Helping you discover your treasured African American & Afro Caribbean ancestry. Check out daily posts @goodgenesgenealogy on wordpress, fb, twitter and via goodgenesgen@gmail.com. Also check out @weadwriteandgenealogy on wordpress
When slave owners demanded that Mexico send back African Americans, the official response from Mexican government officials responded that there are no slaves in its country, only citizens.
Keep digging and learn of the great Gaspar Yanga. A huge statue in Vera Cruz, Mexico, is dedicated to the “Primer Libertador de America or “first liberator of the Americas,” (1545 – 1618) who led one of the first successful slave revolts in colonial Mexico. For years he negotiated with Spain on eleven points, including the ability to establish one of the Americas earliest free black settlements. The town, San Lorenzo de Los Negros was “officially recognized by Spanish authorities as a free black settlement,” according to BlackPast.org. Later, the Mexican town became known as Yanga in honor of its liberator and founder.
My* mother, Angeline Cecil Owen, approximately one-year-old, with her parents, Helen Wilks Owen and Eugene Owen, Jr., in Springfield, Missouri (*Ann Wead Kimbrough)
For many, the question of where to begin the hunt for their ancestors, is huge.
Here are a few of the questions and comments the Good Genes Genealogy Services (GGGS) team receives from our prospective and new clients:
I am adoptedand I don’t know anything about my birth family.
I don’t know my mother’s maiden name.
I don’t know my Dad or his family.
Since the U.S. Census doesn’t have any official records about Black people until 1870 and even that is incomplete, how am I supposed to trace my family back to their arrival in the United States?
I started my family research but then I hit that “brick wall” and cannot move forward. I am ready to give up.
I don’t know anything about my family past my maternal grandmother and my great grandfather on my father’s side.
I heard that my entire family is buried in cemeteries in South Carolina and that’s where I’m from but I don’t know my family’s history.
For African Diasporan-connected family members, the quest to begin the ancestry search may appear to be even more daunting than our counterparts. Yet, we all had to begin somewhere. That’s our first tip:
Begin where you are (see our March 20, 2023 post). Some begin with a picture like the one above. Just one photograph, in this case taken in 1938, is the start of the family tree building.
Interview living relatives. Someone knows a nugget of a story that can lead to greater discovery. For instance, asking a family elder what s/he remembers about their childhood home, will likely lead to extended dialogue based on responses such as “uncle Jim used to bring home melons every Saturday after he cashed his check from working as a “soda jerk” in a hotel kitchen in Omaha.”
Follow any lead and visit a federal government website for expansion of your findings. Using the hint provided in #2, you may be able to gain the once “lost” uncle’s name — even if it’s just the first name — and begin there. Use his first name and the family name in the online research tree search. If it doesn’t work, it is likely an online hint will arrive to give you more clarity. Also, knowing that the uncle worked as a “soda jerk” during your elder’s childhood, can lead you to the U.S. Department of Labor’s website. From there, you can research the number of soda jerks working in the 1940s, for instance. Also, you may be able to locate the exact hotel in Omaha with a lead from the federal site to the local, Omaha newspapers and historical societies.
Sign up on social media sites, websites, and engage with other virtual or in-person groups to learn more about how others are conquering their ancestry research.
Remember to write and record your results. This is the start of building your family tree and hopefully, other family members are doing the same. Be sure to link with those family members to make your family tree even more robust.
Those are just a few tips offered to help anyone get started or re-energized to keep up the research for one’s family heritage.
Everyone’s journey is different. Yet, there are similarities in our collective ancestry research efforts based on our listening skills, questioning of relatives, learning new techniques, and jumping in the swim of family research.
I will be joining with the Kinseekers Genealogical Society of Lake County, Florida in conjunction with the Leesburg Public Library in a special event on Saturday, September 23, 2023.
Both in-person and virtual event:
Saturday, 23 September 2023
9:45am – 3:30pm EST
Informal meet ‘n greet at 9:30am EST.
Event is free & open to all!!
Advertisement
Presented by Kinseekers Genealogical Society and the Leesburg Public Library.
The The ‘American Pastime” brought brutal results to Jackie Robinson and other African American professional baseball players Photo by Steshka Willems on Pexels.com
Often, reviewing the hatred and violence suffered by African American ancestors, are tough matters to endure and often neglected in history books. Yet, the examples of persevering despite the sad circumstances, can spur on genealogy and ancestry researchers to compare and contrast the past with today’s societal practices.
Good Genes Genealogy Tip: Interview your family members about their sports histories. Some may share the good and also the unhappy times that they or their parents may have endured. Learn how they survived the taunts and personal risks to their families and themselves.
Overcomer Robinson
He broke the color barrier in United States’ Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson did it all, including suffering physical and verbal wounds from his colleagues:
Robinson nonetheless became the target of rough physical play by opponents (particularly the Cardinals). At one time, he received a seven-inch gash in his leg from Enos Slaughter.[135] On April 22, 1947, during a game between the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies players and manager Ben Chapman called Robinson a “nigger” from their dugout and yelled that he should “go back to the cotton fields”.[136] Rickey later recalled that Chapman “did more than anybody to unite the Dodgers. When he poured out that string of unconscionable abuse, he solidified and united thirty men.”[137]
On her first attempt in the high jump during the International Olympics Games in 1948, Albany, Georgia native Alice Coachman won the gold medal. She became the first African American of any country to win a gold medal. Despite her instant fame and large celebrations back home in the United States, her hometown leaders treated her differently:
Yet these latter celebrations occurred in the segregated South. In the Albany auditorium, where she was honored, whites and African Americans had to sit separately. The white mayor of Albany sat on the stage with Coachman but refused to shake her hand. She had to leave her own celebration by a side door.
Willie Eldon O’Ree was a youth when he met Jackie Robinson. It helped to inspire O’Ree to pursue his sports passion and became the first African American to join the National Hockey League in 1958. He continues to speak positively about his experiences as a hockey player. Yet, O’Ree suffered many indignities by his fellow league members and fans before retiring in the late 1970s:
O’Ree faced racial taunts throughout his hockey career, including in the NHL, especially in the United States. [11] He noted that racist remarks were much worse in the U.S. cities than in Toronto and Montreal, the two Canadian cities hosting NHL teams at the time, and that “Fans would yell, ‘Go back to the South‘ and ‘How come you’re not picking cotton?’ Things like that. It didn’t bother me. I just wanted to be a hockey player, and if they couldn’t accept that fact, that was their problem, not mine.”[12]
For many years, the Good Genes Genealogy team — Mark and Ann Lineve — did not know much about the man pictured above, our maternal Grandfather Eugene Gibson Owen, Jr. The short story is that Grandpa Owen moved away from the Midwest city and state, Omaha, Nebraska, when our mothers — Lyla and Angeline — were small children in the 1940s. The stories that were whispered around the family was that Grandpa Owen followed his desire to be discovered by Hollywood executives and become a music and movie star.
In 1982, Ann traveled to Los Angeles, California to locate her Grandpa Owen. She did. He was living in a nursing home as a double amputee. For three days, Ann and her husband learned all about the once mystery man in the Owen and Wead families. A few years after that visit, Grandpa Owen died. The deep wounds from his absence in the lives of our relatives were still there. Yet, it was made a bit easier to forgive because our ancestor’s explanations for following his passion, was remembered. Therein, lies the glimpses of healing.
There are mental health benefits in learning more about one’s family. The ancestry and genealogy researchers who are our clients and participated in our workshops, have had similar feelings of joy when learning more about their long-lost ancestors.
Here are a few examples from individuals’ recent finds in their family trees:
The Good Genes Genealogy team’s aunt-by-marriage located a family Bible that traces her tree through several generations to its African family members. The names and their geographical origins are included in this precious Bible.
A deceased father’s family was located and his maternal tree was greatly expanded to include three generations. His maternal great grandfather once owned hundred of acres in western Tennessee, was a decorated military veteran and highly respected in his community.
The enslaver and enslaved ancestral families were joined through a truthful communication exchange that was initiated by a novice genealogy researcher. It led to other discoveries that included finding the graves of great grandparents in an abandoned cemetery in Kentucky.
