North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Why Should I Look at This Collection?
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was established in the War Department in March of 1865. It was commonly called the Freedman’s Bureau and was responsible for the management and supervision of matters relating to refuges, freedmen, and abandoned lands. The Bureau assisted disenfranchised Americans, primarily African Americans, with temporal, legal and financial matters, with the intent of helping people to become self-sufficient. Matters handled included the distributing of food and clothing; operating temporary medical facilities; acquiring back pay, bounty payments, and pensions; facilitating the creation of schools, including the founding of Howard University; reuniting family members; handling marriages; and providing banking services. Banking services were provided by the establishment of the Freedman’s Saving and Trust Company, or Freedman’s Bank.

The Bureau functioned as an agency of the War Department from approximately June 1865 until December 1868. In 1872, the functions of the Bureau were transferred to the Freedmen’s Branch of the Adjutant General’s Office. The Bureau assisted over one million African Americans, including many of the nearly four million emancipated slaves, which was over 25% of the population of former slaves in America.The records identify those who sought help from the Bureau at the end of the Civil War. Most supplicants were freed slaves, some of which were military veterans. In addition, a few veterans who were not African Americans also sought help from the Bureau. Freedmen’s Bureau records are usually reliable, because the records were supplied through first-person correspondence or the recording of a marriage.

 Related Article 
 * Sharon Batiste Gillins.A Window into the lives of black and white ancestors: Freedmen's Bureau field office records. NGS Magazine 39 #1 (January-March 2013): 34-38.
 * Sharon Batiste Gillins. Navigating Freedmen's Bureau Records for Research Success NGS Magazine 47 #2 (April-June 2021): 27-35.

 Related Digital Images - National Archives Catalog
 * Report of Plantation Leased by D. Keaton and Ora O. Kelsea

What is in This Collection?
This collection consists of scanned images of records from National Archives microfilm publication M1909 Records of the Field Offices for the State of North Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands which is part of Record Group 105 Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. The images are generally arranged in the order the records were microfilmed with the records of the Assistant Commissioner who oversaw Bureau operations in the state and state level staff officers; Superintendent of Education, Inspector, Chief Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer, Surgeon, first then the local field office records are arranged alphabetically by location and by NARA roll number.

Hospitals were established by the Freedmen’s Bureau in Raleigh, Newberne, Beaufort, Roanoke Island, Kinston, Wilmington, Salisbury and Charlotte. Smallpox hospitals were also established in Beaufort, New Bern, Raleigh, Greensboro and Wilmington.

Records with Freedmen and Refugee Names

Also available is a field office personnel coverage table which shows where the field offices in North Carolina were located, the names of the employees, what office they held, and the dates they served. See: Freedmen's Bureau North Carolina Field Office Coverage Table.

Sample Images

 * NARA Select Images from Freedmen's Bureau Records

 Record Types 

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) created many different record types necessary to supervise relief efforts including education, health care, food and clothing, refugee camps, legalization of marriages, employment, labor contracts, and securing back pay, bounty payments and pensions. These records include letters and endorsements sent and received, account books, applications for rations, applications for relief, court records, labor contracts, registers of bounty claimants, registers of complaints, registers of contracts, registers of disbursements, registers of freedmen issued rations, registers of patients, reports, rosters of officers and employees, special and general orders and circulars received, special orders and circulars issued, records relating to claims, court trials, property restoration, and homesteads.
 * The following link will provide a description of the record types found in this and other Freedmen’s Bureau collections. Freedmen's Bureau Record Types

 Officer's Manual

The War Department published an Officer's Manual to assist bureau personnel in the records that were required to be keep in bureau offices. The following Wiki articles are transcriptions of portions of the manual
 * United States, National Archives, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual
 * US, NARA, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual - I, Book Keeping and Official Correspondence
 * US, NARA, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual - IV, Medical Department
 * US, NARA, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual - V, Subsistence
 * US, NARA, Freedmen's Bureau, Officer's Manual - VI, Miscellaneous Provisions - Includes Reports from Assistant Commissioners

 Collection Inventory Table 

Collection descriptions for the browse images may be located in either the published National Archives preliminary inventory with the "Entry No." or the National Archives Catalog Online Public Access Catalog "OPA." with the National Archives Identifier "NAID" number. Collection Inventory Table

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The approximate age of your ancestor
 * The place where your ancestor lived
 * The name of the former slave owner
 * Locate your ancestor in the 1870 Census. Most local Bureau activities ended (except from claims and education) in December 1868.
 * Check the records of the local field office in the area(s) where you believe your ancestor lived between June 1865 and December 1868.
 * Determine, if possible, the name of the former owner. The 1860 Slave Schedule may be helpful. Also consider searching the 1860 and 1870 Agricultural Schedules.
 * The Bureau created many different types of records. Review the record types in the Collection Content section in this article.
 * While searching Bureau records remember to search other records of the local government, including marriage and court records and especially the 1867 or later voter registrations.
 * Consider ancestors who may have been employed as a civilian agent or served as local agent while still in the military. Look for statewide rosters of bureau personnel in the records of Assistant Commissioners and the Field Office Personnel Coverage Table for this state.  Others may have worked with aid associations or taught school supported by aid associations in the north.
 * Freedmen would have determined what their name would be and may have changed it multiple times.

Search the Index
North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Assistant Commissioner Records, 1862-1870

North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872

View the Images
North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Assistant Commissioner Records, 1862-1870

North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor in the Freedmen's Bureau records, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details such as a title, an occupation, or land ownership. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the place of residence, age, and other information for each person to search for the individuals in census records
 * Use the information found to search for the family in church records
 * Use the information found to search for the family in land records
 * Use the information found to search for the family in probate records
 * Use the information found to search for the family in additional state and county records

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name
 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names
 * Look for another index. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor
 * Former slaves may have had used multiple names or changed their names until they decided upon one particular name. Search all possible names along with variations or spellings of their known names

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of North Carolina.
 * US Military Basic Search Strategies
 * Beginning Research in United States Military Records
 * Beginning United States Civil War Research
 * North Carolina Guided Research
 * North Carolina Record Finder
 * North Carolina Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step North Carolina Research, 1880-Present

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Vincent Colyer. Brief report of the services rendered by the freed people to the United States Army in North Carolina : in the spring of 1862 after the battle of Newbern. New York : V. Colyer, c1864. FHL 6118590
 * Patricia C. Click. Time full of trial : the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony, 1862-1867.975.6175 F2c
 * Frances Holloway Wynne. North Carolina extant voter registrations of 1867.Bowie, Maryland : Heritage Books, Inc., 1992
 * Barnetta McGhee White, comp. Somebody knows my name : marriages of freed people in North Carolina, county by county. 3 vols. Athens, Georgia : Iberian Pub. Co., c1995. FHL 975.6 V2wb
 * Craven County, Civil actions concerning slaves and free persons of color, 1775-1885
 * Nash County, Marriages of colored people and division of slaves, 1862-1866
 * Orange County, Freedman's marriage records, 1866-1868 DGS 7742004
 * Perquimans County. Marriage license and bonds with freedmen marriage records, 1847-1960 (Freedmen marriage records 1866-1867) DGS 7611209

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * Records of the Commissioner
 * Records of the Assistant Commissioner
 * Superintendent of Education and the Division of Education Records
 * Freedmen’s Bank
 * United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860
 * 1870 Census

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * Elaine Everly, Willna Pacheli, comp. Preliminary inventory of the records of the field offices of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands : record group 105.Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Service, 1973.
 * Officers' manual : Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Washington D.C. : Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1866.

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.