Browse Items · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery

Ellen Johnson reunited with her mother after 50 years

The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

September 12, 1885

A NOTABLE GATHERING.
Five Generations Meet in This City--
A Family's Strange History.

Yesterday morning a reporter was directed
to visit No.246 Linden square, where a
colored family by the name of Johnson resided,
and assured that he would there find
an interesting item. Ellen Johnson, the
mistress of the house, told a very peculiar…

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Jeff Frierson and Mary Burt reunited and remarried after 44-year separation

The Nashville American (Nashville, TN)

September 25, 1903

AFTER FORTY-FOUR YEARS

Jeff Frierson and Mary Burt Are Reunited
in Marriage.

Special Dispatch to The American.

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 24. --
A somewhat romantic marriage occurred
in colored circles last night. The
facts about it are these: Before the
Civil War, and in slave times, Jeff
Frierson, a slave belonging to the…

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Vina Johnson reunited with her first husband after 43 years

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 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.
Johnson, in…

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Nat Miller reunited with his sister

Lawrence Daily World (Lawrence, KS)

March 28, 1904

After fifty years of separation,
Nat Miller, the colored janitor has
found his sister whom he lost during
slavery times Nat Miller is now
54 years old and his sister about 67.

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INTEROCEAN_18851120_SKIPWARTH_.EMELINE.jpg

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…

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Richard Jones and Jane Vaughn reunited and married in 1899

The Kansas City Gazette (Kansas City, KS)

January 16, 1899

A Romance of Slavery.

Saturday two ex-slaves, neither of
whom had ever been married before,
were granted a license to wed by probate
Judge Snyder. They were Richard
Jones, aged 55, and Jane Vaughn,
aged 40, both of this city. The two
negroes, when children, were owned
by the same master. When the war
was over and the slaves…

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"Uncle Levi" and "Aunt Aggie" reunited and remarried after 40 years

The Butler Weekly Times (Butler, MO)

January 30, 1884

A ROMANCE OF SLAVERY.

The Husband and Wife Torn Apart
Forty Years Ago Happily United.

Rome, Ga. Special to Courier-Journal.

That there are romances as touching
in negro life as were ever told is
proven by the story of a colored
couple named Uncle Levi and Aunt
Aggie, who lived in Cedartown Valley.
In 1840 Levi belonged to Mr.…

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Alexander Foley and his wife reunited and remarried after forty years

The Evening Bulletin (Maysville, KY)

November 27, 1891

REUNITED.

Slaves of Over Forty Years Ago Meet and
Will Be Remarried.

CARROLLTON, Ky., Nov. 27.—Alexander
Foley, of Natchez, Miss., a former
slave, arrived here a few days ago to
visit Dr. Goslie, who used to be his old
master. His surprise could be imagined
when he was told by Dr. Goslie that his
wife who was sold from him…

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Brothers Joshua Collins and Solomon Collins meet in Cincinnati after decades-long separation

The Highland Weekly News (Hillsboro, OH)

October 17, 1867

Two brothers, colored, met in the streets of Cincinnati, last Sunday, after a separation of sixty years. Their names are Joshua and Solomon Collins. They were both formerly slaves in Fleming county, Virginia. Joshua bought his freedom in 1849, and re-moved to Cincinnati, where he has since resided. Solomon ran away from his master, then living in…

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Robert Warren and Charity Atwater reunited after 53 years and remarry

Davenport Sunday Democrat (Davenport, IA)

June 6, 1897

Married After Fifty-three Years.

Oskaloosa, June 5. There was solemnized here today a wedding that reunited “Uncle” Robert Warren, of 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 Carolina, 60 years ago. Seven years later after five children…

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Rev. Mack Henson finds his father

The Austin Weekly Statesman (Austin, TX)

March 26, 1891

A SAD DEATH.

After Many Years an Aged Father Meets His
Son and Soon After Dies.

A pathetic death occurred in thi
city day before yesterday that i
worthy of more than a passing notice.

Since the war Rev. Mack Henson, a
colored preacher of this city, who because
of his earnestness as a minister
and his courteous and gentlemanly…

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Mrs. Louisa Fry reunited with her mother, "Aunty" Strong, for first time since the Civil War

Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA)

March 22, 1908

FOUND HER AGED MOTHER
Reunion After Separation During
Slavery Days
Special to The Inquirer.
ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., March 21.—
Mrs. Louisa Fry, an aged colored woman
of Pleasantville, has just found her moth-
er [mother], whom she has not seen since the slaves
on a plantation near Charlottesburg, Va.,
were liberated at the close of the…

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Mrs. Jas. Coakley found her uncle (2nd of 2 ads)

The Richmond Planet (Richmond, VA)

November 13, 1909

FOUND HER UNCLE

The Planet as an Advertising
Medium.

The publication of an enquiry
notice in the columns of the
PLANET recently brought the fol-
lowing results:
214[?] 14th Street.
New Albany, Ind., Dec. 21, 1909.
DEAR EDITOR.—
I write to inform you that I have
found my uncle whom I have been
looking for. I can not express…

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Brothers George Drane, Phil Dougherty, and Charley Dougherty reunited after 60 years

The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

December 26, 1919

3 BROTHERS, PARTED BY
SLAVE BLOCK, REUNITED
Meet for the First Time in Louisville
in More than Half a
Century.
LOUISVILLE, Ky., Dec. 26.--The
slave block, once the center of com-
merce in New Orleans, has rotted,
and even its former site has been oblitera-
ted by the hand of progress. But
memories of Christmas, seventy years
ago…

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Abraham Blackburn finds his mother after writing 236 letters of inquiry

The Chicago Weekly Tribune (Chicago, IL)

December 8, 1886

REUNITED AT LAST

A Newburg Colored Man's Long Search for
His Mother -- Both Sold in 1862

An incident has just come to light in this
city which is a strong reminder of old slavery
days in the South, and which illustrates sever-
al phases of human character. Mr. Abraham
Blackburn, a colored man 35 years old, had
been in the employ of the…

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Mrs. Woodsen finds sister Mrs. Culton after 42-year separation

Pittsburgh Dispatch (Pittsburgh, PA)

July 12, 1891

WERE SOLD IN SLAVERY.

Story of Two Sisters Who Were Reunited
After Forty-Two Years.

BONNE TERRE, Mo., July 11.--An event
rather out of the usual line occurred here
this week in the meeting of two sisters,col-
ored women, who under the operation of the
old slavery regime were separated 42 years
ago, when both were children, and had…

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