The dots were connected for another relative on her deceased husband’s missing high school years. It was discovered that he lived with other relatives as a high schooler before moving to Virginia where he met his wife.
In an ancestry and genealogy workshop conducted in 2022 and this year by the Good Genes Genealogy team, we reminded participants to find mental health benefits from their discoveries. We advise that the deep dives into family heritage is:
By now, many of us who are searching for answers to the mysteries of our African Diasporan ancestors have found that the routes to getting research are often nontraditional. Consider another avenue to hopefully find your ancestors.
Tap into your imagination, natural instincts and recall the stories you’ve heard to search for clues about your ancestors’ journeys. Hopefully, you will find a new detail to help break through those brick walls.
Look for ancestors in someone else’s life
If your ancestors worked at the Ford Motor Co. in the 1960s in Queens, New York, they may have known or been on the team with McKinley Thompson, Jr. an African American who designed cars during his 28-year career with the automaker. He was part of the concept team for the first-generation Mustang and GT40.
McKinley Thompson Jr., a Ford designer who helped pen the first-generation Bronco, was the first African American designer hired at Ford Motor Company after graduating from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California with a degree in transportation design in 1956.
Thompson came up with the open-air, 4 x 4 turbine boxy car that changed the automotive industry. It was a sports utility vehicle known as the Ford Bronco. Look at Thompson’s life and the places he lived, worked, was educated and served. You may find your ancestors in his art classes, in the military unit he served in, other jobs that he held or even in his retirement community.
McKinley Thompson Jr., a Ford designer who helped pen the first-generation Bronco, was the first African American designer hired at Ford Motor Company after graduating from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California with a degree in transportation design in 1956.
Fortunate Forten
It is well-known in ancestry and genealogy research African American slavery matter prohibits current-day research efforts about family histories. The blockages that create the brick walls often referred to in African American ancestry research is due largely to enslavers not listing the full names, ages and other identifies for African Americans on the official documents, and the U.S. Census Bureau not including the names, addresses and full demographic information about African Americans until the 1870 records. There were sporadic accounts of slaves’ names and other information by the owners, and the government documents published some information that was linked to African Americans in bondage.
Occasionally, there are uncovered lives of African Americans such as James Forten, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was born a free American in Philadelphia, PA in 1766. At age 14, he joined the Continental Army and was a “power boy.” A powder boy carried gun powder from the ship’s magazine to the ship’s cannon. Following in the footsteps of his father, he became a sailmaker. He became his family chief sailmaker in 1798 after the death of his father.
James Forten
To return to the original concept of this blog, look for any opportunities of your ancestors to be located in the areas that Forten lived and visited. It is likely that your ancestors may have been in the similar line of work or even worked with Forten, or volunteered with his wife and daughters in their abolitionist activism.
As an abolitionist who walked his talk, Forten chose to not work with any slave trade-connected companies and individuals. Forten was brave to adopt this business practice. However, as a man who was aboard a ship that was once captured by the British and he risked being sold into slavery, Forten withstood adversities and became a wealthy man who was also an active abolitionist. He designed and sold innovative sails that allowed ships to gain higher speeds, among other attributes. He was considered the prime sailmaker in Philadelphia and he employed African Americans and whites. He funded popular abolitionist publications and also endorsed his daughters developing the first interracial women’s abolitionist organization, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.
So popular was Forten in the abolition movement and as a top employer that upon his death at age 75, his funeral was attended by thousands. Were your ancestors among the mourners?
The last place many African Diaspora ancestors want to research is through the study of slave sales. The writing and imagery are sadly powerful in the historical accounts of financial transactions and public spectacles involving slaves.
Yet, the mostly oddly written newspaper advertisements and posters, often offer great clues to African American, Caribbean American, Native American and European Blacks’ genealogy and ancestry links.
The best clues to tear down the “brick wall” research are found in the names on the ads by the slave owners. Their imprints are often with first and surnames and identities of their family members who would benefit from the sale. The ad below that was posted in the Savannah, Georgia newspaper in 1859, brought more than $300,000 in revenue for Joseph Bryan, whose name appears in the ad. That’s equal to more than $9 million in today’s dollars.
Also, the location of the sale helps to confirm the researchers are on the right track in identifying African Diaspora family members.
The advertisements also include information that is helpful when comparing tax and estate records of enslavers and their sales agents. The ad below also includes a signature that is also important when ensuring the slave owners’ records including African Americans in bondage are accurately connected to genealogy documents.
The ad was published in 1851. In today’s economic terms, the $1,200 to $1,250 is equivalent to approximately $50,000 in today’s monetary terms.
In some instances — albeit rare — slave owners listed the first names and primary trade or unpaid work purposes of the African Americans they owned. This helps African American genealogy, history and ancestral researchers identify legacy relatives. In our genealogy research, typically the slaves’ surnames were those of their owners.
This sale also indicates that the slaves would be sold in families. Sadly and happily, this was considered a huge benefit to the African American enslaved population.
This newspaper clipping from a century+ ago is among the documents that mirror today’s comments from proponents of the rewritten history that slavery benefited African Americans.
To all ancestry researchers, search the newspapers for articles in the states where your ancestors resided. It is great insight in what policies and practices they endured while being subjected to the cruelties of forced, unpaid servitude.
Breaking through brick walls to learn more about your African American ancestors
Sampson Luster Wead, center facing to the right, at the Reed’s Ice Cream Shop boycott
The tall dude to the right of the protest sign is Sampson Luster Wead, the paternal grandfather of Ann Lineve Wead Kimbrough of Good Genes Genealogy Service. It is from Ann Lineve’s perspective that this blog is written about a man born on July 2, 1904 in Helena, Arkansas.
This picture appeared in the Omaha World-Herald newspaper on July 31, 1953. It included other photos including the one below that accompanied an article about the successful boycotting of a popular ice cream shop due to its blatant discriminatory hiring practices. I found the picture (above) of my grandfather a few years ago. What I learned today is that there were several articles and likely broadcast reports about this important protest and boycott.
Breaking through brick walls
In researching African Diaspora ancestry and genealogy, it is widely known that there are likely several brick walls that will be encountered. It is notable that in researching the facts around the Reed’s Ice Cream Shop protest, I learned three new and compelling things about my grandfather’s character and beliefs:
He held a great job at a local meat packing plant, yet was willing to risk it all to protest the lack of jobs available to Black persons at another employer. After all, his picture was in the newspaper and widely circulated.
Although he closely guarded his past that included his teenage years in Helena and Elaine, Arkansas, where costly racial killings occurred, my grandfather demonstrated that he was not afraid to stand up for civil rights.
My grandfather was a member of the DePorres Club, an Omaha-based organization comprised of all races and heritages. Its purpose was to protest and bring about change in employment and civic practices that discriminated against persons because of the color of their skin and ethnic origin.
I learned about the DePorres Club’s purpose from the article found below from the Omaha Star newspaper. Just below the “congratulations grads” ad, is the article about the civil rights organization of the 1940s – today.
Encouragement for the ancestry and genealogy researchers
Keep researching your ancestors, even if you are covering the so-called same ground.
From the information that you unearth, ask the same and new questions of anyone in your family or institutions that may have more insight about the ancestors’ activities.
Cross check your new findings with local and national media reports found in historical clippings and broadcasts. You are piecing together the story about your ancestor that will greatly aid in your genealogy reports to family and importantly, to yourself.
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s priceless speech on July 5, 1852 as depicted by James Earl Jones
He was photographed more than Mark Twain and President Abraham Lincoln. He was born a slave and gained freedom, the skills of reading and writing, became a journalist, photographer, orator, author, abolitionist, father, husband and so much more.
With his earned standing in the United States and worldwide abolitionist movement, Frederick Douglass’s words are heeded then and today.
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Today, in this special broadcast, we begin with the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5th, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Frederick Douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, “What to the Slave Is Your Fourth of July?” He was addressing the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society.
