1-2. Place and date   3. Slave's name   4-5. Slave's birth date, birth place, and parents   6. Name of owner   7. Description of slave   8-10. Slave's signature, date and place filed

Manumission From the Nineteenth Century

Manumissions

Manumit means to release from slavery. An owner had the right to free a slave at any time without stating so in a formal document.

Manumission papers became an essential part of the process when others began re-enslaving people who could not prove they'd been granted freedom.

The example illustrates the wealth of information that you might find in a manumission record. However, not every record is as informative as this one.

By the mid-1800's most manumission papers included a detailed physical description of the person or family being set free.

The likelihood that an owner recorded the bill of sale when he purchased a slave depends on whether it was customary to do so in the county where he lived. If he recorded bills of sales to prove ownership, the odds are good that he would record manumissions.

First, check county deed books and other types of property records for manumissions. If you don't find them in those records, search civil court records, such as indexes, dockets, minutes, and order books.

© Palladium Interactive, Inc. 1997.