African American Church, Moncks Corner, SC
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, www.loc.gov
Freedmen’s Bureau labor contracts were some of the earliest records which listed former slaves with newly-chosen surnames.
These records, which predate the 1870 census by several years, can provide clues for breaking through the 1870 Brick Wall by connecting census records with surnames to plantation journals with first names only.
Lowcountry Africana Co-Administrator Alana Thevenet has transcribed labor contracts for Berkeley County, SC. Here you will find records for slaveholder surnames beginning with the letter “J.”
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Freedmen’s Labor Contract
Berkeley County, SC, 1866
Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina,
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872
NARA Record Group 105
MC 1910, Reel 62, Target 3
TITLE OF CONTRACT:
S.H. & E.M. Jenkins with Freed people
DATE OF CONTRACT:
May 1866
PLACES MENTIONED IN CONTRACT:
Berkeley County
South Carolina
SC
NAMES OF FREEDPERSONS
James Gilliard
Edward Simmons
Daniel Graham
Freedmen’s Labor Contract
Berkeley County, SC, 1867
Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina,
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872
NARA Record Group 105
MC 1910, Reel 62, Target 4
TITLE OF CONTRACT:
James S. Jervey with Freed people
DATE OF CONTRACT:
Feb. 2, 1867
PLACES MENTIONED IN CONTRACT:
Berkeley County
South Carolina
SC
Cedar Spring Plantation
NAMES OF FREEDPERSONS
No names listed
Freedmen’s Labor Contracts
Berkeley County, SC, 1868
Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina,
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872
NARA Record Group 105
M1910, Reel 63, Target 2
TITLE OF CONTRACT:
Thomas H. Jervey and 20 Freedmen on
the Sand Hill Plantation
DATE OF CONTRACT:
March 4, 1868
PLACES MENTIONED IN CONTRACT:
Berkeley County
South Carolina
SC
Sand Hill Plantation
Sand Grove Plantation
NAMES OF FREEDPERSONS
Francis Gilliard, Foreman
London Gilliard
Caleb Gilliard
Jesse Brown
Charles Brown
July Forest
Adam Miller
