What do you notice? What do you wonder?
The ad that I decided to base my primary analysis post on was Ann Eliza Marbly searching for relatives. I decided to choose this ad because I was curious to see what the information wanted ad looked like in the 1800’s. My initial thoughts were: was it common for individuals to post information wanted ads? I noticed that the text on the ad was a bit hard to read, since the words were broken up. I am not sure if this is because of how old the ad is or if it is because of the tool used to publish it. I looked forward to connecting the information I have been learning through the modules to the ad.
Time/Place and Implications/Conclusions
Ann Eliza Marbly searching for relatives was published in June 7, 1879. Ann Eliza Marbly was looking for her parents Dollie and Jack Hicks as well as any other relatives. She was sold at nine years old in Richmond, Va but now resides in Nashville, TN. To answer the question of why information wanted ads were needed in the 18th century a deeper look into the abolishment of slavery neede to be made. In Module 2: Emancipation and Reconstruction, it details what freedom for African Americans meant, defined emancipation, elaborated on the new amendments and how the reconstruction affected African Americans lives. Slavery was abolished in January 31, 1865, this meant for a monumental and significant change in slave’s lives, “Black men, women, and children were enslaved, and then they were not—no one quite knew how a post-Civil War United States would look. Were formerly enslaved people going to be citizens? Would they be able to vote? Own property? What would the cultural, political, and social landscape of the United States look like without the institution of slavery?”(Module 2, What comes after emancipation?). These were very valid and concerning questions to be asked after the emancipation. Most slaves, especially children like Anna Eliza Marbly were sold to white masters. All they knew was life being a slave, fighting for freedom. After finally gaining their freedom, many families had already been separated. They had no way of knowing if they still had living family members and where they were. This is why individuals started posting information wanted ads. Anna Eliza Marbly was separated from her family at nine years old, once she had gained her freedom in January, 1879 she posted an ad six months later in hopes of finding her family.
Discussion question
How effective do you think information wanted ads were? How would you go about finding family members if you were Anna Eliza Marbly?
Love this article. I also agree that the newspaper ad or wanted ad Was a great way back then to get information out and across the area. There was not tv or facebook like we have today. As for how would i have gotten a message out in this time would have also been to use the newspapers or also word of mouth like Harriet Tubman.
Like many people said above, I think these ads were extremely effective, considering that was one of the only ways to send out and gather information. Depending on the newspaper, you could send your ad across different cities and states. I think I would do the same as Ana and try to gather as much information as I could. If I still didn't hear back from them after a while and I had a good amount of information, I would travel and investigate for myself.
Interesting ad!
I think the ads were pretty effective due to the newspaper being the only real source of information back then, besides word of mouth. It seems they were able to send their ad out to other states for publishing. I noticed at the bottom of almost all the ads I read that they were saying thank you in advance to the other publishing newspapers that listed it.
If I were Ana I would go about it the same way. If I heard nothing back after maybe a year I would go and travel in person to find my missing family.
This ad is really interesting Arlin. The fact that Anna Eliza Marbly had been sold away from her parents at 9 is really heartbreaking. I agree with Garrett's comment above, I do think the information wanted ads were likely one of the most effective ways of locating people, outside of tapping into existing community networks. Since Marbly was separated from her family at such a young age, it might have been the only way to go about her search, since she probably didn't know too much information about where they ended up.
Hey, great job!
I feel like the information wanted ads were pretty effective, I think that the newspaper was the main and major source of information back then. There was no TV or Radio to broadcast so I think it was a very effective way to get the word out of the search.
I would go about it the same way at first, and if nothing came back in an appropriate amount of time I would then travel in person to go investigate and find my family.