Welcome
to the . . . .
Servitude and
Emancipation Records Database, 1722–1863
An
Index Compiled by the Illinois State Archives
Entering Search Criteria
Enter text in the name of servant, slave or free black, name of
other party and date fields or choose a term from the drop-down
menus in the county, sex, race and document fields to restrict the search to only those records
which CONTAIN your search terms in these fields. Searches are not case
sensitive: you may use any combination of upper and lower case
letters. Click the "Search" button
after you have typed your search term. Searches
may be conducted on any single field or any single field in
combination with the county. Valid search criteria include:
- By name of
county
- By name of
indentured servant, slave or free black
- By name of other
party
- By sex of the
indentured servant, slave or free black
- By race for the
indentured servant, slave or free black
- By document type
- By the date of
the document
- By name of
county and name of indentured servant, slave or free black
- By name of
county and name of other party
- By name of
county and sex of the indentured servant, slave or free black
- By name of
county and race for the indentured servant, slave or free
black
- By name of
county and document type
- By name of
county and the date of the document
In many of these early records,
slaves, servants, and even free blacks are identified only by a
Christian name or sometimes by no name at all. The name of a master
or other party to the transaction may be the only evidence of the
identity of such poorly identified individuals. To search the
database for a slave, servant, free black or master, witness, or
other related party enter in the search field a surname or given
name or the surname followed by a comma and the given name. (For
example: type PITMAN or JOHN
or PITMAN, JOHN.) To find all
records in which the slave, servant, or free black is not identified
by any name, enter in the search field [NO
NAME LISTED.].
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Servitude and Emancipation Records. |
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