Arkansas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection consists of scanned images of records from National Archives microfilm publication M1901Records of the Field Offices for the State of Arkansas, 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 state level staff officers; Claims Division, Chief Disbursing Officer and Claims Agent, first then the local field office records are arranged alphabetically by location and by NARA roll number.

Also available is a field office personnel coverage table which shows where the field offices in Arkansas were located, the names of the employees, what office they held, and the dates they served. To review the table clink on the following link. Freedmen’s Bureau Arkansas Field Office Personnel Coverage Table

Related Article
 * John P Deeben,Defending the Legal Rights of Former Slaves: Records of the Freedmen's Bureau Courts in Arkansas Arkansas Family Historian 60 #1 (Spring, 2022): 8-13

Records with Freedmen and Refugees Names

Select list of collections with Freedmen and Refugee Names in this publication.
 * Arkansas, Chief Disbursing Officer and Claims Agent: Roll 6, Registers of Claimants 3 volumes
 * Arkadelphia, Clark County: Roll 6, Registers of Complaints, Labor Contracts and Marriages
 * Augusta, Woodruff County: Roll 6, Registers of Labor Contracts, Legal Papers
 * Batesville, Independence County: Roll 6, Monthly Reports of Persons and Articles Hired, Court Writs, Summons, and Other Legal Papers Contracts
 * Camden, Ouchita County: Roll 7, Register of Labor Contracts, Register of School Children and Register of Attendance of School Children, Affidavits and Depositions, Register of Complaints
 * Lewisburg, Conway County: Roll 7, Labor Contracts, Amnesty Oaths and Marriage Certificates, Affidavits and Petitions
 * Devall’s Bluff, Prairie County: Roll 8, Reports of Persons and Articles Hired
 * Fort Smith, Sebastian County: Roll 8, Register of Labor Contracts, Register of Application for Restoration of Property, Register of Marriages, and Register of Persons Drawing Rations
 * Fort Smith, Sebastian County: Roll 9, Register of Refugees Issued Rations, Register of Rebel Property in Counties Subject to Confiscation
 * Hamburg, Ashley County: Roll 10, Registers of Complaints and Contracts
 * Helena, Phillips County: Roll 11, Register of Claimants
 * Jacksonport, Upper White River District: Roll 11, Register of Contracts
 * Jacksonport, Jackson County: Roll 12, Affidavits and Court Papers, Register of Contracts and Register of Marriages, Register of Complaints
 * Lake Village and Luna Landing, Chicot County: Roll 12, Register of Contracts and Register of Major Landholders
 * Lewisville, Lafayette County: Roll 14, Register of Complaints
 * Little Rock, Pulaski County: Roll 14, Registers of Complaints and Marriages, Register of Freedmen Employed on Plantations
 * Little Rock, Pulaski County: Roll 15, Employment Registers 3 volumes
 * Madison, St. Francis County: Roll 16, Registers of Complaints and Contracts, Court Papers
 * Magnolia: Roll 16, Affidavits of Freedmen
 * Monticello: Roll 17, Register of Contracts for Bradley County, Court Papers and Reports
 * Napoleon, Desha County: Roll 17, Register of Complaints
 * Osceola, Mississippi County: Roll 18, Registers of Claims, Marriages, Contracts and Indentures, Register of Complaints
 * Ozark: Roll 18, Register of Destitute Citizens of Franklin and Johnson Counties Issued Rations
 * Paraclifta, Sevier County: Roll 18, Orders Sent to Local Citizens, Register of Marriages and Copies of Indentures, Register of Complaints, Register of Employees and Employers
 * Pine Bluff: Roll 19, Reports of Persons and Articles Hired
 * Pine Bluff, Jefferson County: Roll 21, Register & Certificates of Marriage, Register of Abandoned Property, Record of Account Book of Mrs. Bayner’s Plantation
 * Princeton, Dallas County: Roll 22, Contracts and Monthly Statements of Property
 * South Bend: Roll 22, Orders Issued to Local Citizens, Proceedings of Cases
 * Washington, Hemstead County: Roll 23, Registers of Contracts, and Complaints, Marriage Certificates

On March 2, 1867 Congress created five military districts in the Southern States. Some of the records of these military districts found in Record Group 393 may relate to records of the Freedmen's Bureau. The links below to the National Archives Catalog will provide a history of the fourth district and links to record descriptions.
 * War Department. Fourth Military District. 3/11/1867-3/16/1869 Arkansas, Mississippi

General Information about Freedmen's Bureau Records
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 Articles 
 * Dr. Shelly Viola Murphy, Let Freedom Ring Family Tree Magazine 23 # 3 (May-June 2022): 50-56. FS Library 973 D25ft V23. Issue 3
 * 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.

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

Sample Images
Additional sample images can be found on the National Archives' African American Heritage site at Select 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

Inventory
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. To review the table clink on the following link. Inventory

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of the person
 * The location or date of the event
 * The name of 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. This would be helpful when searching for labor contracts.
 * 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.

What Do I Do Next?
If these are indexes, the original records may contain additional information than was not indexed, or the information might have been indexed incorrectly. You may want to search for the original record at the National Archive and Records Administration.

I Found Who the Person I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * Use the age or estimated birth date to find vital records such as birth, baptism, marriage, and death records
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in census records
 * Search for death or burial information in BillionGraves Index or at Find A Grave
 * Use the information to locate voter registrations - See related websites

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

 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you find possible relatives
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching a nearby locality
 * Try different spellings of your ancestor’s name
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names

Research Helps
The following articles will help you research your family in the state of Arkansas.
 * African American Introduction
 * Researching African American Genealogy
 * Quick Guide to African American Records
 * African American Research
 * African American Freedmen's Bureau Records

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

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Dee Parmer Woodtor, Finding a place called home : a guide to African-American genealogy and historical identity New York, New York : Random House, c1999 FS Library 973 F2wd See Chapter 8
 * Paula K. Byers, ed. African American genealogical sourcebook New York, New York : Gale Research, c1995 FS Library 973 F27afg See pages 68-98 The Freedmen's Bureau
 * George R. Bentley, A history of the Freedmen's Bureau Reprint. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania, 2016 FS Library 973.714 F875b
 * Arkansas biographical card file index, 1819-1950 Includes entries from the Arkansas Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records
 * Linda McDowell. Black slaves & early freedmen of Hempstead County, Arkansas 1819-1850 Little Rock, Arkansas : Jubilee, Inc., c2000 FS Library 976.754 F2m
 * Arkansas Genealogical Society, Arkansas voter lists 1867 FS Library CD-ROM
 * Richard Zuczek, ed. Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era 2 volumes. Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood Press, ©2006 FS Library 973 N26z 2nd Floor Reference Area
 * Arkansas. Records of the Field Offices.
 * Arkansas. Records of the Assistant Commissioner
 * Arkansas. Records of the Superintendent of Education
 * Arkansas. Correspondence & school reports, 1865-1871

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.