12/2/18

REMARKABLE Genealogy Resource for VA, NC, MD, DE

This is a remarkable, transcribed compilation of colonial era records for free black families!

FREE AFRICAN AMERICANS OF VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA, MARYLAND AND DELAWARE
The history of the free African American community as told through the family history [names] of most African Americans (emphasis A. Edwards) who were free in the Southeast during the colonial period. Winner: The American Society of Genealogists' Donald Lines Jacobus Award and The North Carolina Genealogical Society Award of Excellence in Publishing. [Based on] Two books you can read on-line containing about 2,700 pages of family histories based on all colonial court order and minute books on microfilm at the state archives of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Delaware (over 1000 volumes), tax lists, wills, deeds, free Negro registers, marriage bonds, parish registers, Revolutionary War pension files, etc. There are also another 5,000 pages of abstracted colonial tax lists, Virginia personal property tax lists, under "Colonial Tax Lists..." Send questions and comments to paulheineggATgmail.com substitute @ for AT. http://www.freeafricanamericans.com

From the introduction to the book by Ira Berlin, and keeping in mind that from the 17th century children inherit the "condition" of their mother--slave or free, here's a chart you might find noteworthy:

Table 1. Descendancy of Free African American Families in This Genealogy: Virginia and North Carolina
[from] White servant women379
[from] Freed slaves50
[from] Indians29
[from] White men19