Before Emancipation, Bullock County, Alabama didn’t exist this is how it is “A County With No Slaves”. After the emancipation of slaves in 1865, Bullock was created from Pike, Macon, Montgomery, Barbour and pre 1840 you would have to include researching in Henry, Monroe, Covington and Henry County. Without this knowledge, you will find road blocks when trying to find your ancestors related to your family members on the 1870 Census. You will also need to research slaveholders in many counties and states as this is the only way to uncover
HELPFUL NOTES ABOUT CONDUCTING SLAVERY RESEARCH FOR BULLOCK COUNTY
- 80% of your Slavery research for individuals living in Bullock County will be in the Pike County records. No records for “Slavery” are in Bullock because it was created until AFTER Emancipation. Depending on where they were living in 1870, you will need to know the latitude and longitude lines of the area so that you can use a map to identify the true county they resided on in 1860 etc.
- Know the POST OFFICE location. Back then, the census takers used the post office location to identify the areas they would be taking their census. Because the county boundaries kept changing, note the post office and the town. That will help keep you on tract with where the slaves were living or working.
- Because slave holders migrated to Alabama after the Indian War in 1812 and because Alabama wasn’t identified as a state until after that, many of them didn’t have more than 10 slaves, sometimes under 30, and it was RARE to see them with over 50. There were slave holders with more than 50, but thankfully for our research it was rare. This makes identifying your ancestor helpful.