Among the new collections Findmypast recently added was United States, Black Loyalists evacuated, 1783 about the of Black Loyalists who were evacuated by the British from New York after defeat in the American War of Independence.
Findmypast has transcribed Book 1 and Book 2 of the Inspection Roll of Negroes held by the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC.
The records in the Inspection Roll of Negroes, also known as the Book of Negroes, include name, age, brief physical description, and accompanying Loyalist. The content varies according to the status of the individual evacuee (for instance, whether free, or former slave, or slave of a Loyalist).
The Book of Negroes exists in two original versions. They were created separately, but at the same time, by the British and the Americans as they registered the refugees. The British version, which can be viewed on the Nova Scotia Archives website, was compiled by officers of the British military and it is at The National Archives in England. The American version, which forms the basis of Graham Hodge’s Black Loyalist Directory, is at the National Archives in Washington.
According to the Nova Scotia Archives, “The Book of Negroes is the single most important document relating to the immigration of African Americans to Nova Scotia following the War of Independence. It includes the names and descriptions of 3,000 Black refugees registered on board the vessels in which they sailed from New York to Nova Scotia between 23 April and 30 November 1783.”
Must reading
Findmypast’s Stephen Rigden wrote an excellent blog post, The Black Loyalists and the importance of preserving Black history records, about his experience transcribing the Inspection Roll and what he found.
He also explained in the post why genealogists should consider transcribing records. “I’d recommend occasional transcription work to all family historians as a way of enlarging and enriching your understanding, and as a way of walking in the shoes of others. Think of the perpetrators and victims you might come across in crime records. Think of the poor souls admitted to workhouses. Think of the infant deaths in burial registers and their grieving parents. And, in records like these inspection rolls, think what it would have been like to have lived your life as the property of another person, to have had no freedom and no life fully your own.”
If you haven’t read Lawrence Hill’s epic novel, The Book of Negroes, I highly recommend it.
The two other new collections on Findmypast are marriage licences from the Diocese of Durham in England and Cambridgeshire licensed victuallers.