This is James Earl Jones reading the historic address during a performance of Voices of a People’s History of the United States. It was co-edited by Howard Zinn. The late great historian introduced the address.
HOWARD ZINN: Frederick Douglass, once a slave, became a brilliant and powerful leader of the anti-slavery movement. In 1852, he was asked to speak in celebration of the Fourth of July.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS: [read by James Earl Jones] Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?
I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?
What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes that would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, to-day, pour forth a stream, a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and the crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.
AMY GOODMAN: James Earl Jones, reading the words of Frederick Douglass.
‘Reconstructing the Black Archive’ Aims to Create a More Complete Picture of History in South Carolina
29 Jun 2023 9:22 AMAnonymous
Twenty-four scholars from across the country will spend three weeks in South Carolina, learning how to teach and tell a more complete picture of American history, thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“Reconstructing the Black Archive,” a summer institute run by Furman University and Clemson University, will send the scholars, most of whom teach undergraduate students, into churches, historical associations, museums and other sources to learn to recover missing, often intentionally buried, histories.
“These are vibrant sources that tell a history lost to many earlier generations. It’s exciting and thrilling to behold,” said Gregg Hecimovich, Furman professor English, who directs the institute with Furman’s Kaniqua Robinson, assistant professor of anthropology, and Clemson’s Susanna Ashton and Rhondda Robinson Thomas, both professors in the Department of English.
The scholars’ itinerary takes them to sources at Clemson University and the city itself, Columbia and Charleston where they’ll learn from a cast of expertsincluding archivists, literary critics, prize-winning authors, poets and historians, people who have forged the tools for reassembling the scattered shards of information that give a fuller picture of the past.
You can read more in an article by Tina Underwood published in the Furman web site at: https://tinyurl.com/hbxpt2ey.
We love freebies, especially when it helps our genealogy and ancestry pursuits. Here are a few great free workshops, seminars and other events:
Indexing for Beginners. It begins today, Friday, June 30, 2023 at 3 p.m. EST. Presented by St. George FamilySearch Center. To join a zoom class, do the following:
• Navigate to this webpage on the date and time of the class you would like to join (we recommend joining classes 5-10 minutes before they start to resolve any connection issues).
• Click on the red link: “JOIN CURRENT CLASS”
• From the screen that pops up select “Open Zoom Meeting”
>> DO NOT SELECT “Launch Meeting”
• Select “join with video” and “join with audio” when and if prompted to do so.
NOTE: Sometimes our schedules or instructors change so please check this site regularly for updates as well as for information & the link on how to join classes.
Introduction to Genealogy: Vital Records (Birth, Marriage, and Death) – CGS Free First Saturdays Program on Saturday, July 1, 2023. Presented by California Genealogical Society. It begins @ 1:00 PM EST. “Not sure how to get started with your family research? Interested in refreshing your skills? Our four-part series is ideal for getting started with genealogy or for advanced researchers to revisit principles of good research. Join us for a FREE Introduction to Genealogy class the FIRST SATURDAY of every month from 10 am – 12 pm. This is a four-session “Intro to Genealogy” class series. The first class offers an overview of genealogy research. Each of the next three sessions offers a more in-depth focus on the following topics: Census, Vital Records, and Organization. The classes may be taken in any order, and participation in one class is not required to attend others in the series. See below for dates and topics:
Jan 7, May 6, Sep 2 Genealogy Basics Overview
Feb 4, Jun 3, Oct 7 Using the Census
Mar 4, Jul 1, Nov 4 Vital Records (Birth, Marriage, and Death)
Apr 1, Aug 5, Dec 2 Organizing Your Family History Work
(July and September may be rescheduled due to the holiday weekends)
Note: Separate registration required for each session.
Always consult your government sources for free genealogy and ancestry help. After all, if you pay taxes, you’ve paid for these great services. Here’s one of my favorite, basic sites. The details are great refreshers for many of us. For the newbies to the vast research involved in tracing our ancestors, this U.S. National Archives site is terrific, albeit it appears to be complicated. Happy hunting!
That “old” family Bible with authentic inscriptions about births, deaths and other life events such as weddings and baptisms, will serve you well if you are seeking to get a passport yet do not have a birth certificate.
This Freebie Friday tip and more is available on the Good Genes Genealogy social media and our website by the same name. Go to our “Dig a Little Deeper” broadcast site.
Editor’s note: The first part of this blog was published on the Good Genes Genealogy sites two days ago. Here is the rest of the preview of our upcoming Juneteenth audiobook.
The Galveston Tri-Weekly News, which printed General Order No. 3 on June 20, 1865, the day after it was issued. Texas Newspaper Collection, Briscoe Center for American History, UT Austinhttps://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/juneteenth
General Granger was assigned a difficult task that became worse for him after delivering the freedom message in Texas. According to historians, General Granger “became extremely unpopular among many whites in the state of Texas. He was blackballed and ostracized by many Whites, so much so, that after only six months in command of the Department of Texas, Granger was relieved of his command on August 6, 1865. On October 31, 1865, he was placed in command of the District of New Mexico.”
Texas came a long way from being the last state to recognize the Emancipation Proclamation to becoming the first state in 1980 to declare Juneteenth as an official holiday. With the determined, multi-year lobbying effort by famous Texan Opal Lee, in 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law the nation’s official holiday of Juneteenth.
Several miles north of Galveston near the Navasota River in Groesbeck, Limestone County, Texas, General Granger’s Order No. 3 reached the homestead. The Pleasant Retreat Plantation was owned by Logan Stroud, a slave owner who inherited the property upon the death of his father, Ethan. The father and son had acquired plantations that resulted in 5,000 acres used for raising cotton, corn, oats, wheat, hogs, sheep and it served as a ranch. At the time of Civil War, the younger Stroud was the largest slave holder in Limestone County, owning more than 100 slaves. It was recorded that he had 150 slaves on the day now known as Juneteenth.
On Saturday, June 19, 1865, in Limestone County, Texas, plantation owner Logan Stroud stood on the front porch of this house to tell more than 150 of his enslaved workers that they were free. | Photo: Historic American Building Survey. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Newly freed Blacks in Texas set the tone for celebrating the early days of June 19th with recognitions of their former lives and the memories of their loved ones who endured enslavement. However, there were some Blacks who thought the Juneteenth and Emancipation Day celebrations should put the awful days of slavery behind and instead, look forward with celebrations of hope and aspirations. During the years of Jim Crow, Juneteenth celebrations were confined to the Black communities from coast to coast in the United States.
The photos (see below) are from Mrs. Grace Murray Stephenson, a lady who recorded her June 19, 1900 day of celebration. She sold her diary to the San Francisco Chronicle, which printed her memories.
While awaiting the arrival of the Good Genes Genealogy’s Juneteenth audiobook, learn more about the June 19th holiday and the other “Black” holiday, August 1st. Check out our e-book that is available on all book buy sites.
The word came through an in-person delivered order from the United States Government on June 19, 1865
Years before the state of Texas received official notification that its enslaved people were free due to the U.S. Emancipation Proclamation, all other rebellious Confederate states complied with the presidential order.
U.S. Brigadier General Gordon Granger, Galveston, Texas, June 19, 1865
A month earlier, Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi division, surrendered on May 26, 1865. Days later, on June 2, 1865, General Smith officially laid down his arms at Galveston. He immediately fled the country for Mexico and Cuba as General Smith was deemed treasonous for not following earlier orders to surrender.
While General Smith was slow to surrender his command in Texas, he was accompanied by his valet, a mixed-race slave who was owned by General Smith’s father and believed to be the military leader’s half-brother. Once free, former slave Alexander Hanson Dames, attended two historically black institutions of higher education and earned a degree as a medical doctor. Dames became a well-respected physician whose accomplishments earned him the first statue in Jacksonville, Florida that honored a black man. The statue is situated next to General Smith.
It was a long time coming for Blacks enslaved in Texas who were forced to endure two-and-a-half years more of plantation rules than their counterparts. The General document was welcomed by slaves, yet its last two sentences is deemed controversial by some historians:
“The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
Next, they marched to the 1861 Custom House and courthouse. The last reading of General Order No. 3 was at what was referred to as “the Negro Church on Broadway” that is known today as Reedy Chapel-AME Church4.
