register of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Columbus.

Funerals
Dick a slave of John Dixon age 35 on 30 January 1864 burial at Negro Cemetery
Nanny a servant of b. S. Green age 64 on 28 September 1864 burial at Negro Cemetery
Mary Sturdivant (Colored) [no age given] October 1853 burial at City Cemetery
Marriages
Jim Evans (Colored) to Ella Baskerville (Colored) 21 October at Methodist Chapel by Rev. William Mumford
John Greenfield (Colored) Margaret Newlan (Colored) 20 November 1867 at St Paul”s by J T Pickett
Mrs. C C and Miss Annie Hopkins.
Ralph (Lee) slave of Mr C E Lee to Josephine (slave) of Thomas C(B). Bailey 27 September 1862 at residence of Mrs Caroline Lee by John Coleman
Phil (slave) to Virginia (slave) of Mrs Ross 15 May 1865 at residence of Mrs Ross by Bishop W M Green
Albert Vaughan (Colored) to Clarisa Halbert (Colored) 18 February 1866 at residence of Dr. Vaughan by Bishop W M Green
Lizzie [Young] (slave) to ________ 19 February 1859 at residence of Col. Young, Waverly by Rev. James D. Gibson.

When researching the history of area African American families, there are a lot more resources available than most people realize. These primary sources often provide a gold mine of information. A great starting place is the Billups Garth Archives at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].