Robert Norwood's Freedmen Bureau Labor Contract - 1865





"When de war ended ole Mars was still away in it, but he write a letter one day tellin' us dat we was free as he was. Den he came home an' hit was a big day ob great rejoicin'. We was so glad he came back safe to us. We stayed wid him eight years longer an' wuked fer wages." Dave Walker, ex-slave of Richmond Walker in Simpson County, Mississippi

Extracted by Linda Durr Rudd
LRudd@aol.com

FREEDMEN LABOR CONTRACT - LIST OF FREEDMEN
Planter: Robert Norwood
County: Simpson
Date: August 29, 1865

NAME, AGE

ALBERT, 27
AMANDA, 3
ARMSTEAD, 40
BETTIE, 12
BETTIE, 70
CALVIN, 6
CAROLINE, 2
DAVID, 1
EASTER, 12
ELICK, 13
ELIZABETH, 35
ELLEN, 20
EVANDER, 4
GEORGE, 1
HARRIET, 6
HENRIETTA, 18
HULDY, 4
ISHMAEL, 6
JACK, 1
JACK, 40
JEFFERY, 23
JOSEPH, 2
LEVI, 5
LOUIS, 2
LUCINDA, 30
NED, 23
NELSON, 30
NICEY, 10 or 70
SARAH, 10

NOTE: Robert Norwood was b. 1844 in Mississippi. He was the son of Isaiah Norwood and Amanda Magee, grandson of John Norwood and Catherine Powell. Robert is not listed in the Mississippi slave schedules as owning slaves in 1860.

SOURCE

Freedmen's Labor Contract
Microfiche Number: 47-061
"The Norwood Family, 1999" Compiled by John and Carroll Bolton
Slave Narrative of Dave Walker
Records found at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Remembering Their Names