Good Genes Genealogy Services’ first e-book describes August 1st and Juneteenth as Black Holidays
Our first e-book about African American historical and ancestry achievements, is highlighted with lively research about Juneteenth and August First. In honor of this year’s celebration of the nation’s official holiday, Juneteenth, pick up a copy from your favorite online store.
“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection therefore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.” – U.S. Brigadier General Gordon Granger, Galveston, Texas, June 19, 1865
The Good Genes Genealogy team remembers when our Maternal Great Grandmother Edna Robinson would rise early in Omaha, Nebraska with family members so that they would be the first at the cemetery to clean and decorate the humble grave markers.
The grave marker of the paternal aunt of Ann Lineve Wead Kimbrough of GGGS
Many family members who transitioned before Aunt Beverly had humble grave markers that were reminiscent of the enslaved grave markers of rocks or humble engravings on stone.
This grave marker is of an unknown slave. It was placed on this tree after likely being tossed in a Florida storm.
Memorial Day as we know it, began as a solemn ceremony, known as Decoration Day that honored the U.S. Civil War dead. Thousands of freed slaves in the low country of South Carolina are credited for the beautiful honors bestowed upon the casualties.
Former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina form up for the dedication of the cemetery that they built for the graves of Union prisoners of war on May 1, 1865.
The Civil War was closing in April 1865 after the Union troops entered the city of Charleston, S.C. Historical accounts reveal that most of the white residents fled the city years earlier. The Black residents of Charleston remained to celebrate and welcome the troops, including the Twenty-First Colored Infantry. It was May 1, 1865 and the first-named Decoration Day later became known as Memorial Day. Even current-day accounts neglect to give credit where credit is due. However, noted historians are reviving the original founding of Memorial Day with great detail.
During the final year of the war, the Confederates had converted the planters’ horse track, the Washington Race Course and Jockey Club, into an outdoor prison. Union soldiers were kept in horrible conditions in the interior of the track; at least 257 died of exposure and disease and were hastily buried in a mass grave behind the grandstand. Some 28 black workmen went to the site, re-buried the Union dead properly, and built a high fence around the cemetery. They whitewashed the fence and built an archway over an entrance on which they inscribed the words, “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
Then, black Charlestonians in cooperation with white missionaries and teachers, staged an unforgettable parade of 10,000 people on the slaveholders’ race course. The symbolic power of the low-country planter aristocracy’s horse track (where they had displayed their wealth, leisure, and influence) was not lost on the freed people. A New York Tribune correspondent witnessed the event, describing “a procession of friends and mourners as South Carolina and the United States never saw before.”
At 9 a.m. on May 1, the procession stepped off led by 3,000 black schoolchildren carrying armloads of roses and singing “John Brown’s Body.” The children were followed by several hundred black women with baskets of flowers, wreaths and crosses.
Then came black men marching in cadence, followed by contingents of Union infantry and other black and white citizens. As many as possible gathered in the cemetery enclosure; a childrens’ choir sang “We’ll Rally around the Flag,” the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and several spirituals before several black ministers read from scripture. (“The First Decoration Day,” Newark Star Ledger).
Assigned to command the assault on a South Carolina Confederate fort during the battle at Battery Wagner in July 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry of the Civil War was composed primarily of freed black slaves from northern Union states.
Though the siege was unsuccessful, the heroism of a number of members of the infantry drew the attention of the nation. In particular, Sgt. William Carney risked his life to lead the troops forward, erecting the Union flag. He suffered two bullet wounds but survived, going on to become the first African American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his unprecedented courage.
For genealogists researching their Native American heritage, the records kept by the CCC-ID are tough to assemble because the tribes/nations of Native American were responsible for the record-keeping. The quarterly reports to the federal government were also supplemented by publications such as the one shown above in this post. Those are the most informative pieces of information that will greatly aid in the ancestral searches involving Native Americans.
If there is any doubt that genealogy/ancestry research is capturing the world’s attention, especially, take a look at the latest data collection regarding consumer-requested testing for DNA. The global, direct-to-consumer (DTC) lab testing market is projected to reach $7.92 billion by 2030, growing at an annual rate of 10.9 percent, according to ResearchandMarketing.com.
In 2023, the ancestry/genealogy segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global direct-to-consumer genetic testing market. Factors such as increased consumer interest & curiosity regarding ancestry, technological advancements to make genetic testing accessible, strong advertising & marketing by the companies, high racial diversity and interracial mix in some countries, and the advantages such as convenience & accessibility are driving the growth of this segment.
DNA testing is a powerful method for verifying family documents. It can help confirm or refute relationships between family members and verify family documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, or adoption papers.
For example, if a birth certificate claims two people are siblings, a DNA test can help confirm this. The DNA test can also show clear relationships between other relatives such as great-aunts, uncles, cousins, and great-great-grandparents.
Back by popular requests, we’re offering genealogy and ancestry seekers will find the following freebies to delve into:
Visit the National Archives for countless images, text, blogs, other helpful resources about Black ancestors.
Buffalo Soldiers ride at an unidentified ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy. [404-WS-6-5465-7; download hi-res image]
Inquire about home movies captured by members of your family. Ask about those reels that may still be around someone’s home in attics, basements, desk drawers. You may have to transfer the media to another source, yet it is worth it. Why? Many of the videos end up in thrift stores and discarded. Guess what? Those same videos are picked up by government and private agencies and become rich content. Take a look at a short http://ww.pbs.org/video/john-lewis-get-way-official-trailer/compilation of videos from personal and public videographers.
Check out the “Story of Black Folk” … tracing family histories in the Hudson, NY area.
The above referenced Black family history site is part of the larger, free calendar community of genealogy conferences, events and more. Check out Conference Keeper Calendar.
Join your hometown or regional Black genealogy groups such as this large one in Pennsylvania.
Geneanet has 44,000 free postcards without subscription. You can just put in your location of your ancestor and they will show you what they have for that town. — Submitted by Karen Harrison
In the words of our family’s maternal matriarch, the late Lou Edna Wilks Robinson, “every day is Mother’s Day.”
Born in 1892 as the oldest daughter born in Springfield, Greene County, Missouri, to Melissa Catherine Gray and Robert Wilkes, our “Grandma Robinson” was the glue that kept our family together.
Great-Grandmother Lou Edna Robinson, right, with her granddaughter, Angeline Wead, left. The Wead children fill out the picture.
We’ve often wondered how our ancestral mothers were able to accomplish so much in their lives. Except for Grandma Robinson’s birth to two children, including our maternal grandmother, Mary Helen Wilks Owen Douthy, most mothers ‘in her day’ bore several children. Midwives brought babies, especially those of African American heritage, into this world. Indoor plumbing was nonexistent for our ancestral mothers. They grew food, drew well from waters, cooked, cleaned and managed the households. They raised other people’s children, they were our teachers, loyal church members and builders of great legacies admist the harsh societal conditions that often pushed our ancestral mothers to the least known positions.
Yet, our ancestral mothers rarely complained about their fates. Instead, they often rejoiced about the present and future that always included the achievements — known and unknown — of their children and lineage.
We honor you, ancestral mothers.
Official start of Mother’s Day in the USA
In 1914, a few years before the birth of our maternal Grandmother Mary Helen, the nation received an official declaration from U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, to honor mothers on the second Sunday in May. The recognition began simple enough: To honor mothers in celebration of peace.
These clubs later became a unifying force in a region of the country still divided over the Civil War. In 1868 Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.
Another precursor to Mother’s Day came from the abolitionist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe. In 1870 Howe wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” a call to action that asked mothers to unite in promoting world peace. In 1873 Howe campaigned for a “Mother’s Peace Day” to be celebrated every June 2.
Other early Mother’s Day pioneers include Juliet Calhoun Blakely, a temperance activist who inspired a local Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan, in the 1870s. The duo of Mary Towles Sasseen and Frank Hering, meanwhile, both worked to organize a Mothers’ Day in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some have even called Hering “the father of Mothers’ Day.”
