Showing 105 ads
  • Tags: found

    • Found refers to ads that announce a person has been found. These ads often describe the search and include details about the reunion or upcoming reunion. The ads identified by this tag often detail years’ long searches and testify to the persistent desire of formerly enslaved people to reconnect with family and loved ones.

Sort by:
Woman reunited with her first husband after more than 50-year separation

Abilene Weekly Reflector (Abilene, KS)

January 8, 1891

A SLAVE'S ROMANCE. Reunited at Eighty with the Husband of Her Youth. A colored woman, bent nearly double with eighty years and a heavy bundle, was seen to board the Cincinnati Mail line packet yesterday afternoon, says the Louisville (Ky.) Post. Approaching the clerk of the boat she slowly untied a knot in the corner of her red bandana…

Transcription Completei

William Johnson responding to his father's advertisement

Southwestern Christian Advocate (New Orleans, LA)

April 29, 1886

Lost Friends Found Amen.
MR. EDITOR--I notice an inquiry
in the column for "Lost Friends"
from one Sims Johnson, inquiring
for his sons as follows: William,
James, George and Hiram. I am
his son William, I think, for that
is my father's name, and also my
brothers' names. He failed to give
his postoffice address, he only said
he lived…

Transcription Completei

William H. Todd finds his mother, age 100, after 40-year separation

Pittsburgh Dispatch (Pittsburgh, PA)

March 12, 1891

FOUND AT LAST.
A former Slave, Now in Ohio, Hears From
His Long-Lost Mother.
SPRINGFIELD, O., March 11, - After 40 years'
separation William H. Todd, an ex-slave at
Washington Court House, Fayette county, has
discovered the whereabouts of his mother, now
100 years old, living at Macon, GA., through a
letter received last night. …

Transcription Completei

William Davis and his sister Mary reunited after forty years separation

Appeal: A National Afro-American Newspaper (St. Paul and Minneapolis, MN)

August 14, 1897

SEPARATED FOR FORTY YEARS. Strange History of William Davis and His Sister, Once Slaves. Niles, Mich. Aug. 10. - Forty years ago William Davis and his sister Mary were slaves in the family of James Matlock, a rich Georgia planter. Just before the war Matlock died and William and Mary were sold to pay the debts of the estate. They were parted and…

Transcription Completei

Wesley Torry reunited with his wife after 21 years

Public Ledger (Memphis, TN)

June 28, 1882

ROMANTIC MEETING.

An Aged Colored Couple Renew
Acquaintance After Twenty-one
Years’ Separation.

San Antonio Express, 25.

Wesley Torry, an old and well
known colored man of this city, had
the pleasure last Saturday evening of
meeting his wife, whom he had not
seen before in twenty-one years, during
slavery times. An attempt of…

Transcription Completei

W. H. Jackson reconnected with Turner Petty's people

Southwestern Christian Advocate (New Orleans, LA)

April 24, 1884

MR. EDITOR.--I have got a let-
ter from Turner Petty's people
through the inquiry in the paper.
God bless the paper. It is bring-
ing the people together.
W. H. JACKSON.
Brenham, Texas.

Transcription Completei

Vina Johnson reunited with her husband George Perry after 43 years

The Highland Weekly News (Hillsboro, OH)

August 14, 1873

Wedding After Forty Years of
Separation.
Our town is all agog this morning
over the wedding that is to be cele-
brated [celebrated] in a day or two between Aunt
Vina Johnson, an old colored lady of
our place, and a former husband,
from whom she has been separated
for forty years. Forty-three years
ago Aunt Vina was the slave of a Mr.…

Transcription Completei

Valentine Toliver searching for their sister Pinnie and brother-in-law Robert

Southwestern Christian Advocate (New Orleans, LA)

December 16, 1886

MR. EDITOR--I have found out where my brother Emanuel and Stephen are by the help of the SOUTHWESTERN. So please to make another inquiry for my sister Pinnie and her husband Robin; Robert is his name, but they call him Robin; their eldest sons are named Stephen and Richard, and girls are Mame, Emmer and Caroline. I haven't called half of her…

