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Found this database a while ago and wanted to share.
This link should be helpful if:
The Virginia Emigrants to Liberia Project…
Between 1820 and 1865, about 3,700 African Americans sailed from Virginia to make a new home on the West Coast of Africa. Many died of tropical diseases; others struggled for survival. Some thrived and became leaders of Liberia, the first independent republic in Africa. The American Colonization Society sponsored this migration nationally, although they were chronically short of the funds needed to pay for emigrants' passage and resettlement. The Society's voluminous records at the Library of Congress contain relatively untapped information illuminating the lives of free and enslaved black Americans in the United States and Africa. This project focuses on Virginia, the state with the most support for colonization and the largest number of black emigrants.
Information for Virginia Emigrants to Liberia comes from the Library of Congress and many other sources. The heart of the project is a database with two searchable tables. The Emigrants table contains--when available--full names, ages, family relationships, place of origin and destination, literacy, occupation, and more. The Emancipators table includes county, year of emancipations, and other information on more than two hundred Virginians who manumitted emigrants to Liberia. Other resources include stories of some emigrants and emancipators and related primary sources. Together, the information contained here facilitates deeper research into African American genealogy and history and new understandings of interpersonal relationships and global history.
About This Project
Historian Marie Tyler-McGraw's research on Virginia's role in the African colonization movement resulted in the book An African Republic: Black and White Virginians in the Making of Liberia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007), but much of the information compiled on Virginia emigrants to Liberia remained unpublished. Rather than have this material languish in files, she wanted to make her research available to others. She enlisted the help of historian Deborah Lee to develop a database of Virginia emigrants to Liberia and emancipators. Partnering with the Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County, they obtained a grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities to expand the database with additional sources. In 2006, the Virginia Center for Digital History agreed to develop and host a website that would include the database and additional supporting materials. The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities continued its generous support.
The website now includes a searchable database of nearly 3700 Virginia emigrants to Liberia and nearly 250 Virginia emancipators, a timeline of relevant events and documents between 1787 and 1866, a compilation of important related sources, links to related research websites and news of Liberia today.
SEARCH for Ancestors/Family: Virginia Emigrants to Liberia
SEARCH Letters:
The collection consists of twelve complete letters, appended notes, and letter fragments written between 1830 and 1854 by emancipated slaves residing in Liberia. Their former master Benjamin Major and his family, of Eureka, Ill., were the recipients. The letters were written by four different individuals, Tolbert Major, Austin Major, Wesley Harland, and Tolbert’s wife, Selvay. In the letters they describe the vagaries of life in Africa, family matters, the weather and native vegetation, and the recurring problems that occurred with the indigenous population. Requests were also made to Benjamin Major for a variety of supplies, such as cotton and paper, which were scarce or needed to replace items that were lost at various times. Greetings were passed to family members and acquaintances still in the country. Other people represented include Agnes Harlan, Lucy Majors, George Harland, Edward Watkins, John Majors, Enock Harlands, and Shelvay Bradson. Also included in the collection are draft transcriptions of the letters and a short history of Liberia and the American Colonization Society compiled by Kristy Gebhardt in 1994.
Liberian Letters Search Link #1: Catalog facet results | UVA Library | Virgo
Liberian Letters Search Link #2: Major collection of letters from Liberia, 1830-1854 and 1994 (Part 3, 2013: "Make Way for Liberty!") NUCMC and the Documentary Heritage of the Civil War (National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC), Library of Congress)
This link should be helpful if:
- You and/or your ancestors are from (or was enslaved in) Virginia?
- If you are Liberian-American or Liberian.
- You have ancestors who were free people of color in Colonial Virginia or Colonial America --- or ancestors who were enslaved in Virginia?
- If you have any ancestors who emigrated to Liberia (or may have emigrated) through the American Colonization Society?
The Virginia Emigrants to Liberia Project…
Between 1820 and 1865, about 3,700 African Americans sailed from Virginia to make a new home on the West Coast of Africa. Many died of tropical diseases; others struggled for survival. Some thrived and became leaders of Liberia, the first independent republic in Africa. The American Colonization Society sponsored this migration nationally, although they were chronically short of the funds needed to pay for emigrants' passage and resettlement. The Society's voluminous records at the Library of Congress contain relatively untapped information illuminating the lives of free and enslaved black Americans in the United States and Africa. This project focuses on Virginia, the state with the most support for colonization and the largest number of black emigrants.
Information for Virginia Emigrants to Liberia comes from the Library of Congress and many other sources. The heart of the project is a database with two searchable tables. The Emigrants table contains--when available--full names, ages, family relationships, place of origin and destination, literacy, occupation, and more. The Emancipators table includes county, year of emancipations, and other information on more than two hundred Virginians who manumitted emigrants to Liberia. Other resources include stories of some emigrants and emancipators and related primary sources. Together, the information contained here facilitates deeper research into African American genealogy and history and new understandings of interpersonal relationships and global history.
About This Project
Historian Marie Tyler-McGraw's research on Virginia's role in the African colonization movement resulted in the book An African Republic: Black and White Virginians in the Making of Liberia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007), but much of the information compiled on Virginia emigrants to Liberia remained unpublished. Rather than have this material languish in files, she wanted to make her research available to others. She enlisted the help of historian Deborah Lee to develop a database of Virginia emigrants to Liberia and emancipators. Partnering with the Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County, they obtained a grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities to expand the database with additional sources. In 2006, the Virginia Center for Digital History agreed to develop and host a website that would include the database and additional supporting materials. The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities continued its generous support.
The website now includes a searchable database of nearly 3700 Virginia emigrants to Liberia and nearly 250 Virginia emancipators, a timeline of relevant events and documents between 1787 and 1866, a compilation of important related sources, links to related research websites and news of Liberia today.
SEARCH for Ancestors/Family: Virginia Emigrants to Liberia
SEARCH Letters:
The collection consists of twelve complete letters, appended notes, and letter fragments written between 1830 and 1854 by emancipated slaves residing in Liberia. Their former master Benjamin Major and his family, of Eureka, Ill., were the recipients. The letters were written by four different individuals, Tolbert Major, Austin Major, Wesley Harland, and Tolbert’s wife, Selvay. In the letters they describe the vagaries of life in Africa, family matters, the weather and native vegetation, and the recurring problems that occurred with the indigenous population. Requests were also made to Benjamin Major for a variety of supplies, such as cotton and paper, which were scarce or needed to replace items that were lost at various times. Greetings were passed to family members and acquaintances still in the country. Other people represented include Agnes Harlan, Lucy Majors, George Harland, Edward Watkins, John Majors, Enock Harlands, and Shelvay Bradson. Also included in the collection are draft transcriptions of the letters and a short history of Liberia and the American Colonization Society compiled by Kristy Gebhardt in 1994.
Liberian Letters Search Link #1: Catalog facet results | UVA Library | Virgo
Liberian Letters Search Link #2: Major collection of letters from Liberia, 1830-1854 and 1994 (Part 3, 2013: "Make Way for Liberty!") NUCMC and the Documentary Heritage of the Civil War (National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC), Library of Congress)
