David,

Thank you for posting this information and the links to the debates/sample slave schedule.

At the moment I'm looking through various antebellum court records,
post-emancipation records (Freedmen's Bureau & Freedman's Bank) and military pension files to develop some sort of methodology of
tracking enslaved ancestors. My research focus is Norfolk, Virginia and so my observations have been limited to that area.

I abstracted several slave schedules years ago, but never got around to analyzing them. I look forward to your suggestions or ideas on how to interpret the data.

My primary interests would be in finding methods of distinguishing slaveowners from slaveholders, employers and landlords. The census taker often identified the name and residence of absentee slaveowners, but I'm not certain how he treated slaves who lived apart from their owners as employees or lodgers.