Finding the Names — Installment 58 (Roll 7: New Orleans Inward Manifests, 1835–1836) — FREE

Finding the Names is a free series that transcribes America's slave-trade records from the National Archives' own scans, name by name, so descendants can find their families. Every installment is free — please share it.

Installment 58 — Roll 7, images 841–960 transcribed name by name by hand: 2,032 more entries (2,001 named, 31 unnamed) on 69 manifests, 435 pages — the largest installment yet. The series now holds 37,921 transcribed entries. A divider at image 945 opens the "Jan.–March 1836" section.

This installment's papers argue about their own numbers. Two different brigs named Isaac Franklin sail from Alexandria weeks apart: December's table numbers 171 entries and foots itself "One hundred and Seventy one Slaves," while her clearance certificate authorises "one hundred and twenty one" — fifty people unaccounted for between the two papers. The brig Tribune's table likewise foots "One hundred and seventy" against Collector Brent's certificate of "One hundred and twenty." The brig Miles King's permission says "twenty one" against her table's 71 — apparently one consignment's count written into the whole ship's paper. And the brig Virginia's table runs to 167 entries, one line cancelled outright, against her Richmond permission's 165. Every figure is printed as written.

The deaths are heavier here. The brig Orion's Balize endorsement reads "Correct with the exception of Six, old & young, died on the passage," with faint "Died" notes and October dates standing against entries in her 54–61 range; her permission counts 113 entries, but seven of those lines are "& Child" lines, so 120 people are actually described. On the September Adelaide, one of Sally's children "fell over board." And on the schooner Hunter, Fanny Chandler's entry is crossed with an X and the examiner writes her dead.

The examiners keep correcting the clerks: Charles Wright "stated as a male who is a female, called Charlotte Wright"; Henry Calvert — "Should be Jenny Calvert, female"; Frank Banks and Darkus Monroe likewise. Reno Henson draws two reports that cannot both be true: the Balize officer cannot find her on board, the New Orleans inspector reports her sex misstated. A child was born on the Tribune's passage; Julianna of the Caleb Goodwin was "being Absent" at her inspection. Small things, kept as written: Dublin Bazel at 6 ft 9 in; Jack, aged 4, whose height column reads simply "Boy"; and Willis Johnston, 21 years old and 2 ft 4 in tall.

Includes a searchable CSV name list of all 2,032 entries (name, vessel, age, shipper, and more). Honest about gaps: illegible and conflicting entries are flagged, never silently fixed.

With Installments 1–58 the series now holds 37,921 transcribed entries. Start with the free guide, "Finding the Names," and the free Complete Set, which gathers everything so far in one download.

— Okey and Susan Barker, Trails End