African American Family History Step By Step

Because slaves were considered to be property, your next step once you find the slave owner (or even a number of potential slave owners), is to follow the records to learn what he did with his property. Look for wills, probate records, plantation records, bills of sale, land deeds and even runaway slave advertisements in newspapers. You should also study your history - learn about the practices and laws which governed slavery and what life was like for slaves and slave owners in the antebellum South. Unlike what is common belief, the majority of slave owners were not wealthy plantation owners and most owned five slaves or less.

Additional Resources:
Probing into Probate Records & Wills
Digging Up Family History in Deed Records
Plantation Records