Genealogists often refer to DNA as putting the “gene” back in genealogy. The Good Genes Genealogy team (Maternal first cousins Mark Owen and Ann Wead Kimbrough) is DNA tested. We are not scientists who can provide you with the details on how the genetic makeup is key to breaking through brick walls and other delays in tracking our family histories. Yet, we’ve utilized DNA in our processes that have helped to build about family members.
Today and this week, we invite you to learn about DNA and its applications to genealogy searches. There are countless free workshops and other sources of information. As you get inside of the virtual and in-person sessions, remember a few key things about the DNA journey:
DNA – when used properly … provides tracts to direct-line ancestors and lots of cousins of many levels.
When DNA results are received, note that all of the extra cousins you inherit from the DNA results are not necessarily DNA tested.
Here’s a partial listing of activities, workshops and more:
FamilySearch is having a full day of free programs (which are usually all made available for viewing later as well on their website). See our calendar devoted to DNA events at https://conferencekeeper.org/dna/
The National Genome Research Institute also recommends several cool events in this STEAM- (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) themed day.
American Society of Human Genetics’ DNA Day Essay Contest for High School Students. Read selections from winning essays in which students explain what the American Society of Human Genetics’ 75th anniversary theme, “One Humanity, Many Genomes,” means to them. Essays include examples of what makes our genomes unique and the impact of advances in understanding our genomes.
Genetics Engagement & Education Network. Search this American Society of Human Genetics network to find genetics experts near you who can answer your genetics-related questions. The Genetics Engagement & Education Network Toolkit is geared toward scientists planning to present at schools, but teachers and parents might also find helpful resources. The toolkit includes lessons, games, case studies, direct-to-consumer kit information, and helpful tips on presenting at schools.
Midwife in 1941 prepping for her next visit. Delano, Jack, 1914-1997, photographer
About 80 miles southeast of Atlanta, Georgia, lies Greene County. In Greene County, Georgia as it was in Greene County, Missouri, and across the nation, Black women midwives were and still are highly regarded.
It was widely proved that midwives saved lives — babies and their mothers. They birthed presidents, preachers, teachers and several family members who will attest to their value in caring for mothers in many communities where healthcare facilities were miles away or nonexistent.
The worth of midwives is especially highlighted in recent data that was shored up with the release of 2021 data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that showed a sharp increase in infant mortality, especially among African American women. A century ago, the infant mortality rates were much more severe, yet midwives were credited in successfully bringing babies into the world and saving their mothers. Even slave owners knew this truth.
A study published by the National Library of Medicine found:
We estimated that, relative to current coverage, a substantial increase in coverage of midwife-delivered interventions could avert 41% of maternal deaths, 39% of neonatal deaths, and 26% of stillbirths, equating to 2·2 million deaths averted per year by 2035. Even a modest increase in coverage of midwife-delivered interventions could avert 22% of maternal deaths, 23% of neonatal deaths, and 14% of stillbirths, equating to 1·3 million deaths averted per year by 2035.
Nove A, Friberg IK, de Bernis L, McConville F, Moran AC, Najjemba M, Ten Hoope-Bender P, Tracy S, Homer CSE. Potential impact of midwives in preventing and reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and stillbirths: a Lives Saved Tool modelling study. Lancet Glob Health. 2021 Jan;9(1):e24-e32. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30397-1. Epub 2020 Dec 1. PMID: 33275948; PMCID: PMC7758876.
Midwives Matter
Early African American midwives were important members of their community, even among enslaved individuals. Slave owners used these medical practitioners to ensure the health of their reproducing enslaved women and their newborn infants to expand their labor force. It was also common for midwives to attend to the slave master’s wives during birth as well.
This midwife account describes the importance of recognizing Black midwives for their contributions to societal good: “… the story of a poor white boy delivered by a black midwife slave that grew up to be the president that freed 3.5 million black slaves in the United States, and was killed for doing so.” — From The Midwife Slave
“Aunt” Sally of Gees Bend, Alabama in 1939. She was the only doctor that anyone around the area ever knew. Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer
What ancestral researchers should consider
There are documentaries, articles, scholarly works and stories within families about the importance and legacy of midwives.
All births — whether at home or in hospitals — are recorded in each municipality’s Vital Records Division. The attending midwife, parents and/or physician are allowed to sign the paperwork.
Time frames are usually required to register births. If the time frames are not adhered to, or should errors appear on birth certificates based on sources authorized to make the changes, the municipalities are allowed to issue delayed birth certificates.
Because midwives have more than records to report, their stories are important to learning more about families’ ancestors. Some midwives kept journals, shared birth stories with family members and were the keepers of intimate secrets, the midwives are great sources for breaking down brick walls.
One of the benefits of researching our ancestors is the “find.” In this case, find is pure gold through the super talented siblings who set the human “beat box” standards. They are the Mills Brothers.
While combing through the online ancestry files of the Good Genes Genealogy Services’ grandfather, Eugene Owen, Jr., this remembrance was round. Our grandfather left Omaha, Nebraska for Los Angeles, Calif. to pursue his dream of becoming a Mills Brother-like entertainer. It was the 1940s and he left a family behind in Omaha, including little girls who would grow up and become our mothers of Good Genes Genealogy Services team members.
Our grandfather’s goal was to form a singing group become as popular as the Mills Brothers, a musical team of siblings whose 40+ years of success began in the 1930s. Our grandfather never achieved the same fame. He likely broke the hearts of our grandmother, “Mama” Helen Wilkes Owen Douthy, and her children and other family members. There are joys and pains in researching our families’ histories and this is an example of wading through all of the materials to get to the truth.
Yet, each time we hear the Mills Brothers’ recordings and watch the more than 20 movies that they appeared in during their stellar career, we think of Grandpa Owen.
Look up the next time you walk up to Southern homes, especially those along the Atlantic Coast in South Carolina and Georgia. On the exterior undersides and interiors, you will likely find the unique color of “Haint Blue” on those structures.
Haunt-blue painted ceiling of the Owens-Thomas House’s carriage-house. Photo courtesy of David McSpadden.
According to Gullah folk traditions, blue ceilings and blue doors can keep unwanted specters, phantoms, spooks, and apparitions from strolling in through the front door. It fools them into thinking that the door is part of the sky, that the porch is surrounded by water, that the house is protected by something sublime, more powerful and permanent than a coat of paint. It’s trickery though design, and trickery is something the Gullah people knew well.
At this Gullah Geechee home on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, painted doors and shutters keep out evil spirits called “haints.” DAWNA MOORE / ALAMYPhoto by Alina Autumn on Pexels.com
Through their residency in these PWA housing complexes, African Americans were able to save money and plan for their future. “PWA (Public Works Administration) housing project for Negroes.” Omaha, Nebraska, November 1938. Photograph by John Vachon, 1914–1975. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC, 20540.
Wading through the thousands of files in the Library of Congress, this one stood out because it is the housing projects where my father, Dr. Rodney S. Wead, lived while boy growing up in Omaha, Nebraska.
We don’t know the man and young people in the picture. It was taken three years after Wead was born; his family had not moved into the housing development. In fact, Wead said that they were delighted when they moved into the Logan Fontanelle Housing facility because it was a “big step up” from their impoverished housing a few blocks away in a crowded rooming house.
Found my father’s housing unit
Keep searching archives. I did. Once my father viewed the photo (see below), he identified the now famous individuals whose families lived in Logal Fontenelle.
Often, we are hit with brick walls in our ancestral searches. There are thousands of photographs that were taken across the country of its citizens — especially Black Americans — as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal or Works Progress Administration program that included Omaha during the 1930s.
Dr. Rodney S. Wead identified several housing “apartments” and youth who were residents of the Logan Fontenelle development.
Colored farmer find $16,000 buried in land in 1897
SoFortunate Colored Farmer Finds ‘pot of gold’ in field
Always keep searching for your ancestors and their stories. Here’s one about someone’s “colored” ancestor, D.H. Johnson, who was farming in February 1897. He hit hard ground while plowing a field near Hogansville, GA. He kept removing the layers of stone until he located what was estimated to be $16,000 in coins, including some from foreign soil.
