Slave research difficulties
 


In a message dated 99-07-23 17:43:13 EDT, you write:

 
 Why am I having so much trouble getting my fellow Drakes to discuss slavery 
 and miscegenation, isn't it time that we all get honest and discuss slavery 
 like many other families have. I see references to Drakes in the civil war 
on 
 both sides, isn't it time to acknowledge the legacy of slavery in our family 
 and our nation. >>
Quite frankly, Franklin, as I reminded you some time ago, black research is a 
very difficult one.  I know, I've done it here in VA for other blacks looking 
for their owner's.
 
The people who owned slaves were secretive about the whole thing when it came 
to official documents that the federal government could examine.  States took 
their own slave enumeration schedules and you can bet no fed ever saw them 
prior to the CW.
If they hadn't been needed (1 man per 7 slaves) as "population" for the 
number of representatives allowed per state, there would not even have been a 
slave enu-meration census.  

Even now, I don't believe any state will allow slave enumeration schedules to 
be rented outside the borders.I have VA slave enumeration schedules in my 
public library, but I'm not able to get any other state's.

To put this in today's context, however, I can not rent any Industrial or 
Agricultural censuses either.  Some states have sent copies of theirs to the 
National Archives, but the one state I have a great deal of interest in, IN, 
keeps its state censuses secreted behind State Archive doors.  Why, I don't 
know.  When I queried the workers at the National Archives, they couldn't 
understand why either.

It's not that we don't want to find slave information, it's that we have to 
make a very conscious effort to look for it.  Since time is usually limited 
whereever we go, we concentrate on our own research.  L. David Roper is 
making a concentrated effort to gather Roper slave information on his site, 
mostly descendants of Moses Roper.  Others are probably doing the same or 
would if asked.  

You may want to start your own DRAKE-SLAVE-L@rootsweb.com site to begin 
gathering Drake slave information.  (People, I made up this url, there is no 
such thing, but wouldn't it be great if Franklin did?  I would contribute 
anything I should happen to find in VA.)

I would be proud to call you cuzzie, but I simply don't have any DRAKEs in 
the south prior to the Civil War.
ROPER, TALLANT, HOWARD, HASTY, yes, and they did own slaves and I've found 
some black cousins.

We don't want to refight the civil war, do we, Mom?

Shirley Maynard