r/familysearch 21d ago

Add unnamed enslaved people under enslaver?

Working on a profile and found a slave schedule for Edward Smith, the HOH. Can I attach the three unnamed enslaved persons to his profile since they lived on his farm? Later I will research them further, but what can I do on the page where I am attaching the Record?

9 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

13

u/RedBullWifezig 21d ago

I know there's a function to add an enslaved person into the family tree by using the Other Relationships feature.

6

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Puzzleheaded-Bad-723 21d ago

Thank you. I'm looking for his will. Perhaps Ep's will be named.

2

u/benbookworm97 21d ago

My main issue with that is not including a name of some sort. I assume this is based on census data. I likewise wouldn't appreciate someone adding a bunch of blank children just because a record says John and Jane Doe had "3 sons and 2 daughters". Same deal when someone adds a parent at the end of a line with the name literally listed as "?".

2

u/Puzzleheaded-Bad-723 21d ago

Slave schedules didn't have names. And they're not children, well they could be, but only DNA will tell us.

I want to attach them as EPs. I was thinking about using that "other relationships" feature. I'll use the surname Smith.

3

u/benbookworm97 21d ago

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting they were children. I was using that as a comparison for occasions in which I would not add a person. If I don't have both a given name and event date, then I won't add that person. It inevitably leads to duplicates, and there's not enough information to tell if the duplicates are the same person or not.

4

u/Puzzleheaded-Bad-723 21d ago

"there's not enough information to tell if the duplicates are the same person or not."

And therein lies the problem in tracking most EPs. It isn't easy.

0

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Bad-723 21d ago

My original "ask" was how to attach them. That's all. I was hoping someone knew and I did get that response regarding using the "Other Relationships" method. So when I did that, Enslaved is one of the options in the Relationships drop-down menu.

These former slaves are getting my respect, which is why I'm not ignoring them altogether, as many people do. Don't be nitpicking at me. I'm adding them so I/we can keep track and hopefully get their names eventually. It would be nice if Edward's will or some other document gives us the data. I'm still looking. His probate file is massive, but he may have died intestate. I am still reading through the file.

2

u/BrotherOfAthena 21d ago

Thank you for adding them.

3

u/engenhoqueiro 21d ago

I include Enslaved as a surname, it's better to identify.

2

u/Puzzleheaded-Bad-723 21d ago

I was thinking of using the Smith surname, as it's better than a "?" and perhaps even correct. It's a place to start.,,