Transcription Completei

Unnamed person replying to search for Mr. James Harris and Mrs. Rebecca Harris

Southwestern Christian Advocate (New Orleans, LA)

July 4, 1889

MR. EDITOR: I read in your issueof the SOUTHWESTERN, May 23,the inquiry of Mr. W. C. Temple-ton [Templeton], of No. 75 Donferth avenue,Jersey City, N. J., of the where-abouts [whereabouts] of my friend Mr. JamesHarris and his estimable wife,Mrs. Rachel Harris. We livedwith them in St. Louis, Mo., in1869 and 1870. I also was withhim steamboating…

Transcription Completei

Unnamed man finds his sister, Louisa Smith, through ad

The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, IN)

March 9, 1887

ROMANCES OF SLAVERY TIMES.
There are more romances of the cruel days of
slavery among the colored people, even a quar-
ter [quarter] of a century after the emancipation procla-
mation [proclamation], than white-skinned people are generally
aware. It is quite customary for inquiries to be
read from the pulpits of colored churches asking…

Transcription Completei

Unnamed father and son reunited

National Anti-Slavery Standard (New York, NY)

August 9, 1862

A Strange Incident.—Six years ago, a young black man in Maryland, tired of being a slave, took advantage of a propitious night, and ran away to Canada. On sending back an occasional message to his aged father, who remained behind in bonds, he found means, for some time, of procuring answers, until at length no more answers came. Then for five…

Transcription Completei

Unidentified person searching for Rev. P.J. Jackson (two items: ad and reply to ad)

St. Louis Palladium (St. Louis, MO)

August 22, 1903

INFORMATION WANTED-Con-
cerning the whereabouts of Rev. P. J.
Jackson, who formerly lived in Mem-
phis, Tenn. He came to St. Louis
about eight months ago and preached
in several churches in this city. Any
information will be thankfully re-
ceived at this office.

Transcription Completei

Unidentified parents reunited with their daughter after 20 years

Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD)

July 29, 1875

A TOUCHING SCENE.-The Newtown (Md.)
Gazette says: The steamer Tangier last Satur-
day [Saturday] landed at our wharf a negro woman who
had been sold "way down South" some twenty
years ago. She belonged to the Rush estate,
and her father and mother, whose heads are sil-
vered [silvered] with the frosts of many winters, have re-
mained…

Transcription Completei

Two sons find their father after decades-long separation

The Southern Standard (Arkadelphia, AR)

November 3, 1883

A Romance of Slavery.

Columbus (Ohio) Journal.

A very pretty story is told of the restoration
to his children of an old colored
man who was a slave before the late war.
He belonged to one master, while his
wife and two children, one of whom is
now a minister and the other a Columbus
coachman, were owned by another
man, who…

Transcription Completei

Tom Carnahan, the only black police officer in Lincoln, NE, finds his brother after two decades

The McCook Tribune (McCook, NE)

November 4, 1886

TOM CARNAHAN, the colored member of the Lincoln police force, has been treated to a genuine surprise by the arrival of his brother from Texas, whom he has not heard from in twenty years. Before the war Tom and his brother were slave chil-dren in Arkansas and were separated by the war. Tom drifted to the north and his brother to Texas. A short…

Transcription Completei

Susan Anderson found her brother and relatives

The Freeman (Indianapolis, IN)

September 29, 1894

The PLANET Found Them.
Editor of PLANET :
Please give me space to say a
few words concerning the "ad" for
lost friends. Mrs. Susan Anderson
received a letter the first [undecipherable] Mr.
Charles Braxton of [undecipherable]
that he knew the [undecipherable] in
Virginia. He knew the following
names in the "ad" and he is in Lake…

Transcription Completei

Sisters, Julia Lyon and Emeline Skipwarth, reunited after 40 years

The Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL)

November 20, 1885

AFTER MANY YEARS.

AFFECTING MEETING OF TWO SISTERS.