Today, that would amount to approximately $600,000 according to government calculations. According to this newspaper clipping, Johnson placed the money in the bank. “…the theory is that whoever owned the money hid it out until some secure time, when they would look for it again” the article reported.
Takeaways for Genealogy Researchers
There are likely several ‘pots of gold’ hidden in the earth or within walls or in between mattresses by individuals hiding their assets from others for various reasons.
Follow your spiritual intuition and recall conversations, other memories from your ancestors.
Act on it with a general sense of wisdom. For instance, if you are pointed in a certain direction, believe it.
Enjoy the journey as it will always yield surprising results.
Celebrity Activist shocked with her “Mayflower” ancestors while Canadian celebrates his Black ancestors
We are all connected. Ongoing findings among the skilled genealogy and DNA researchers and amateurs, confirm such.
The following two examples offer great hope to those who are steadfast in searching for the accurate stories of our ancestors.
Finding her Mayflower roots
Our favorite PBS show, “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” regularly features many genealogical surprises among its celebrity guests. A recent episode features well-known human rights activist, professor and author, Angela Davis. Among the startling findings for Davis is that her ancestral roots are traced to the original families who sailed to the early United States on the Mayflower vessel in the 1600s. The Mayflower travelers are attributed to slavery.
Paul Barber, also a photography hobbyist, from Ontario, Canada, was featured in a local newspaper article to discuss his maternal family, the Hendersons. He traced his family’s travel from Virginia to Canada. He referred to his brick walls as being “stuck in the mud” with his “three times great grandparents. That is, until he dug a little deeper. And deeper.
Barber took the DNA analysis, and it yielded more results. That’s where he learned of his roots in Benin and Togo. It is the time and place where the African Slave Trade was recorded. He said that is how he began to take apart the brick wall, albeit he knew of his Scottish ancestors. It was at that point that Barber said he landed upon a scenario that “he was not fond of.”
In every family, there are countless examples of women who courageously and quietly endured emotional, physical, societal, financial and other pressures. Yet, their lives crafted our family legacies. We are grateful.
To honor them during Women’s History Month, dig a little deeper in your family archives and in the public domain to share their stories of inspiration, even if it seems that they led so-called ordinary lives. To help you get started in honoring our female ancestors, here are a few extraordinary Black women’s stories.
Hanging in Chicago’s DuSable Museum is this quilt handcrafted by a former slave, Melvina Young.
Hand-stitched quilt cover, late 19th century Ms. Young’s “work likely created this quilt cover as free person, having been emancipated after the Civil War ended. Many enslaved people worked in the homes of the plantation owners. A common domestic role was that of seamstress, and Ms. Young probably learned to sew and quilt while working in her owner’s Tennessee home.”
Gift of Daisy Lewis in Memory of Melvina Young DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center
Black women were vocal about atrocities of the post-Civil War and openly advocated for better health, educational, societal, family and living arrangements. Some of their compelling stories are found here.
Scholarships are regularly awarded to beginning to experienced genealogists. Here are a couple of great opportunities:
Franzine K. Taylor
Frazine K. Taylor African American Research Scholarship
The Frazine K. Taylor African American Research Scholarship (application due by 1 March each year) is open to anyone committed to expanding their knowledge of African American genealogical research. See attachment for more information. BCG Paul Edward Sluby Sr. Scholarship for African American Students application deadline 15 March 2023.
This new scholarship, provided by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), will be awarded to up to three African Americans “to participate in national genealogical institutes.” The award will “cover up to $1,700 of the tuition, travel, and lodging expenses.” The application requires an essay and a sample of genealogical research. Awards will be made in May 2023 and will be usable for 2024 institutes. To discover more about the scholarship and fill out the application, check out its website.
The scholarship information is courtesy of Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. Metro- Atlanta Chapter www.aahgsatl.org
The Good Genes Genealogy Services duo and Atlanta’s Hillside International Truth Center team up for the last weekend of the free genealogy workshops. The hour-long session is designed to inspire the beginners to seasoned genealogy researchers, and provide everyone with the tools to dig deeper into their families’ colorful histories.
Have you ever wanted to ask questions of your relatives and backed away because it was not “a good time?” We have.
It’s time to get busy. Grab a notepad, make sure your audio and video recorders are sufficiently stocked with new batteries, put on your listening ears and initiate your family research.
It may be uncomfortable for some relatives to open us. That’s natural. Learning what to ask and who to ask questions of, are key to your success. Before you get knee deep in researching family history, make a list of your prospective interview subjects by simply asking, “do you mind if I interview you (or discuss with you) about our family history?”
Once you get to “yes,” you are on your way to discovering the gems and rough spots in your family.
How to handle interviews
You should seek information from everyone in your family, friends, neighbors, clergy, co-workers of your loved one. Whoever is willing to open up and share, are great informants.
Often the oldest person you can speak to in your family, is the best source for robust information about your loved ones.
Daughters and sons of elderly parents are often great sources of information to aid in your genealogy research.
Neighbors, cousins and other relatives of all ages are great sources of information. Our maternal great grandfather’s delayed birth certificates lists a relative and neighbor as informants for Eugene Gibson Owen, Sr. to obtain his official documentation some 56 years after his birth. See below:
Great Grandfather Eugene G. Owen, Sr.’s delayed birth certificate from the state of Tennessee. He was 56 years old when received.
Who should your interview?
Ask your interviewees if they are comfortable being recorded by video and audio devices, or other means. Negotiate for your best mutual benefits.
This is not the time to pretend you are Oprah Winfrey or another celebrated interviewer who may garner as much attention as the interview subject.
Remember that some matters are touchy subjects. Be sensitive to the questions that may not immediately or ever yield you answers from the person(s) you interview.
Be humble. Humility goes a long way in family discussions.
Listen. Listen. Hear them. Listen. Don’t overtalk your interview subject.
Do not judge their comments. Their comments may not agree with today’s understanding of similar situations. For instance, some of our relatives stressed the importance of being silent against stiff situations involving racist behaviors towards them. Some interviewers may prefer to speak up, or vice versa in such situations.
Organization matters. Establish your goals in interviewing your loved ones through a series of inquiries you have developed out of natural curiosity and “things” you may have heard or been told through family grapevines.
Be flexible. Your established goals to glean certain information may not be forthcoming. In some cases, you may have to adapt your interview collection methods to meet your relatives where they are. For instance, I provided one of my loved ones with the opportunity to record their story. He mailed the cassette recordings to me. I had to locate a cassette player to download the important family data.
Grandson,John C. Kimbrough, (seated) interviews his Grandfather, Dr. Rodney S. Wead, on Wead’s porch in St. Louis.
Schedule time to meet
The more your relatives age, the more questions arise about what the loved ones know that can add value to your family’s history.
Schedule a mutually convenient time to hold a virtual or in person meeting.
The interviewer should make the request and establish the approximate length of the meeting. In person meetings tend to be longer than online meetings. Allow for the extra time.
Plan for multiple meetings to gain a wide berth of information about your family.
Location matters
Where you meet is key to the success of the information you obtain.
In person meetings should also be guided by where the interviewee wishes to dish out the desired family information.
In some cases, the interviewer may wish to recommend the location for the discussion. For instance, I asked my father to take the most comfortable chair in my home to begin our series of discussions. My maternal grandmother preferred a lunch date. My maternal grandfather was confined to a skilled nursing facility. That’s where I retrieved, we spent three days discussing our family.
What you should ask
There are myriad of questions to ask your loved ones in anticipation of great information about your family. One half of the Good Genes Genealogy team — Ann Wead Kimbrough — is a career journalist who’s interviewed perhaps thousands of individuals.
Start with the basics in questions and allow it to build from there. The basic questions are “who, what, when, where, why and how?” Samples of what to objtain from your planned family discussions are found on the information sheets that Good Genes Genealogy Services has provided via its Genealogy Store.
