United States Freedmen's Bureau Miscellaneous Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States

What is in This Collection?
Index and images of records identified as miscellaneous from field office records of the Freedmen's Bureau which will include many different record types. 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.

To locate additional information on the indexed collections in this publication see the coverage table section and related coverage table link located in this article under the heading Collection Content. The links in the state column will direct you to the browse collection landing page.

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.

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:

Freedmen's Bureau
 * 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
 * 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
 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

Coverage Table
The search results in this collection will identify the National Archives microfilm publication that the indexed image is from along with the film, digital and image numbers. The coverage table will help you determine the specific locality and provide the film notes which should identify the record type. Additional images of bureau records for the locality identified in the table will be found by searching in the browse collection.

To see the records indexed and their localities see the coverage table United States Freedmen's Bureau Miscellaneous Records Coverage Table - FamilySearch Historical Records

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Name of the person you are looking for
 * Some other identifying information such as age, residence or former 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?

 * Use the information found in the records to search for the family in census records after 1860
 * Search for the family in county and state level records for marriages
 * Search state census records
 * Look at the entire community to place the families in groups

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

 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name
 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names
 * Look for another index. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties
 * Former slaves may have had used multiple names or changed their names until they decided upon one particular name. Search all possible names along with variations or spellings of their known names

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 Research, c1995 FHL 973 F27afg See pages 68-98 The Freedmen's Bureau.
 * Richard Zuczek, ed. Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era 2 volumes. Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood Press, ©2006 FHL 973 N26z 2nd Floor Reference Area
 * George R. Bentley, A history of the Freedmen's Bureau. Reprint. Philadelphia, PA : University of Pennsylvania, 1955. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania, 2016 FHL Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania, 2016. FHL 973.714 F875b

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * Alabama, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872, M1900
 * Arkansas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1864-1872, M1901
 * Georgia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872, M1903
 * Kentucky, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872, M1904
 * Louisiana Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872, M1905
 * Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872, M1907
 * North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872, M1909
 * South Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872, M1910
 * Tennessee, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872, M1911
 * Texas, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1870, M1912

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 volumes. 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.

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