The Death Registers contain contents from 1853 to 1881, and recorded the deaths of every individual in the greater Roanoke area during this time frame, whether white, enslaved African American, or free African American. This would include the individual’s age at the time of their death and the manner in which they died. For enslaved people, their place of birth often was not listed or lacked specificity, and parents' names and occupations are not commonly listed. Nonetheless these records can be helpful for establishing an enslaved person’s date of birth and date of death, as well as where they lived.
J. K. Pitzer and Frederick Johnston were listed in Settlement of Estates Book 1 as the administrators of Madison Pitzer’s estate. It was also listed on March 13, 1865 that enslaved people were hired to work at fortifications for $89.00. In the same entry, an enslaved man, Anderson, was listed as having died in service of Confederate States Government: "To cash received for negro man Anderson who died in service of Confederate States Government." $4,700.00 went to J. K. Pitzer, Frederick Johnston, and Madison Pitzer. Later in this same record, $41.33 was received by the estate of Madison Pitzer on January 6, 1864 for the hire of enslaved people who worked on Richmond Defenses.
Williams and Albert both labored for 60 days at a pay rate of $16.00 per month. Their enslaver, Lucy Oliver, received $64.00 for the work completed by them.
Lucy Johnston was the wife of William Johnston. William Johnston bequeathed Lucinda, Susan, and Mary to Lucy Johnston. A value of $1,950.00 was placed on Lucinda, Susan, and Mary.