The questions provided in our e-workbook that was designed for the two workshops held on Feb. 11 and Feb. 18, 2023 in partnership with Atlanta’s Hillside International Truth Center, are designed to get at the core of the results needed to effectively conduct genealogy and ancestry research.
Interpreting results
It’s time to edit.
Download your interviews onto another device as soon after your interviews as possible. In journalism circles, we were encouraged to review our reporting and begin writing while the information “was still hot.”
Add notations in the margins of your written notes, or highlight your online reporting, or mark the time codes on your broadcast recording equipment when key points are made.
Check out the information that you obtained. It is easy to get addresses or street names incorrect by your informants. There are plenty of historical maps, street directories, church records, ancestry, governmental and other data available to check the facts.
In some cases, check back with the informants after interviews to help clarify the matters discussed.
Produce your results in formats that are comfortable with you and family members. There are several genealogy books, other guides and even family Bibles that are great sources of recording the information from your well-earned interviews.
Ann Lineve Wead Kimbrough, your DNA suggests you’re equally likely to be a napper or non-napper.
Based on your genetics, you’re right in the middle—neither more nor less likely than average to take naps.
Nature and nurture
Your DNA affects whether or not you take naps, but your environment makes a bigger impact.
Making the most of your naps
If you’re a napper, keep it short—10 to 20 minutes is likely all you need. Longer naps can leave you groggy. To avoid nighttime wakefulness, end your naps before 3:00 in the afternoon.
Napping can curb your appetite
Missing out on sleep can make you feel hungrier. So taking naps can help you avoid overeating (especially if you nap through dessert).BACK TO SURVEY
Discover more
Tell us about yourself and your family through some simple survey questions. They’re fun and easy to answer.
Your responses help to improve our products, such as your ethnicity estimate and Traits, and to develop new features, which we hope will bring you a deeper understanding of yourself and your family connections.
We may also share aggregated responses, to give you insights into how your answers compare to others. You can always change or delete the responses on this page. Learn more.
Your answers may also be used for scientific research if you agreed to our Informed consent.OK, got it.
Discover more traits
NEWMorning or night person
Remembering dreams
Risk taking
Omega-3
Vitamin B12
Compare traits
See which traits are unique to you and which ones you share with your DNA matches.
Ancestry scientists found a lot of DNA markers (over 46,000) connected to taking naps. Some other markers may play a role too.
Environmental factors
People whose schedules require them to rise early tend to take more naps–as do folks whose nighttime sleep is interrupted. And of course, having a daytime schedule that allows for naps makes napping possible in the first place.
What is my result based on?
Your result is based only on your DNA. We compared your DNA to the DNA of more than 650,000 people who answered the question, “Do you take naps?” The large number of responses makes the data reliable. This test has no medical purpose. Nothing in this report is a diagnosis of a health condition or medical disorder. This report is not a substitute for medical advice. Before making any lifestyle or dietary changes, or if you have any questions about how your genetic profile might relate to your health or wellness, please contact your healthcare provider.
Nearly 200 historic documents are being digitally archived for public use. Several are on display as part of the Black founders exhibit, including a discharge paper signed by George Washington
PROVIDED IMAGE/MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION The Museum of the American Revolution is partnering with Ancestry to digitize its Patriots of Color archive, which features nearly 200 rare documents bearing the names and stories of Black and Native American soldiers who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
Excerpts
The Patriots of Color archive will be fully digitized and made available online at no cost to the public thanks to a partnership with the genealogy website Ancestry, museum officials said Friday. The Old City museum acquired the documents in 2022 from a private collection, following contributions from several donors.
“At least 5,000 men of color fought in the Continental Army, but their stories aren’t as known as they should be,” said R. Scott Stephenson, president and CEO of the museum. “This archive allows us to explore the extraordinary lives of men who helped to secure independence, yet who have not received the recognition they deserve as American Founders. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Ancestry to share these rich human stories with the world.”
The documents include Continental Army records related to Jeffrey Brace, who chronicled his life from enslavement to freedom in the 1810 memoir “The Blind African Slave.”
Brace, born in Africa, was not seized by enslavers until he was about 16 years old. He was shipped to Barbados, where he was treated brutally by an English seaman. He fought in the Seven Years War and was purchased by “widow Stiles” in Woodbury, Connecticut in 1768.
The widow taught Brace to read, and he served in the Continental Army. After being discharged in 1783, he was freed by Stiles’ son. His nickname — Pomp London — appears on several documents in the archive. Several years ago, Rhonda Brace, one of Brace’s descendants, visited the home in Woodbury and the descendants of the family that once enslaved her grandfather, six times removed.
“They actually brought us down, my dad and I went — my mother wouldn’t go — we went down to what they believe were the slave quarters in the house,” Brace said. “That was very, yeah … But it was something just to be on the property.”
Since the first workshop on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, several participants have telephoned, texted, emailed and visited their relatives to gather information needed for their individual family searches. It is healing and helpful for your family and friends to discover their histories.
The forms in this workbook are helpful for recording family histories.
Join us at 10 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, for a valuable workshop via Zoom designed to prompt participants to find their “lost” loved ones and gain joy, satisfaction, identity and spiritual uplift on the journey. The workshop focuses on Black Genealogy and Ancestry family research and more.
Part two and final 2023 Sankofa Genealogy workshop will be held at the same time, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023. Details will be provided next week.
Partners sponsoring this workshop.
Ann Wead Kimbrough and Mark Owen, first cousins and genealogists of GGGS, will facilitate the workshops for the third year. Workshop partner leadership: Presiding Bishop Jack L. Bomar, Rev. Sharon Hodnett (Zoom ologist) and Dr. Marian Gamble (Assisting Zoom ologist)
Genealogy and ancestry “hunters” come in all ages.
‘Back in the day,’ our ancestors’ version of social media was human contact. Stories were shared by village griots about our roots. Physical signs such as smoke were used to communicate. Entries were manually entered into family Bibles. Long visits with food-in-hands were made to families whose loved ones transitioned. Telephone calls were made on rotary dial devices. Telephone company operators connected calls between lines.
Storytelling among family via original stories and those read from informative books, are valuable to pass along family history.
Today, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of daily opportunities for the novice to serious genealogy and ancestry “hunters” to find details about their loved ones. One of the obvious, natural sources of data gathering is apparent in our daily doses of media. Whether current TV newscasts or historical clippings from newspapers, there are photos and stories waiting for us to find and connect them to our ancestors.
“… forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)…”
Meriam-Webster Dictionary
There are so many sites that apply to this definition and that is where the Good Genes Genealogy Team invites you to begin or resume your ancestry research. According to Datareportal, nearly 5 billion social media users are regular users on thousands of different sites. On average, 7.2 sites are visited each month by users. The top reason why we utilize social media is to remain in contact with living and deceased friends and families. Often, we receive news about the passing of a loved one from social media sources.
To help jog your brain, here are a few of the platforms that are part of our social media community:
Church websites
Sorority and fraternal websites
Community blogs and vlogs
Every app on cellular phones
Government resources
Newspapers
TV and Radio
Event, show bookings
Tradeshows
Quiz sites
Dissertation sites
Publications, ranging from scholarly to trade
Lots more sites are revealed on Datareportal:
Here’s an important tip on locating historical points on the QuizDaily website. It opened clues to one of our client’s family members.
“In 1832, the Georgia Infirmary became the first hospital for African Americans when it opened on Christmas Eve. Established by the Georgia General Assembly and a $10,000 grant from the estate of a merchant and minister named Thomas F. Williams, the Georgia Infirmary was built 10 miles south of Savannah, Georgia. In 1974, the infirmary was renamed the Adult Day Center; it is still an operating facility.”
In the worldwide Census data collection and distribution, there are straightforward and confusing results within the same reports. In the U.K. (England and Wales), the percentage of whites, for example, increased in the latest Census due to:
The ethnic groups used in the 2021 Census were slightly different from the 2011 Census ethnic groups.
There were 2 changes in 2021 – the ‘Roma’ group was added under the ‘white’ ethnic group, and people could write their own response under the ‘black African’ ethnic group.
