Finding the Names, Volume One, Installment 6: New Orleans Inward Manifests, 1820–1821

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The sixth installment of Finding the Names, Volume One — our name-by-name transcription of the slave ship manifests filed at the port of New Orleans, taken directly from the original records at the National Archives.

In this installment: 290 entries (283 of them named) on 49 manifests and documents, Roll 1 images 610–729 — the inward manifests of late 1820 into the spring of 1821. 102 pages, 6x9, large print. With Installments 1–5, the project now holds 2,171 entries.

What the papers themselves say: On the brig Chatsworth, Henry, 35, was listed — but the inspector at the Balize reported Henry was NOT on board, and a woman named Henrietta was found answering in his place. A man named Cesar was erased at the Norfolk collector's office before his ship cleared, his particulars scraped away. The schooner James Monroe's voyage was filed twice, and the two filings disagree (Silva is 14 on one, 20 on the other) — both are printed in full. The schooner Harriet carried Daniel Wadsworth's eight-person household group, from Jacob, 60, down to two children of 3. The schooner Hannah's 63 people match her certificate exactly. On the brig Emilie, an infant of twenty months is entered simply as "Kesiah's child." And one outward paper, the schooner St. Stephens' "voyage of pleasure," sits filed among the inward manifests.

Art frontispiece: Joshua Johnson, The Westwood Children, c. 1807 — Johnson was born enslaved and became America's earliest documented Black professional portrait painter. National Gallery of Art, public domain.

Every word was transcribed by hand from the National Archives' own scans: Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36, Microfilm Publication M1895, Roll 1 (NAID 173899247). No index and no other book was copied. Names are spelled exactly as the clerks wrote them; uncertain readings are marked [?].

Made to help families find their ancestors. The companion guide and the Complete Set (guide + all installments so far, one download) are also free in this store. Please share freely — that is what it is for.

— Okey and Susan Barker, Trails End, Tiger Mountain, Oklahoma