United States Census, Slave Schedule, 1850 - FamilySearch Historical Records

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Collection Time Period
U.S. Census Slave Schedule, 1850

How to Use the Records
Use slave schedules to identify the slave holdings of owners. Since they do not provide the slaves’ names, they can be used only in conjunction with other sources to identify individuals and families who were slaves.

Record Description
The schedules consist of large preprinted forms with two columns on each page.

Record Content
Slave schedules include the following genealogical information:


 * Name of slave owner
 * Age, color, and sex of slave
 * Very few schedules list the names of the slaves

Record History
Census enumerators created slave schedules at the same time as population schedules. Slave schedules exist for the following states: 1850: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia While nearly one-third of Southern families owned slaves, the number of slave owners named in the slave schedules is 1.7 percent of the total population (in 1860). Depending on the state, slaves numbered less than one to nearly 50 percent of the population (12.5 percent of the total population in 1860).

Why This Collection Was Created?
Census slave schedules are usually reliable, depending on the knowledge of the informant and the care of the census enumerator

Record Reliability
The schedules consist of large preprinted forms with two columns on each page.

Related Web Sites
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Related Wiki Articles
United States Census Slave Schedules

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the Wiki Article: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections

Please add sample citations to this article following the format guidelines in the wiki article listed above. Examples of citations:


 * United States. Bureau of the Census. 12th census, 1900, digital images, From FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: September 29, 2006), Arizona Territory, Maricopa, Township 1, East Gila, Salt River Base and Meridian; sheet 9B, line 71
 * Mexico, Distrito Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1886-1933, digital images, from FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: April 22, 2010), Baptism of Adolfo Fernandez Jimenez, 1 Feb. 1910, San Pedro Apóstol, Cuahimalpa, Distrito Federal, Mexico, film number 0227023

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Style Guide
For guidelines to use in creating wiki articles that describe collections of images and indexes produced by FamilySearch, see: FamilySearch Wiki: Guidelines for FamilySearch Collections pages

Sources of Information for This Collection:
"U.S. Census Slave Schedule, 1850" database, FamilySearch; (http://familysearch.org), from United States Census Office. Digital images of originals housed at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.. FHL microfilm. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

The format for citing FamilySearch Historical Collections, including how to cite individual archives is found in the following link: How to Create Source Citations for FamilySearch Historical Records Collections