Anyone who has watched Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. knows how difficult it is for descendants of slavery to get their trees past 1870. So, I’ve assembled this guide to assist with your research and speed your time to results. I am, of course, happy to assist with the fine tuning for your search. But the following guide should help inform your path.

We have a growing number of test candidates and hope to pair up distant cousins as more people come forward.

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The Deets

Our surname isn’t that common, and the bulk of our line is based in the Northeast where slavery wasn’t a thing. We also have a large contingent of Quakers who were anti-slavery and actually bought people out of slavery. The remainder are, of course, concentrated in a few southern states with a few outliers.

In the 1870 Census there are a total of 90 people of color (79 Black & 11 Bi-Racial). These break into 30 households across the south. In cases the people in the household may not be related. They may simply be cohabitating as they did before the war. Regardless, their proximity to the nearest White European Babbs is key to determining where they were before the war.

The good news is that because we have an extensive picture of where the White European Babbs lived across the US that I can pinpoint with great accuracy who the nearest Babb to your ancestors is/was. This has allowed near parity in the matching process.

Please note that this is general research, and we must dig into your specific line to prove the connection. However, this will get us about 80% of the way there. Those in the file that are listed as Bi-Racial should conduct a 37-Marker Y-DNA test through Family Tree DNA to see if their male parentage line belongs in Africa or Europe. I’m always happy to help! Just reach out and please be patient. I get a month or two behind at times and still have a day job. I will get with you as soon as I can. If you think too much time has passed, please reach out again, just in case.

To date, I’ve never seen any form of slave register, plantation records or bill of sale for any of these locations. If they exist, they have not come to my attention as of yet. So, we make do with the traditional methods of research and fortunately can identify the likely slaver in 26 out of the 30 family units.

It’s high time we crack this nut and get to the meat of the matter!

Cheers!