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Background
Charles Lemons, a retired curator of the Patton Museum at Ft. Knox, has assembled a database of Black enslaved and free people from research which started in Nelson County and has expanded into other Kentucky counties over time. It includes data from censuses, wills and other legal documents, tax records, religious records, and military sources.
The information for each person can include their name, alternate names, family code, county of residence, race, sex, birth date and location, death date, spouse name, and general notes. There are up to five owner fields to record multiple transactions involving enslaved people.
Fields in the Black Ancestor Database
(Spelling and descriptions in the parentheses represent what is in the database)
LastName
FirstName
AKA (Alternate first name(s))
AKALast (Alternate last name)
FamilyCode
Color
Sex
BirthYear
BirthDay
BornIn (State born in)
BICounty (County born in)
DiedYear
DiedDate
Occup (Occupation)
Owner1 (Last Name of First Owner)
Owner1First (First Name of First Owner)
Owner Code #
State1
YearTransfered
TransferCode
Owner2 (New Owner Last Name)
Owner2First (New Owner First Name)
Owner#2 Code (W=White; X=Out of State Owner)
State2
County2
YearTransferred2
[same fields are repeated for Owner 3, 4, and 5]
MotherFirst (Mother’s First Name)
MotherLast (Mother’s Last Name)
MotherFamilyCode (Mother’s Family Code)
FatherFirst (Father’s First Name)
FatherLast (Father’s Last Name)
FatherFamilyCode (Father’s Family Code)
SpouseFirst
SpouseLast
Notes
FamilyCodes
The FamilyCode is a unique identifier for each Black person. The first member of a family that was found received a unique number, starting at 00001.
Subsequent generations are counted with letters after that number. Birth order is recorded by counting alphabetically from A.
For example:
Rose Abell is identified as 00003.
Her children Jerry, Mary, and an unidentified child are 00003A, 00003B, and 00003C.
Though none are yet identified, Rose’s first grandchild fathered by Jerry would be
00003AA, and the first grandchild born to Mary would be 00003BA.
W0000 designates free people.
Prefix codes:
W White (but also applied to free people of color)
SD Slave trader
X Unknown
Z Contraband (meaning someone who appeared at a Union Army outpost and was considered free if their enslaver was a Confederate soldier or sympathizer)
Suffix:
XX Out of state
AD Adair
AL Allen
AN Anderson
BL Ballard
BN Barren
BA Bath
BO Boone
BB Bourbon
BD Boyd
BY Boyle
BR Bracken
BE Breathitt
BK Breckenridge
BU Bullitt
BT Butler
CD Caldwell
CA Calloway
CM Campbell
CO Carroll
CT Carter
CS Casey
CH Christian
CK Clark
CL Clay
CI Clinton
CR Crittenden
CU Cumberland
DV Daviess
ED Edmondson
ES Estill
FA Fayette
FM Fleming
FL Floyd
FR Franklin
FU Fulton
GA Gallatin
GD Garrard
GT Grant
GV Graves
GY Grayson
GR Green
GU Greenup
HC Hancock
HA Hardin
HL Harlan
HR Harrison
HT Hart
HN Henderson
HE Henry
HK Hickman
HO Hopkins
JA Jackson
JE Jefferson
JS Jessamine
JO Johnson
KE Kenton
KN Knox
LR Larue
LA Laural
LW Lawrence
LT Letcher
LE Lewis
LI Lincoln
LV Livingston
LO Logan
LY Lyon
MD Madison
MF Magoffin
MR Marion
MA Marshall
MS Mason
MK McCracken
ML McLean
ME Meade
MC Mercer
MT Metcalfe
MO Monroe
MN Montgomery
MG Morgan
MU Muhlenberg
NE Nelson
NI Nicholas
OH Ohio
OL Oldham
ON Owen
OW Owsley
PE Pendleton
PY Perry
PI Pike
PO Powell
PU Pulaski
RC Rockcastle
RW Rowan
RU Russell
SC Scott
SH Shelby
SI Simpson
SP Spencer
TA Taylor
TO Todd
TR Trigg
TB Trimble
UN Union
WR Warren
WA Washington
WN Wayne
WE Webster
WH Whitley
WL Wolfe
WO Woodford
XX Out of state
Transfer Codes
Spelling represents what is in the database.
TransferCode | Transfer | Explanation |
AL | Alimony | Ownership transferred by court order of alimony |
AP | Apprenticed |
|
CO | Change of owner | Owner’s legal name changes as a result of marriage, or property transfers back to a woman’s ownership as a result of the death of her husband (property was originally willed or given to the woman prior to or during marriage) |
DO | Dower | Title transferred by legally recorded act of Dower (for property a woman brought into a marriage) |
DT | Deed of Trust | Transfer of ownership by a legal and recorded Deed of Trust |
EM | Emancipated | Freed, either by will, declaration of an individual, or by court order. |
EN | Enlisted | Slave enlisted or drafted into Federal Military Service |
EX | Exchanged | Exchanged for property – no cash involved normally. |
GD | Guardianship | Slaves held by a third person who is responsible for a minor child, to whom the enslaved person ultimately belongs. |
GT | Gift | Transfer of ownership by gift |
IN | Indentured |
|
LN | Loan | Usually a family operation – long term loan of slaves to family members |
LS | Lease | Long term lease with no actual transfer of ownership |
MG | Marriage | Transfer of legal responsibility of a slave from wife to Husband under state law. Ownership normally returns to the wife upon the husband’s death by use of Dower rights. |
PA | Public Auction | Any transfer of ownership by sale, either public or private |
RA | Run Away | Ran away from owner |
RT | Returned | Not common – a return of property to an estate in order to gain rights under a will |
SZ | Siezed | Siezed by court order, or for debts, or arrested for a crime |
TR | Transferred | Not common – results from a legal transfer from one government body to another |
WI | Will | Ownership transferred as a result of a written or oral will. This will also include divisions ordered by courts to comply with a last will and testemate |