Week 1: Greene County

This week I spent my time in Greene County, Ohio. Greene county was established in 1803 and is named after Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene. The Greene County Records Center and Archives, located in Xenia, Ohio, is in an old strip mall along with Job and Family Services, the food pantry, and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. This wonderful facility holds county records such as marriages, wills and estates, current and historical maps, deed indices, and all sorts of wonderful information about the county.

Greene County Records Center and Archives reading room.
(Picture courtesy of the Archives' blog,
"Out of the Clock Tower": https://www.co.greene.oh.us/Blog.aspx?CID=1)

Among the wonderful records kept at Greene County is a Manumission book bearing the names of free Blacks and Mulattoes from 1805-1845. The records start off simple with just an entry stating the person's name and that they are entering their name, or someone else is entering their name, as a free Black or Mulatto person. The later entries become more complex and feature intricate details of how the free individual looked. These records have all been transcribed and are available to read either at the archive or online at their website: https://www.co.greene.oh.us/948/Online-Resources. 

Emancipation records of free Blacks 1805-1845.

Another great source the archives has for freedom records are the deed records. Because Black and Mulatto persons were considered property in the south, some southern slave owners who came to Ohio entered their enslaved person or persons names to the county auditor as a sale. Different notations in the 'type of sale' column were used to record these events. "Emptn," "Eptin," "Free Papers," "F. Papers," "Freedom," and even "B of S" were scrawled in the margins to indicate that someone was being freed. The deed records can be found at the archives in both book form and microfilm form. There are also copies of these records at the recorder's office in downtown Xenia. I opted to search the microfilm for records that might not have been found yet.

Looking at microfilm on the computer.

While I didn't have any luck finding new records, I entered in Greene County's information into my spreadsheet. The total number of found and recorded Manumission, Emancipation, and Freed Blacks in Greene County came to 191 individuals. There must certainly have been more, but, unfortunately, those names might be lost forever unless another registry surfaces. I would like to thank Robin, Joan, and Melissa at the Greene County Records Center and Archives for putting up with me and letting me comb through the records at will.

I hope you'll join me next week when I explore Wright State University's Special Collections and Archives. 

Thanks, and be good!

Introduction

Hello! Please allow me to introduce myself! My name is Amy Brickey and I am a Public History graduate student at Wright State University.
As a graduate student, I am required to do a capstone project to graduate, and this blog serves as a record of my journey through my graduate capstone. The project I have the pleasure of doing is quite exceptional! The Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board (OHRAB) received a small grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to identify, locate, and record the locations of Manumission, Emancipation, and Free Paper records in 11 counties in Southwestern Ohio.
In 1804, Ohio enacted the Ohio Black Codes which mandated that free Black and Mulatto individuals had to register with their local court to gain freedom, or, Manumission papers. To be granted these papers the individual either had to produce Emancipation papers from the person who had formerly enslaved them, or they had to bring a white character witness with them to guarantee the Black or Mulatto person's good behavior. The individual seeking Manumission papers was also expected to pay a fee. At first the fee was only fifty dollars, but it soon rose to five hundred. Unfortunately, there was no standard practice in Ohio's 88 counties and these records could be located at any record-keeping county repository.
While these codes were active throughout Ohio, I am starting with only five counties: Greene, Montgomery, Logan, Clark, and Champaign. During my tenure as an OHRAB fellow I will be visiting probate and common pleas courts, recorder's offices, auditor's offices, records and archive centers, and county historical centers looking for any trace of these papers. This is an amazing project, one that has happened throughout some southern states, but has never been done before in the northern states. I hoping that this initial discovery phase will help OHRAB to secure a larger grant in the future to search all 88 Ohio counties. These records are an important part of American history and Black history. Finding these records will help researchers and genealogists uncover more and more information pertaining to our intricate past and the building of America. I hope you will join me on this journey to discover these amazing historical documents!