United States Census Slave Schedules

Portal:United States Census

Availability
The National Archives has retained and microfilmed all of the original manuscripts for applicable states.

Slave schedules were kept for: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.

Ancestry has images and every name indexes for 1850 and 1860 slave schedules.

Historical Background
1850-1860--Slaves were enumerated separately and usually only numbered, not named.

Contents
City, town, or subdistrict of slave owner                        Name of slave owner                         Number of slaves listed by age, sex, color                         Fugitive                         Manumitted (freed)                         Deaf, dumb, insane, or idiotic

Value
                        Name -- Sometimes an enumerator chose to list the first names of individual slaves. Each countywide slave schedule must be searched to see if there are names of slaves or not.

                        Number -- The number of slaves enumerated could help determine if the owner had a plantation or  not, and its size.

Indexes
Few slave schedules have been indexed. Ancestry has indexes for 1850.

Web Sites
Ancestry.com (1850): http://content.ancestry.com/