At present, this database of African American families focuses on the Oldfield community of Frederick County, MD. Some families from other areas may be included, as they were found to relate to Oldfield. Over time this file will grow as the family lines of other individuals and other areas are traced. Given that individuals moved around over time, or were located near more than one community, we have generally not tried to mark individuals as belonging to a particular community. The cemetery in which an individual is buried is perhaps the best indication of ties to a particular community. So, check the cemetery listings, as that information is not always included in the individual's information in the database.
Given that most of the African Americans in the mid to late 1800's had slave roots, our objective is to document that aspect of each family line. We welcome contributions of any information that might lead to that goal. To survive and rise from the tyranny of slavery was no small accomplishment. That accomplishment that deserves to be documented and remembered.
If you wish to contribute information to this database, contact us at the contact link on any of the main FrederickRoots pages. While we will try to update this file periodically, it will always be out of date. So if you do not find the person(s) in whom you are interested, feel free to contact us to see if we have any relevant information that has not been posted.
Individuals in the database that have a (W) following their surname are white. All others may be assumed to be black. Some white individuals have been included, as they were found to relate in some way to the history of the African American communities, property owners, slave owners, or just neighbors.
Contents
Disclaimer: This is a barebones database, i.e., a work in progress. As such,
you may find typing errors (hopefully not very many in person's names).
For these, we apologize. Notify us and we'll fix them. If the spelling
leaves some fact unclear, contact us.
Many times source records are difficult to read and/or interpret. Given
this fact, you will find some names, dates, etc. marked with a "?".
Where different sources give different information, all are generally
noted and referenced or can be found in the Notes sections for the individual.
Where uncertainty of family relationships exists, notes are included as
to our present thoughts and reasoning. Errors in analysis will and do
occur, and differing conclusions can be drawn from the same data. Don't
be reluctant to raise questions. Since the information contained in these
files was generated while research was/is in progress, you may run across
the researcher's musing, ideas, and miscellaneous notes in the Notes sections.
These generally are set off in [ ] to distinguish them from source material
content.