A section devoted to African-American Whitsett families

Albert Whitsett, Former Slave
Contributed by Bernice Mitchell and Brandon Donnell

Albert Whitsett 1828-1888

Several of the white southern Whitsett families were slave owners before the Civil War. When the 1870 census was taken there were black families with the surname Whitsett in many of the counties in the south where Whitsett's lived. It is likely these were former slaves who settled close to where they were once bound in servitude. Slave schedules for 1840, 1850 and 1860 show which families owned slaves, the number, sex and age groups of their slaves, but, unfortunately, not their names.

Sue and I became interested in this project when we learned that her ancestor Isaac Whitsett, living in pre-Civil War Lauderdale County, Alabama was a slave owner. The 1840 through 1860 census returns show that he had a few slaves living in his household. Except for children they were all women. It appears that they were domestic servants probably used as help bringing up Isaac's large family (of that large family, no children and only one grandchild survived past 1870 (Sue's ancestor). The 1870 census lists one black Whitsett family in Lauderdale County headed by Sally Whitsett. She had at least three sons with the surname Whitsett.

As this project progresses I hope to place family trees, family history and any raw source documents I find that might help identify the ancestors of African-American Whitsett families. This is a project I am trying to get off the ground. Please revisit the site occasionally to see if any new material has been posted.

We were thrilled when Brandon Donnell first contacted us followed by other members of his extended family. They are the descendants of Albert and Rebecca Whitsett of Simpsonville, Rockingham County, North Carolina. With their help we were first able to add some substance to this section of our web site.

If you are interested in publicizing your Whitsett ancestry, please contact me at ronwall@whitsett-wall.com

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