Accomac Roots

At present, this database of African American families focuses mainly upon those who lived on Chincoteague Island (CI), Virginia from 1800 to 1930. Some mainland families are included as the search to trace the roots of CI blacks almost always leads back there.

As of now, all of the African American families and individuals who lived on CI from 1850 to 1930 have been added to the database (some families traced back to ~1800). As research progresses and new names are added, the database will be updated (at least quarterly). If you have an interest in a family that is not yet in the database, feel free to contact us at the link below. More information may be available.


Contents
Surnames
Contact
Home Card
Index
Sources

Use the above contents links to search the database. The normal strategy would be to click on "Surnames" to find a particular family name. Click on a surname/lastname and a list of all of the individuals will appear. Clicking an individual's name will bring up that person's family page (parents, spouse, and children). Clicking on any individual on a family page will bring up that individual's "person page," complete with references/sources.

Most source notations, however, are cryptic. For example, most census references are limited to a year and a name. The names are those indexed online in the Heritage Quest database. For those using other databases or microfilm, consult the census files on this site for heads of family names as they appear in the census and page number references.

A bibliography of book titles is included on the site. The notations in the database should be sufficient to get you to the right book in the Bibliography. No attempt has been made to include book page numbers. Most of the information in the books sourced is alphabetical by the name of the person(s). If you can't find something, feel free to inquire of us.


Disclaimers:

This is a barebones website, i.e., in process. 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 the census records are difficult to read and/or interpret. Given this fact, you will find some names and dates marked with a "?". Where different sources give different dates, all are noted and referenced.

Where uncertainty of family relationships exist, notes are included as to best present thoughts and reasoning. Errors in analysis do and will occur. Don't be reluctant to raise questions.

Almost all of the surnames end with a (B). That is because this database is a subset of a much larger 27,000 person file containing both blacks and whites. In order to be able to extract the present database, black surnames were tagged in the original with a (B). No attempt was made to differentiate between black and mulatto. Some years of the census draw this distinction, others do not; and the designation sometimes changes for an individual from one census to the next. Also, be aware of the fact that Native Americans and other persons of color were designated as Negro or mulatto in the census and other official records.

Contact

accomacroots@gmail.com
www.accomacroots.com
604 Scarlet Oak Court
Woodsboro, MD 21798
410-857-2497

Created 14 Oct 2006 by Reunion, from Leister Productions, Inc.