The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA)
published my article in their latest newsletter, BCALA News, Spring 2015, Volume 42 Issue 2, pp 56-60. I am
reposting it here on my blog. This article answers the question, "How Do I Get Started?" You
can also read it at http://www.bcala.org/Winter2015/#p=56
The
late Dr. John Henrik Clarke so eloquently stated, “History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a
clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a
compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells
them where they are but, more importantly, what they must be.”
The
words of this great historian, scholar, and educator highlight why many people,
especially the descendants of enslaved Africans who were disembarked on this
side of the Atlantic Ocean, should research their family histories. Genealogy
is life-changing; its effects have many psychological benefits. Knowledge of
self is gained by unearthing and studying the ancestors of the past. Discovering
how the ancestors contributed to the larger historical picture builds
self-esteem and confidence. Additionally for African Americans, genealogy
elevates our curiosity level and inspires us to read and learn more facts about
our African-American history that have been omitted, distorted, or scantly told
in many history books.
But
how do we get started? That’s a question that I now hear often. Television
shows like Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ PBS series, “Finding Your Roots,” and TLC’s series,
“Who Do You Think You Are,” have heightened many people’s interest in digging
up their own roots. However, these shows
and others typically present the mouth-dropping findings from genealogy
research, which causes many people to ask, “How did they find that out?”
Therefore, the purpose of this article is to answer those questions. These
steps are how many people can get started in unearthing their families’ past,
going back to the Civil War era.
Converse
with Your Family
First,
start building your family tree based on the information you know and the
information you can garner from family members.
Blank family pedigree charts or family trees can be obtained from the
Internet. Interview the older generations first. Record the names, dates, and
places where your ancestors lived. Note any famous family stories. A beginner
may be able to go back several generations in his family tree just from
interviewing or conversing with parents, grandparents, aunts, great-aunts,
great-uncles, cousins, and other relatives or even elder friends of the family.
Some people may encounter family members who do not like to discuss the past.
They will say, “Honey, let sleeping dogs lie.” Don’t worry. Hopefully, other
family members may be willing to recall the past. Filling out your family tree
or pedigree chart helps you to decide which family lines you want to research
first.
Never
rely on your mind to retain the information being relayed to you. At the very
least, be equipped with a notebook and pencil. Advances in technology have
allowed even our smart phones to be great recording devices. The key is to
record the family information as it is being told. Therefore, choose the
recording device that works best for you. Also, you can find numerous Internet articles
about effective interviewing techniques. But one technique that has always
generated great results for me is to just relax and generate conversations
about the family elder’s young days rather than continually asking specific
questions, like a news reporter. Allow the elders to talk, if they are willing,
and sit back and listen, patiently. Pepper the conversation with great
questions to get as much information as possible in a relaxed setting. Also, develop
a rapport with older family members so that you will be able to reach out to
them more as you travel on your genealogical journey. Keep in touch with them.
Send them birthday cards or holiday greetings. As they become more comfortable
with you, they will share more about the past. This is important because as you
begin to research your family roots in the records, more questions will surface.
Gather Existing Records
Invaluable
records could be right there, either in your house, your parents’ house, or in
the possession of a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or cousin. You may stumble on a
historical treasure trove by scavenging in basements, closets, dresser drawers,
attics, trunks, file cabinets, and other places where old important papers are
kept. These records may contain
genealogical information that will aid in your research. These records include but are not limited to
birth records, obituaries, newspaper clippings, wills, legal papers, old family
papers that consist of divorce records, insurance papers, membership cards, military
discharge papers, property deeds, and any documents with names and dates, as
well as a family Bible, photographs, old photograph albums, school yearbooks, old
church programs, old scrapbooks, etc. Old family obituaries are especially
helpful because they provide names of deceased and living family members and
the names of cemeteries where family members are buried. Your genealogical
journey should also include a visit to those family cemeteries to gather names
and data from tombstones.
Research and Study Federal Census Records
Census
records are the most valuable resource and the nation’s largest record set for
genealogy research. A federal census of the nation’s population was authorized
and taken every ten years, from 1790 to the present day. The plethora of data recorded in the census
records allow researchers to capture a unique snapshot of their ancestors’
lives and the communities where they dwelled. This valuable data include but are
not limited to the following: the heads of households, the people in the
households and the relationship to the heads of households, the sex, race, age,
and marital status of everyone, the number of years married, the age when first
married, the place of birth, the father and mother’s places of birth,
occupation, etc. The recorded information varies per census. However, for
African-American research, one must rely on the censuses taken after 1860,
unless your ancestors were free people of color. The names of all free people
of color were included in the 1850 and 1860 census.
Armed
with names, dates, and places, head to the place that houses census records. Advances
in technology within recent years have allowed people to access census online
from sites like Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, CensusRecords.com, and others. The
most popular site, Ancestry.com, requires a fee-based subscription. However,
many main city libraries allow library card-holding patrons to access
Ancestry.com and others for free. Census records are also available on
microfilms at the National Archives, state archives departments, large public
libraries, some major university libraries, and family history centers.
