Ancestry.com Offers Unprecedented Look Into Lives of Once-Enslaved Ancestors With Largest Online Collection of African-American Historical Records

PROVO, Utah, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- African-Americans seeking to discover family roots obscured by slavery may be one step closer to their heritage. Ancestry.com, the world's largest online family history resource, today expanded the largest online repository of African-American family history records with two new collections that provide unique insights into African- American family history: Freedman's Marriage Records and Southern Claims Commission Records.

"While these documents depict the horrors of slavery, they also provide invaluable information that help uncover ancestors' life stories," said Megan Smolenyak, Chief Family Historian for Ancestry.com. "These documents further cement the fact that African-Americans can discover their family's heritage, even those ancestors enslaved prior to the Civil War. We're seeing an increasing interest among African-Americans in tracing their roots, especially as collections such as these are made available and accessible online, rather than stored away in archives."

Freedman's Marriage Records

From 1865 to 1868, plantation marriages of thousands of former slaves from 17 Southern states were legalized. Ancestry.com has digitized and made available online a collection of marriage certificates, marriage licenses, and other proofs of the marriage "legalizations."

Southern Claims Commission Records

Following the end of the Civil War, Southerners filed more than 23,000 claims against the U.S. government for property seized by the Union Army. Claimants furnished answers to some 80 questions about seized property and supplied witnesses, often former slaves, to testify on their behalf. In addition to their name, age and current residence, African-American claimants stated:

    --  Whether they were free or enslaved at the beginning of the war
    --  When they became free
    --  Occupation and residence
    --  Name of their former masters
    --  Whether they purchased land from their former masters

    African-American witnesses were asked:
    --  If the claimant was their former master
    --  Whether they currently worked for him
    --  Whether they currently lived on his land
    --  To give testimony of any property seizure they witnessed

In one April 1867 example, former slaves Gabe and Aleck Banks of Baldwin, Georgia, offer eyewitness accounts of the Union Army seizing their former master's horses and mules. "The Cavalry Came Riding up to the Gate ... ," said Gabe Banks, "and made me get the Bridles and catch the horses and mules for them." The local commissioner hand recorded each man's testimony in the claim document, viewable on Ancestry.com's blog at http://blogs.ancestry.com.

In February 2007, Ancestry.com propelled the topic of African-American family history to the nation's forefront with the shocking discovery that the Reverend Al Sharpton's ancestors were owned by the late Senator Strom Thurmond's ancestors.

The Freedman's Marriage Records and Southern Claims Commission Records are the latest additions to Ancestry.com's ever-growing collection of African-American family history documents. The collection also includes:

Users can explore the African-American Historical Records Collection and begin piecing together their family tree at http://www.ancestry.com/aahistory. With Ancestry.com's free tree-building tools, users can build their family trees, upload photos, create oral histories and share their tree with family members.

About Ancestry.com -- Visit us at http://www.ancestry.com/

With 25,000 searchable databases and titles and more than 2.5 million active users, Ancestry.com is the No. 1 online source for family history information. Since its launch in 1997, Ancestry.com has been the premier resource for family history, simplifying genealogical research for millions of people by providing them with many easy-to-use tools and resources to build their own unique family trees. The site is home to the only complete online U.S. Federal Census collection, 1790-1930, as well as the world's largest online collection of U.S. ship passenger list records featuring more than 100 million names, 1820-1960. Ancestry.com is part of The Generations Network, Inc., a leading network of family-focused interactive properties, including http://www.myfamily.com/, http://www.rootsweb.com/, http://www.genealogy.com/ and Family Tree Maker. In total, The Generations Network properties receive 8.7 million unique visitors worldwide and more than 416 million page views a month ((C) comScore Media Metrix, October 2007). For more information, visit The Generations Network media room at http://tgn.mediaroom.com/.

View images of selected images of African American records at http://blogs.ancestry.com/.