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

United States Georgia

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of scanned images of records from National Archives microfilm publication M1903Records of the Field Offices for the State of Georgia, 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; Chief Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer, Surgeon in Chief, first then the local field office records are arranged alphabetically by location and by NARA roll number.

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 Can these Records Tell Me?
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.

Sample Images
Hospital and Medical Locations
 * Albany, Dispensary, Roll 39, Registers of Patients, 3 volumes
 * Americus, Dispensary, Roll 40, Register of Patients
 * Atlanta, Freedmen's Hospital, Roll 46, Registers of Patients, Register of Patients at the Dispensary of Atlanta Medical College
 * Augusta, Freedmen's Hospital, Roll 49, Register of Patients, Register of Patients at Smallpox Hospital
 * Brunswick,Dispensary, Roll 54, Register of Patients
 * Columbus, Dispensary, Roll 57, Register of Patients, Ration Returns, Register of Outdoor Patients and Receipts
 * Darien, Dispensary, Roll 61, Register of Patients and Prescription Book
 * Macon, Freedmen's Hospital,Register of Patients Treated at Hospital, 3 volumes; Register of Medications Administered to Patients
 * Newton, Dispensary
 * Savannah, Lincoln Hospital, Roll 86, Registers of Patients, 4 volumes, Register of Sick and Wounded and Case, Diet and Prescription Book

with Freedmen and Refugee Names'''

For details about the contents of these records, their history, and help using them, see the wiki article: United States Freedmen’s Bureau Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * NARA select Images from Freedmen's Bureau Records

To Browse Images of the Records

 * 1) Check the indexes at the beginning or end. If your ancestor is in the index write down the page numbers listed for your ancestor so that you can then quickly turn to those pages.
 * 2) Go to the collection browse page.
 * 3) Select the Freedmen's Bureau Office or Subordinate Field Office Location name
 * 4) Select the NARA Roll Number-Contents name
 * 5) Compare the information on the image to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate a birth date and to find other records such as birth, christening, census, land and death records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members. Witnesses or bondsmen were usually relatives.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who 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 in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. 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. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Georgia, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Georgia Archives and Libraries.

Citing this Collection
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