Hi Traci, Often times when I find a will of a relative, (I am white), there is a list of slaves and their distribution to wives, dau's and sons. Of course, there are no last names for them. I was told long ago that many took the last name of their owner. I can't imagine they would want to if their owner was not a decent "master". Nevertheless, I am anxious to know if that pans out to be true for the majority of ex-slaves? I also am anxious to help out any African American tracing their roots. The only way I feel I can encompass my research and also help out on the research for people whose ancestors were slaves, is to post the info from a will that mentions the slaves names. Is that helpful at all? Unless they took the name of their owner, it may be info too vague to be of assistance, but I am looking to you to let me know. I truly feel that any of us with ancestors that held slaves would be more than happy to help out. A will is documented evidence, of course, but could it help an African American search? I had communication with you quite a while back regarding this MOFRANKL board and your efforts to get info on African Americans. I am so impressed with the sites you have in your last email to the board with all the sites. But when I clicked on them, they did not come up. Maybe a problem on my end. I was trying to see if the "Will" site was for only African American wills or any will with info regarding slaves held by white. Please let me know. Bye for now, Traci Marsha McGee Bowen