Introduction to the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands Collection

What recently released FREE collection on Ancestry.com is bigger than the 1880 United States Census?

It's the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, commonly known as the Freedman's Bureau, which "was established in 1865 as a means to provide aid to newly emancipated people transitioning from slavery to freedom. It supported more than 4 million people, which included some impoverished white people and veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops."

The Bureau was the earliest expression of the Federal government taking responsibility for assisting indigent citizens, over 60 years before FDR's New Deal. The Bureau used the full weight and resources of the Federal government to help its citizens.

After the four year struggle of the Civil War much of the economy was in shambles. The Freedman's Bureau was a huge effort, especially directed to the former slave states, to construct a new economy. The most lasting legacy of the Freedmen's Bureau were the schools established to educate the children of former enslaved people. It also offered hospitals, employment, work transportation, and food, to those in need.

Jerry and Wayne, facilitators of the WCGIG, will give an introduction to this incredible resource, which is free to all even if you do not have a Ancestry.com subscription. Whether or not you have enslaved people as ancestors or family who were touched by the assistance of the Freedmen's Bureau, you will get an insight to what these records can provide.

We will explore pensions, letters, labor contracts, marriages, and other record sets. Part of the session will be devoted to sharing our genealogical research questions and planning topics for the next meeting.

We hope to see you there. Register for the meeting at https://bit.ly/WindhamGen6. The Brooks Memorial Library, our partner (along with the Rockingham Public Library), has graciously "loaned" us their Zoom account to offer this meeting. Please do not sign-in until a few minutes before 10 AM.

If you have not yet completed the survey about possible topics to cover in future meetings, please do so now at https://forms.gle/qkjDcuvpnqV1XCYz5.

For more information please contact windhamcountygig@gmail.com.

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