Mississippi, Freedmen's Department, Pre-Bureau 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.

What is in This Collection?
This collection consists of scanned images of records from National Archives microfilm publication M1914, Records of the Mississippi Freedmen’s Department (“Pre-Bureau Records”), Office of the Assistant Commissioner, 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 starting with the Office of the General Superintendent of Freedmen, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen ( Provost Marshall of Freedmen), and records of the Medical Director and Inspector of Freedmen and by NARA roll number.These documents pre-date the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau, but were assumed by the Bureau after its creation in 1865.

 Related Articles 
 * 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.

Records with Freedmen and Refugee Names
 * General Superintendent of Freedmen, Rolls 2-4, Records on Renting and Leasing of Abandoned Property
 * General Superintendent of Freedmen, Roll 4, Register of Contracts, Registers of Rations Issued to Freedmen and Planters, Lists of Pupils in Schools at Vicksburg, Register of Freedmen, Register of Rations Issued
 * Medical Director and Inspector of Freedmen, Roll 5, Register of Patients, Register of Requisitions for Medicines and Supplies

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
 * Officers' Manual. Washington, 1866

Inventory Collection
The inventory will include for each individual collection the National Archives Identifier Number (NAID) and preliminary inventory entry number.
 * Inventory

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The name of a relative or date of the event
 * 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.

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.

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

 * Use the age to search for birth, marriage, and death records
 * Search for the family in census records
 * Search the county where the family lived for church, land, and probate records

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

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Mississippi.


 * Researching African American Genealogy
 * Mississippi Guided Research
 * Mississippi Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Research

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Records of the Mississippi Freedmen's Department ("pre-bureau records"), Office of the Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Refugees, Freedman, and Abandoned Lands, 1863-1865, NARA M 1914
 * Records of the field offices for the state of Mississippi, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872 : NARA, RG 105, M1907

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Commissioner, 1865-1872
 * United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Assistant Commissioner, 1865-1872
 * United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Superintendent of Education and of the Division of Education, 1865-1872
 * Freedmen’s Bank
 * 1870 Census
 * United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860

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, 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.