In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs was a 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475.

In his will, she is described simply as the “negro girl Melvinia.” After his death, she was torn away from the people and places she knew and shipped to Georgia. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of time. Read More

Biographies of Some Former Georgia Slaves

Contributed by Robert Scott Davis Jr.

The records resulting from the Civil War and Reconstruction contain information on the lives of tens of thousands of former slaves. Although the genealogically valuable surviving records of the Freedman's Bank are being indexed, most of this material remains almost inaccessible for just one name or person. For information on these sources see the new guide to Georgia research being published by the Georgia Genealogical Society.