One year after the Civil War ended, Hagar Outlaw, a formerly enslaved woman in North Carolina, was desperate to find eight of her children who had been sold during slavery. She turned to Philadelphia’s Christian Recorder and placed an “Information Wanted” ad.

Published on April 7, 1866, the newspaper ad listed her children by their names: Cherry, Viny, Mills, Noah, John, Eli, Thomas, and Julia. All were last seen in Wake Forest.

“I hope they will think enough of their mother to come and look for her, as she is growing old and needs help,” the ad stated.

Living in Raleigh, Outlaw implored her children to “come to the capital of North Carolina and you will find your mother there, eagerly awaiting her loved ones.”

Hagar Outlaw Found Three of Her Children
Giesberg could not find out why Outlaw, who was about 60 in 1866, did not include the name of her ninth child, Dolly. Perhaps she already knew where Dolly was, Giesberg wrote.
Outlaw’s ad was remarkable because of its details. She listed the names of the slaveholders or traders who bought or sold her children: “Cherry, Viny, and Mills Outlaw were bought by Abram Hester. Noah Outlaw was taken to Alabama by Joseph Turner Hillsborough … Thomas Rembry Outlaw was taken by Wm. Outlaw. Julia Outlaw was sold in New Orleans by Dr. Outlaw.”

Giesberg found there was a prominent family of white Outlaws who sold the enslaved Black Outlaws. Dr. Outlaw was a reference to a white lawyer, David Outlaw, a former U.S. congressman.

Hagar Outlaw was reunited with at least three of her children. Two of her daughters, Dolly and Julia, and Julia’s 9-year-old son came first. Eli later joined the family.
.
Source: Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families, by Judith Giesberg, a Villanova University history professor; Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery” website