Britain's slave trade records go online

[Joanne98]

Source: Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's slave trading past gets a human face on Friday as an ancestry-tracing Web site starts putting the personal histories of the victims online for the first time.

The Web site, www.Ancestry.co.uk, posted 100,000 names of Barbados slaves registered in 1834 in the colony.

By December the site will contain the names of three million slaves from 700 registers in 23 British colonies, from South Africa to Sri Lanka between 1812-1834.

Members of the site can search free for ancestors by entering their relatives' first and last names and place of enslavement during that period.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSARM68297020070427?src=042707_1524_DOUBLEFEATURE_

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Now this is a good idea!

[jeff30997]

1. This is not a good idea...

This is a GREAT idea ! I say bravo ! :toast:

[Joanne98]

2. You too!

:hi:

[Pirate Smile]

3. Did anyone see Amazing Grace? Great movie.

[gorbal]

4. That's fantastic.

Do we have something like that in the US?

[Igel]

5. Not that I've heard of.

There are a few genealogy sites that have compiled records.

There are things like http://books.google.com/books?id=b7GX427EbLAC&pg=PA328&dq=slave+register#PPA328,M1 that have partial records (mostly *not* on Google books). I.e., Gallatin County, Illinois Slave Register, 1815-1839
by Rebecca Schmook, Mss5: 5B6387: 1 or William Bolling Slave Register, 1752-1890, Goochland County, Virginia by William Bolling.


(My father-in-law would have heard, no doubt; he's massively into his family's genealogy, tracking down not just his lineal ancestors but also all the descendants from his ancestors ... when you trace them back to the 1400s, you get lots and lots of names piling up real quick. Anyway, some of his folk owned slaves in Virgina (and elsewhere)--not hugely prominent, they were important in part of Virginia. And here and there I've run into references to a half-white slave or two from Virginia bearing his family name. Since *he* isn't notably racist, he'd also love to track down *their* descendants.)