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Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865 to 1872

Freedmen's Bureau Records

After the Civil War, the Freedmen's Bureau helped newly freed people reunite with family, secure wages, testify against violence, legalize marriages, and go to school. Its officers wrote down what they saw: criminal cases, labor disputes, reports of outrages, marriages, and letters from families still searching for one another. Every case below comes from transcribed Bureau record books held by the National Archives, and every name we read is published here for free, forever.

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Apprenticeship

Mar 9 · Madison Parish, LA · Mississippi

Nancy JonesJoseph W. Williams

Nancy Jones, aged 14, was indentured for 4 years to Joseph W. Williams in Madison Parish, Louisiana.

The record

Mar 9 Nancy Jones 14 yrs old 4 yrs Madison Parish, LA Joseph W. Williams Madison Parish, LA

Enslavers named in this record

Joseph W. Williams
Records of the Assistant Commissioner For the State of Mississippi Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865 - 1869 National Archives Microfilm Publication M826, Roll 42
View the original record book

Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, National Archives. Transcriptions from the Freedmen's Bureau Online.