The Precott Plantation In St. Helena, Louisiana

Genealogist and Author Bernice Alexander Bennett

Bernice Alexander Bennett spend long hours conducting genealogy research at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.,  Her genealogy roots are connected to the East Florida Parishes and Orleans Parish. Researching the Freedmen Bureau Records is her specialty. A very special thanks to Bernice for sharing these records with Nurturing Our Roots and Preserving Our History in St. Helena and Tangipahoa Parishes, Louisiana.

The following contract is from the Precott Plantation of St. Helena Parish, dated August 5, 1867. The list below are the names of all the people who was working on the Prescott plantation in St. Helena Parish in 1867. They could read or write, they made their (x) to confirm that they were in agreement with the contract. She found her on maternal great-great grandfather in the slave inventory, he appraised at $1,700 dollars and was purchased for $1, 500 dollars. If anyone with the surname Sweeny, I hope that you find your ancestors on the contract. 

The records by the Freedmen's Bureau through its works between 1865 and 1872 constitute the richest and most extensive documentary source available for investigating the African American experience in the post Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Historians have used these materials to explore government and military policies, local conditions, and interactions between freed people, local white populations, and Bureau officials. 


Name                      Age    Sex

Nathan (x) Sweeny 48    Male
Lotta    (x) Sweeny 19    Female
Ellen    (x) Sweeny 15    Female
Albert  (x) Sweeny 12    Male
Joseph (x) Gordon  42    Male
Sebrum (x) Washington