Hello Mary Ellen:

The Cornell Library has incredible databases for historical and genealogical research. One of their offerings is The Cornell University Library: New York State Historical Literature. Its title may not seem to be a site for researching primary documents. But indeed it is. I've posted this link on another Afrigeneas page, but I'm not sure that everyone understands its significance.

It includes wills and documents that name free and enslaved people of color. Most importantly, it often chronicles the names in wills, for example, of people living outside of New York often linking them to the South. I've found several names of slaveowners, and prominent families from Florida, Louisiana and Tennessee.

Plug in the obvious descriptive words/names such as slave, negro, mulatto, or states and cities and of course the names of the people that you are researching. Good Luck.

K Wyer Lane

PS: Cornell's Making of America is another research gem.

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/index.html