The
1940 U.S. Federal Census is the latest census that was made available to the
public on April 2, 2012. Work from the known to the unknown by starting with
the 1940 census and continue to the 1930, 1920, 1910, 1900, 1880, and the 1870
census. If your ancestors were free people of color, continue researching the 1850
and 1860 censuses. Unfortunately, an enormous 99 percent of the 1890 census was
destroyed in a fire at the Commerce Building in Washington, D.C. in 1921.
If
you are viewing microfilmed census records instead of the digital images on
Ancestry.com and other sites, a soundex is available for the 1930, 1920, 1910,
1900, and 1880 censuses. The soundex is
a phonetic index that was generated based on the sound of the surname. Each surname has a soundex code. Locate your
family in the soundex first, which will tell you exactly where to find them on
the county census records. The 1880 soundex
only contains families with at least one child who was 10 years old or younger.
If you can't find your ancestors in the 1880 soundex, then browse through the
1880 census to locate your ancestors.
The
1870 U.S. Federal Census is very important in African-American genealogy
research. It was very often the first official record that recorded former
enslaved African Americans by their first and last names. This census is also crucial
because it was taken just five years after slavery. Therefore, most African-American
adults in the 1870 census had been enslaved just five years prior. Many African Americans on the same 1870
census pages had likely lived together earlier as a family group on their
former enslavers’ farms and plantations. As late as 1870 and further, they continued
to depend upon these relationships, even though some people were not blood-related.
In 1870, you may often run across other families in the area with the same last
names as your ancestors. Some of them may have been blood relatives, and some
were not. Elder family members may be able to determine which families were
blood-related.
When
researching census records, here are some key things to remember:
(1) A lot of county
boundaries changed. Researchers may often find their ancestors residing in one
county for one census year and in another county the following census year, but
their ancestors never moved.
(2) When you find your
family in the censuses, study that page and several pages before and
after. Pay attention to their neighbors. Family members often lived close to
each other. Mimicking an African village, rural African-American communities were
often filled with relatives or networks of extended kin. Ask older family
members about the names of the other families living near your ancestors. They
may be able to identify them.
(3) You will find many
discrepancies with names, ages, birthplaces, marital statuses, etc. That is
common. Many people, especially former slaves, did not know their exact
birthdates. Also, if a family was absent when the census-taker visited, he
often retrieved information on that family from neighbors. The neighbors likely
guessed the information.
(4) Chances are high that
your family surnames may be spelled differently in the censuses. Do not disregard
people in the censuses because their surnames are spelled another way. Consider
all possible spelling variants of your names.
(5) Be cognizant of the
nicknames for official names. Many people were recorded in the censuses under a
nickname. If you cannot locate an ancestor under his real name, try to search
for him under a nickname. Many genealogical websites have lists of nicknames
and official names. Some common nickname/official name variations include
Lizzie/Liza/Eliza/Betty for Elizabeth, Mollie/Polly/Mae for Mary, Jack for
John, Bill for William, Hank/Hence for Henry, Peggy/Maggie for Margaret,
Mattie/Pattie/Patsy for Martha, Bob for Robert, Sally for Sarah, and many more.
(6) If you find people
reported as “M” or “Mu” in the censuses, which is an abbreviation for
“mulatto,” do not assume that one of their parents was White or Native
American. A lot of census-takers wrote
“M” or “Mu” for a person’s race/color if that person appeared to be of mixed
ancestry. Many of them likely did not
inquire about the race of the parents but made assumptions based on
appearances. Older family members may be
able to verify a person’s parentage.
Search for other records
Fortunately,
for African-American genealogy research, the list of other valuable resources
is lengthy. I will cover some of the main records researchers should seek in
their genealogical quests. These main resources include marriage records, death
certificates, birth certificates, land records, military service records,
newspapers, published sources, draft registration cards, court records, church
records, school records, Social Security Death Index and Social Security
Application form SS-5, city directories, state censuses, and many more.
Maiden
names can be learned from marriage records. Marriage license applications can be found for
some counties. The applications often give the parents’ names. Marriage records
can be obtained from county courthouses and state archive departments. Marriage dates may be found online on sites
like FamilySearch.org or Ancestry.com. On the actual marriage documents, pay
attention to the names of witnesses or bondsmen; they were often family
members.
Death
certificates are valuable because they contain information such as the name of
the spouse, the father's name, the mother's maiden name, the birthplace, the
birth date, the place of burial, etc. Birth certificates give the parents’
names and the place of birth. Those
records are typically found at state vital records departments and at state
archive departments. Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org have increased their
databases to include scanned death certificate for various states, including North
Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, and more.
In
1863, the United States Army began to enlist free and enslaved African-American
men into regimental units known as the United States Colored Troops (USCT).
Nearly 186,000 African Americans served in the USCT volunteer cavalry,
artillery, and infantry units during the Civil War. If you have knowledge that
an ancestor or relative may have fought in the Civil War, request copies of his
pension record; they are stored at the National Archives in Washington,
D.C. The USCT service records are
indexed there. The pension records of many of these brave soldiers often
contain a wealth of information. If a personal visit to the National Archives
is not possible, you can order pension records online via the National
Archives’ website. NATF-80 applications
are used to submit an order for a soldier’s record; these applications are also
now online on their website. Not all soldiers have pension records.