Special Telegram to the Inter Ocean.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich., Nov. 19.--Forty
years ago Julia and Emeline, two sisters,
were slaves upon the plantation of a master
by the name of Hall, in Kentucky. Emeline
left her sister one night, and with a party of
fugitives crossed the Ohio…

Transcription Completei

She found her lost brother

The Southwestern Christian Advocate (New Orleans, LA)

September 10, 1885

She Found Her Brother.
Lecturing on the merits of this
paper the other day in Shelbyville,
Ky., we turned to our column of
"Lost Friends," and began to read
the first notice upon whIch our
eyes tell. We had only read a few
lines, when springing up, a lady
said, "That is my brother." So it
was, and so it is daily. The
SOUTHWESTERN…

Transcription Completei

S. M. Hightower searching for their uncle Howard Hightower and several relatives

The Christian Recorder (Philadelphia, PA)

September 2, 1880

INFORMATION WANTED OF MY RE-
lation. My uncle's name is Howard
Hightower, his wife's name, Martha High
tower; three sons, Henry, Daniel and John;
daughters, Mary, Caroline and Harriet. I
have found Henry and Mary, who are living
in Greensboro, Ga. We all belonged to
William Hightower as late as 1862 '63, and
at his death we were divided.…

Transcription Completei

S. G. Wilson replying to previous ad placed that he has found his father

Appeal: A National Afro-American Newspaper (St. Paul and Minneapolis, MN)

October 24, 1891

Found His Father. Salt Lake City, Oct. 19, 1891. Editor The Appeal: Many thanks for the notice in "Seeking for the Lost" column. I have found my father. Respectfully, S. G. Wilson.

Transcription Completei

S. D. Handy located Mr. M. C. Gary's youngest brother Samuel Thomas in Cleveland, TN

Southwestern Christian Advocate (New Orleans, LA)

July 24, 1884

MR. EDITOR--Mr. M. C. Gary's
youngest brother lives at Cleve-
land [Cleveland], Tennessee, and his name is
Samuel Thomas. S. D. HANDY.

Transcription Completei

Robert Warren and Charity Atwater reunited and remarried after 53 years

Davenport Sunday Democrat (Davenport, IA)

June 6, 1897

Married After Fifty-three Years.
Oskaloosa, June 5. There was sol-
emnized [solemnized] here today a wedding that re-
united [reunited] “Uncle” Robert Warren, of Os-
kaloosa [Oskaloosa], and Charity Atwater, of North
Carolina, after a separation of 53 years.
The two were married according to
slave laws at Chapel Hill, North Caro-
lina…

Transcription Completei

Robert Cox reunited with his wife after 24 years

Richmond Daily Dispatch (Richmond, VA)

February 27, 1879

MANCHESTER AND VICINITY.
Midlothian.-The quiet village of Midlo-
thian [Midlothian] was the scene of an incident several
days ago the like of which rarely occurs.
In the spring of 1855, Robert Cox, a negro,
belonging then to a gentleman in this vi-
cinity [vicinity], was married to a woman of the same
neighborhood. Several months after…

Transcription Completei

Robert Anderson and Ida Pryor reunite and remarry

Staunton Daily Leader (Staunton, VA)

January 9, 1905

Romantic Lives Of Slave Couple.
A marriage license was issued at Hagerstown last week to Robert Anderson, of Weverton, aged 74 years, and Ida Pryor, of Staunton, aged 67, both colored. The story reads like a romance. The couple were married before the war and both were slaves down in South western Virginia. Anderson was sold and separated from…

Transcription Completei

Richard Zeigler finds his wife after 32 years

The National Tribune (Washington, DC)

February 22, 1883

Thirty-two Years in Search of a Wife.
[From the N. Y. Sun]
Richard Zeigler, colored, residing in the State
of North Carolina, recently received tidings of
his wife, from whom he has been separated for
thirty-two years. He has been looking for her
ever since the war. She was sold by slave
traders and he gradually lost all trace of her…

Transcription Completei