In a message dated 99-07-24 18:43:15 EDT, you write: No we don't but while your letter was excellent, you left out one very important area of research: namely wills. To my knowledge, there were no slave owners among my ancestors but it wouldn't surprise me if there were. However, I have read several wills and noticed slaves being passed down from one generation to the next. >> So true. I've not found any in the wills I've had to read, fortunately. But I have seen slave death information in the county records prior to the civil war. But always only a first name for the slave with the full name of the owner. One thing I noted in my great granddaughter's Norfolk, VA ancestors was the age of his slaves. One of her Carr gramps had a few over the age of 70, many in their 60's and a few in their 50's. A few workers in their 20's and a few women and children. But he didn't die until after the civil war so he had nothing to leave, hence no will. My library research room is getting new books monthly on black research. One is absolutely fascinating. It's about the free blacks of NC and many had their roots in VA. At any one time, 10 percent of the blacks in the south were free blacks. It wasn't until just before the CW that free blacks were forbidden to be in some southern states. I think Roy Andrews will be doing us all a service by putting a black Drake section on his site. I definitely will be looking for Drake slave information here in VA to send to him. Shirley