United States Freedmen’s Branch Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States

What is in This Collection?
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) was created in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War 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 Branch was established in June 1872 in the Adjutant General's Office to continue any Bureau that was left unfinished.

Records of the Freedmen’s Branch in the Office of the Adjutant General are part of RG 105 Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands from NARA microfilm publication M2029. National Archives Pamphlet M2029 Branch field office locations • 2 Claim Records in this Collection Include:
 * Registers of Claimants: Charleston, SC, Roll 1; Fort Johnston, NC, Roll 2; Louisville, KY, Roll 8; Fort Macon, NC, Roll 18; Fort Leavenworth, KS, Roll 18; Fort Monroe, VA, Roll 22; Memphis, TN, Roll 27; Nashville, TN, Roll 32; Natchez, MS, Roll 37; New Orleans, LA, Roll 47; St. Louis, MO, Roll 50; Savannah, GA, Roll 52; Vicksburg, MS, Roll 56
 * Lists of Claimants: Charleston, SC, Roll 1; Louisville, KY, Roll 9; Fort Macon, NC, Roll 18; Fort Leavenworth, KS, Roll 18; Memphis, TN, Roll 27; Nashville, TN, Roll 32; Natchez, MS, Roll 37; St. Louis, MO, Roll 51; Savannah, GA, Roll 52; Vicksburg, MS, Roll 56
 * Confidential Lists: Charleston, SC, Roll 1; New Orleans, LA, Roll 47
 * Memorandums of Examination of Claimants: Louisville, KY, Roll 9; Natchez, MS, Roll 38; New Orleans, LA, Roll 47; Vicksburg, MS, Roll 56
 * Confidential Lists for the Identification of Claimants: Louisville, KY, Roll 17; Fort Macon, NC, Roll 18; Fort Leavenworth, KS, Roll 19; Memphis, TN, Roll 28; Nashville, TN, Roll 33; Natchez, MS, Roll 40; St. Louis, MO, Roll 51; Savannah, GA, Roll 53 ;Vicksburg, MS, Roll 57
 * Receipts for Payments of Claims: Memphis, TN, Roll 28;St. Louis, MO, Roll 51
 * Lists of Claimants Paid…: Nashville, TN, Roll 33
 * Registers of Claims Investigated: Natchez, MS, Roll 37
 * Names and Addresses of Claimants: Natchez, MS, Roll 37; New Orleans, LA, Roll 47; Vicksburg, MS, Roll 56
 * Register of Payments Made to Claimants: St. Louis, MO, Roll 50
 * Confidential Lists Concerning Deceased Soldiers: St. Louis, MO, Roll 51
 * Affidavits of Identify: Vicksburg, MS, Roll 58

National Museum of African American History & Culture
The museum is working with the Smithsonian Transcription Center and volunteers to transcribe the records of the Bureau.
 * Freedmen's Bureau Transcription Project.
 * About The Freedmen's Bureau Database Records
 * FREEDMEN'S BUREAU ABBREVIATIONS, STAFF ROSTERS, AND STYLE SHEETS
 * Freedmen's Bureau - Browse Projects

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records: • 2

Sample Images
 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

Inventory
An inventory for this collection which includes the National Archives Identifier Number (NAID) and preliminary inventory entry number is available at United States, Freedmen’s Branch Records, Inventory.

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. 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?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * If available, check the image for additional information
 * Analyze the entry to see if it provides additional clues to find other records of the person or their family

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

 * Try searching by surname only
 * The person may be recorded with an abbreviated or variant form of their name
 * Remember that spelling was generally not standardized until the early part of the 20th century
 * Former slaves may have had used multiple names or changed their names until they decided upon one particular name

Research Helps
The following articles will help you research your family in the United States.
 * United States Guided Research
 * United States Record Finder
 * United States Research Tips and Strategies

Other FamilySearch Collections
These collections may have additional materials to help you with your research.

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Paula K. Byers, ed. African American genealogical sourcebook New York, New York : Gale *[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/829837 Dee Parmer Woodtor, Finding a place called home : a guide to African-American genealogy and historical identity New York, New York : Random House, c1999 FHL 973 F2wd See chapter 8 See the Freedmen's Bureau pages 68-98
 * George R. Bentley, A history of the Freedmen's Bureau Reprint. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania, 2016 FHL 973.714 F875bResearch, c1995 FHL 973 F27afg]
 * Richard Zuczek, ed. Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era 2 volumes. Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood Press, ©2006 FHL 973 N26z 2nd Floor Reference Area

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * Freedmen's Bureau Claim Records
 * United States Colored Troops Service Records
 * General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934
 * 1870 Census

Related Articles
• 2

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 3 vols. Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Service, 1973 Contents: Pt. 1. Alabama-Louisiana -- Pt. 2. Maryland-South Carolina -- Pt. 3. Tennessee-Virginia and Records of the field offices of the Freedmen's Branch, Office of the Adjutant General, 1872-78.

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.

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