Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Photographer May 26, 1940 VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST – Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption, 435 South Fifth Street, Louisville, Jefferson County, KY, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
We are excited to share a new 10 Million Names database today, Kentucky: Enslaved Church Records Project. These valuable records were provided by Reckoning, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to examine the legacy of slavery in America and to create ways for communities to engage with this information through research projects, media productions, educational curricula, online content, and other means. Reckoning, Inc.’s Kentucky Enslaved Church Records Project is made possible by grants from the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the Sisters of Loretto.
Reckoning, Inc. provided records from 28 Catholic parishes in Kentucky, and we were able to pull from them 11,645 records and 26,456 names. This database includes both antebellum and post-slavery baptismal records, birth records, marriage records for each spouse, death/burial records, and church records of enslaved sponsors. By closely examining these church records, it is possible to identify what surnames many formerly-enslaved Black families used in the post-slavery period.
During the slavery era in Kentucky, many religious institutions kept records that mentioned the names of enslaved people. Sometimes they were simply listed in church registers as part of the household of its members, and sometimes it meant that enslaved people were included in the various religious rites of that religion (e.g. baptism, confirmation, marriage, death).
Reckoning, Inc. has digitized, transcribed, and indexed church records for Catholic parishes in Kentucky that were translated from the original Latin, mostly by one Catholic priest named Father John Lyons. The Catholic baptismal records generally include the name of the child, the name of the mother, the name of the mother’s enslaver, and at least one sponsor (Godparent). In addition, some records also include the name of the father and the father’s enslaver. Given this detailed information, it is possible to identify many family groups with at least a mother and her children, and sometimes also including the father.
This database will continue to grow as Reckoning, Inc. digitizes, transcribes, and indexes similar records kept by other churches across Kentucky.
This database is presented as part of 10 Million Names, a project which aims to recover names and restore information to families of the estimated 10 million women, men, and children of African descent who were enslaved in the U.S. until emancipation through a collaborative network of expert genealogists, historians, cultural institutions, and descendant communities. This project seeks to amplify the voices of people who have been telling their family stories for centuries, connect researchers and data partners with people seeking answers to their family history questions, and expand access to data, resources, and information about enslaved African Americans.
This database is available to all members, including Guest Members, as part of 10 Million Names.