SOURCE: Mobile Register and Journal, Nov. 3, 1847
"$125 REWARD STOLEN or left my house on or about the 20th of Oct. last, my daughter ANNETTE, colored, 12 years of age, black complexion, slender made, smiling face, with bright black eyes. She has a white spot on one of her lips, similar to a burn -- and a scar on one of her shoulders caused by a fall; there are also some bruises on one of her ankles. When she was quite young, she had the small pox, and several of the marks are still visible on her face and nose. -- Annette was dressed in a striped calico frock when she left home, and wore plain gold rings in her ears. As she was free, it is supposed that she was stolen by some person to sell as a slave. I will give one hundred dollars for proof to convict the thief, or twenty five dollars for the return of the girl to me. ISADORE DUBROCA, cor[ner] Wilkinson and St. Louis Streets. The New Orleans Delta will copy six times weekly, and send bill to this office for collection." City directories are a valuable source, especially for the period around 1890 when most federal census enumerations are not available. The volumes provide names of individuals, churches, cemeteries, businesses, and some occupations. Some directories show racial and/or marital status as shown in the example from Quincy, Illinois. What clues have you found in city directories?
Did your ancestor serve in the military during the Civil War? If so, have you located him or his widow in the 1890 Union Veterans and Widow Schedule? Returns for states beginning with letters A through K were destroyed, except for some Kentucky enumerations, as shown in this example. See http://www.archives.gov/research/census/publications-microfilm-catalogs-census/1790-1890/part-08.html#ky
Did your ancestors reside in an area where the 1890 census survived? Here is one of the surviving fragments from that enumeration and a link to some information about this census. http://www.archives.gov/research/census/publications-microfilm-catalogs-census/1790-1890/part-08.html
How many newspapers were published in the counties where you ancestors lived? Were there any schools or churches where they may have been educated or worshiped? Was there any criminal activity where you ancestors resided? For the answers to these and other questions, check the Social Statistics schedule, another type of “nonpopulation” schedule available for some areas from 1850 through 1880. Here is a sample page from Mobile County, Alabama, 1860. Hope everyone can read it. It is available via Heritage Quest/Ancestry.
The industrial schedule is one of the “nonpopulation” schedules of the federal census. Shown here is a sample from the 1850 Mobile County, Alabama, enumeration. Max. Dubroca, a free man of color, appears on line 3. He operated a steam-powered saw mill and employed an average of 10 male employees. Have you found your ancestors in this schedule?
Another “nonpopulation” schedule, the 1880 Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent schedule, enumerates both whites and nonwhites. People from prisons, jails, mental hospitals, or orphanages, for example, were enumerated like others in 1880 population schedule. The enumeration may contain the person’s home residence, as well as other data which varied from class to class. (This enumeration may be found on Ancestry.com.) Here is an example from Mobile County, Alabama.
Information in St. Louis city marriage records varies over time. Here is a sample record showing names of bride and groom as well as the person who married them. If it was a religious ceremony, church records should be examined for additional information.
Are you searching records of orphans in St. Louis? Here is a sample page from the German Protestant Orphan’s Home records.
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AuthorI am a professional genealogist specializing in St. Louis area genealogical and historical research and tracing the lives of African Americans. I earned my Ph.D. in history from the University of Alabama. Please see my other website Finding African American Ancestors http://findingafricanamericanancestors.weebly.com/. Archives
June 2015
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