Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Make sure you can see the video → patreon.com/NYTN (patreon.com/NYTN)
This week I'm walking you through how to actually use the Freedmen's Bureau records — what they are, what they capture, and how to find your own family inside them.
In the episode I cover what the Bureau actually was, how to find the field office that served your ancestor's county or parish, the search trick that breaks through when the ancestor name search fails, and what you'll see when you finally pull up a contract. My third great-granduncle Valery Perot Jr. is the example — found on a labor contract at Oak Hill Plantation in Natchitoches Parish, January 1867, signed with an X.
Search the Freedmen’s Bureau
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/freedmens-bureau
more ways to search!
FamilySearch (free) — start here. familysearch.org (https://familysearch.org) → Catalog → search the state name + "Freedmen" → browse the field office that served your ancestor's parish or county.
National Archives (NARA). archives.gov → Microfilm Publication M1905 covers Louisiana; parallel publications exist for every former Confederate state, plus the border states and Washington D.C.
Ancestry (paid tho). The collection title is "U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Records, 1865–1878." Name-based search covers some but not all of the indexed records. When name search fails, browse by the planter's surname instead.
Make sure you can see the video → patreon.com/NYTN (patreon.com/NYTN)
This week I'm walking you through how to actually use the Freedmen's Bureau records — what they are, what they capture, and how to find your own family inside them.
In the episode I cover what the Bureau actually was, how to find the field office that served your ancestor's county or parish, the search trick that breaks through when the ancestor name search fails, and what you'll see when you finally pull up a contract. My third great-granduncle Valery Perot Jr. is the example — found on a labor contract at Oak Hill Plantation in Natchitoches Parish, January 1867, signed with an X.
Search the Freedmen’s Bureau
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/freedmens-bureau
more ways to search!
FamilySearch (free) — start here. familysearch.org (https://familysearch.org) → Catalog → search the state name + "Freedmen" → browse the field office that served your ancestor's parish or county.
National Archives (NARA). archives.gov → Microfilm Publication M1905 covers Louisiana; parallel publications exist for every former Confederate state, plus the border states and Washington D.C.
Ancestry (paid tho). The collection title is "U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Records, 1865–1878." Name-based search covers some but not all of the indexed records. When name search fails, browse by the planter's surname instead.
