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Southern Claims Commission
I know, I know, I have been gone too long! A short word of explanation. I recently celebrated my 40th birthday with a party and a week-long trip to Barbados (check out my tan!). I’m feeling whole and...
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Slave Ancestor Found in Southern Claims Commission Records
Well, it’s been awhile since I posted and that’s because I had a bouncing baby boy in August who has been keeping me happily busy. I haven’t had much time to do genealogy, to say the least. But I think...
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Using Land Records Effectively: Part 1
I was at the Reginald Lewis Museum in Baltimore this past September, presenting my first lecture on using land records effectively. Because it’s a museum dedicated to African-American history, I...
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A Strategy for Researching Freedmens Bureau Records
Freedmen’s Bureau records are a good example of “needle in a haystack” records for those doing African-American genealogical research. They are voluminous and rich, but they are notoriously difficult...
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Ex-Slave Pension Records
My Face is Black Is True Recently, Ancestry somewhat quietly rolled out the Ex-Slave Pension database which contains Correspondence and Case Files from the National Archives. I was excited because I...
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Alabama Convict Records
Some months ago, another interesting record set appeared on Ancestry: “Alabama Convict Records, 1886-1952.” I lecture on court records, so these types of records always get extra attention from me. If...
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Criminals In The Family: Joseph Harbour
Joseph Harbour Every family tree, whether we want to own up to it or not, has its share of criminals, vagabonds, shysters, thieves, polygamists, deserters, roughnecks, liars and cheats. While lots of...
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“Met His Fate by the Rope Route”
All of us know about the horrid history in this country of slavery, racism, white supremacy, Jim Crow and the types of discrimination that persist to this very day. Violence was at the core of those...
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John W. Holt’s Will
I recently got around to transcribing my gggrandfather John W. Holt’s will. John lived in Hardin County, TN, and spent his childhood enslaved by Giles Holt, along with his mother Malinda and siblings....
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The Terror of Reconstruction
Andrew Johnson The image on left is a famous Thomas Nast drawing illustrating Andrew Johnson’s veto of the Freedmens Bureau in 1866. It shows him kicking the “Bureau” and has little black people...
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The Crown Jewel: Black Civil War Pensions, Part 3
In this third and final post, I’d like to share a few more items illustrating the riches that can be found in civil war pension records. I was surprised at the number of former slaveowners (and whites...
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Freedmans Bank Records: Take Another Look, Part 1
Flier The records of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, better known as the Freedman’s Bank, are among the most popular records for those researching African-American roots. Established by...
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Freedmans Bank Records: Take Another Look, Part 2
I’m continuing my tour through the voluminous information that can be discovered about our African-American ancestors in Freedman’s Bank Records. Last week was the first post in this series, and I’m...
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Freedmens Bureau Records Online
Boy, that Familysearch.org is going to eventually crush the major paid genealogy websites. They have been uploading Freedmens Bureau records and this weekend I lost my mind when I found out that they...
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Voter Registration Records
I attended the National Genealogical Society’s annual conference last week in Richmond, and had a wonderful time catching up with old friends, making new ones, taking classes and eating out every...
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Freedmen’s Bureau Labor Contracts
Familysearch is rolling with Freedmen’s Bureau Records. They now have Field Office Records digitized for Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, North...
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Freedmens Bureau Jewels: “They are a rather worthless couple.”
Emancipation Celebration Familysearch quietly released three more sets of Freedmens Bureau Field Office records: Kentucky, Georgia, and this month Louisiana. Now, all southern state’s FB records are...
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Slaves Search For Their Families in Newspapers
Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-4574 One of the many reasons slaveowners conjured up to justify the buying and selling of people, especially when breaking up families, was that enslaved people did not...
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Former Lemos Slaves Reunited
This was just such a heartwarming episode that I discovered in an 1882 newspaper article that I had to share it. These are collateral ancestors of mine: 1882 Washington Evening Star The post Former...
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Remembering Jim Crow
Before I start my post, I have a challenge I’d like to make to my readers. Plan to write a 2-3 page article of one of your family lines, and submit it for publication to that county’s genealogical...
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