As a result, figures for the white other and black African and black other ethnic groups may not be directly comparable for 2011 and 2021, although the groups concerned account for very low percentages of the overall population.
The Romani, or Roma as they are known, were once the EU’s largest minority group and now the addition of their population has increased the “white” column in the 2022 U.K. Census data. Romas are counted in the 2022 U.K. Census — actually in two categories. Why? That’s the straight forward-yet confusing data that is found in the U.K. Census.
As a result, the change in how whites and African-connected heritages are reported resulted in the latest data released about the ethnic, Caribbean, African and white populations in England and Wales. The latest results are not comparable to other years.
Over time, here’s what shows up as percentages of the entire population. Note that what I derived from the overall data will not equal 100 percent. See the full table of data:
According to the 2021 Census, the total population of England and Wales was 59.6 million and 81.7% of the population was white.
People from Asian ethnic groups made up the second largest percentage of the population (9.3%), followed by black (4.0%), mixed (2.9%) and other (2.1%) ethnic groups.
Out of the 19 ethnic groups, white British people made up the largest percentage of the population (74.4%), followed by people in the white ‘other’ (6.2%) and Indian (3.1%) ethnic groups.
From 2011 to 2021, the percentage of people in the white British ethnic group went down from 80.5% to 74.4%.
The percentage of people in the white ‘other’ ethnic group went up from 4.4% to 6.2% – the largest percentage point increase out of all ethnic groups.
The number of people who identified as ‘any other ethnic background’ went up from 333,100 to 923,800.
The take away
Confusing data and materials as recorded by government sources, further the “brick wall” frustration. Don’t be. Dig deeper to get results.
Census data — whether U.S. or U.K. or any other county, area — should always be deeply examined.
Once you review the data, go deeper. Click on all links and take hints to follow the accuracy of the data.
The goal is to gain clarity about what’s behind the statistics, materials and the conditions the results are produced.
The other primary goal is to learn the truth about where our ancestors lived, how they lived, and more.
Hillside’s leadership generously is offering our workshops for free. Cousins Ann Wead Kimbrough and Mark S. Owen, genealogists, are the facilitators for their church’s genealogy workshops. The workshops are open to our worldwide audience.
Kimbrough and Owen specialize in “breaking down brick walls” to find the “hard-to-find” Black ancestors whose histories are usually intertwined with others from contrasting backgounds, such as former slave owners. Kimbrough and Owen have several success stories in helping genealogy workshop participants and other clients to locate their “lost” loved ones. Hillside’s Presiding Bishop Jack L. Bomar, is among those who learned a “great blessing” of family history through the Good Genes Genealogy Services’ research about his family.
Sankofa Genealogy workshop attendees are asked to purchase the companion workbook. Go to our website and select “Genealogy Store.” You will be able to download your copy after selecting the book cover image (see below) to pay for your book. All proceeds offset our free and low-cost, year-round genealogy consulting services. Kimbrough and Owen are the co-authors and Veverly Byrd-Davis is the book designer and illustrator of the cover.
As a preview to the first workshop, we will explore the “natural” and online ways to find your ancestors whose heritage is from the African diaspora. Participants will also learn helpful tips and receive encouragement from the valued benefit of locating and celebrating our individual and collective Black family ancestries.
Don’t you love Black History Month? Although February is the shortest month in days of our calendar year, it is nonetheless a time to pause, respect and relish the fantastic achievements of African American, Black and Caribbean ancestors whose works and lives were largely ignored or never revealed.
That’s where your great genealogy research comes in. This month, hopefully the multitude of U.S. and global Black History Month recognitions, will prompt you to uncover new finds from your family. Tour museums. Visit special sites. Listen to great lectures. Watch broadcasts on public broadcasting and other media channels that provide insight on the lives that were courageously and well lived.
Thanks to the creation of and steadfast lobbying of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, we celebrate Black History Month. Woodson was the second black person to receive a doctorate degree from Harvard University, received two degrees from the University of Chicago, and a bachelor degree in Literature from Berea College. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris.
Today, some may shrug our shoulders about Woodson’s academic, literature, social and educational achievements. Yet, pause for a moment and think about when and where and how he accomplished so much after being born to former slaves and in poverty in 1875 to former slaves in Virginia. He worked smart during the era with remnants of the slave codes and other racial threats to his life. Yet, he authored several books, founded major organizations, and although he was never married and had no children, Woodson’s influence is an integral part of Black families around the globe.
Here are a few of the exciting happenings this month to honor Black History, beginning with the Good Genes Genealogy Services workshop:
Good Genes Genealogy Services is presenting its 3rd annual Sankofa Black Genealogy Workshop in partnership with Hillside International Truth Center. It’s free and you will be encouraged to purchase our workbook. Coming soon!
Please add your Black History Month events and the Good Genes Genealogy Services team will continue to update the great events throughout the month of February 2023.
MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2023 I GIVE THANKS FOR MY ANCESTORS
From Hillside Truth International Center, Atlanta, GA
Individually and collectively, we are part of a never-ending story. The story has no beginning and no end. Our Ancestors are the keepers of the stories and the secrets. Our Ancestors are reminders of the sacredness of our individual and collective lives. Their truths were passed on to us and continue to live in and through us. We can always tap in and receive the wisdom of their life experience, which is alive and well in our DNA. I listen to the whispers of my Ancestors and the echoes of their souls. I am grateful to know that I am a part of a spiritual lineage that is anchored in divine wisdom. I am guided to do what is right and honorable. I am part of the chain of life. The stories I inherited and tell today liberate those who come tomorrow. Thank you, Faith, in me, through me, as me, around me, through the Christ within. And so it is.
Daily Thoughts from the HillCopyright: Hillside International Truth Center, Inc.Bishop Dr. Jack L. Bomar – Executive BishopBishop Dr. Barbara L. King – Founder Renew/Subscribe: https://HillsideInternational.org/bookstore
With the elders is wisdom; and in length of days, understanding. Job 12:12
A founder of the 109-year-old international Black male fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., was long “missing.” He is now found.
For serious genealogy researchers, it is a joyful and encouraging example of how customized techniques resulted in a fraternity victory and for Black genealogy research.
“He got lost,” said Rev. William Major during a Founders Day program in metro Atlanta. “Through genealogy research … he was found. He died in 1981,” Major said.
Major’s remarks were emotionally delivered in honor of the three founders of Phi Beta Sigma during the 2023 Metro Atlanta Founders Day program that included the fraternity’s sister organization, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. The two Black Greek-Letter entities are the only ones constitutionally bound in its founding. Dr. Ann Wead Kimbrough of Good Genes Genealogy Services, Inc. is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
Major and Kimbrough
Rev. William Major, left, and Dr. Ann Wead Kimbrough at their Fraternity’s and Sorority’s Founders Day observance in Decatur, GA. (Photo: Provided by Ann Wead Kimbrough)
On Jan. 9, 1914, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., Brown, along with A. Langston Taylor and Leonard F. Morse, founded Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Today, the international organization is comprised of more than 150,000 college-educated and professional men, predominantly of African American origin. Since its inception, Phi Beta Sigma has been open to men of all race, religion, class and national origin.
Charles I. Brown, third from left, with his two other founders (right of him) and members of the Alpha Chapter, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Howard University
The fantastic search for the Phi Beta Sigma Founder Brown is well documented. What makes the search for Brown remarkable: Full use of available research resources. Flexibility and strategy are the keys to success in genealogy and ancestry research. In one blog, these words are instructive to all researchers:
THE SEARCH FOR CHARLES I. BROWN
The purpose of this blog is to gather information relating to Charles I. Brown. A most honorable founder of Phi Beta Sigma. We by no means claim a patent on the subject, nor are we seeking to upstage those who have done research prior to ours. We are willing to accept any and all help with this project. This is a plea to all brothers if you have any information, be it rumor, gossip or speculation please post it here.
That is valuable content within the search-for-Brown blog:
Founder Brown is said to have been born in Topeka, Kansas in 1890. Census records show that his father was Rev. John M. Brown and that his mother was Maggie M. Brown. However, records at Howard University from 1910 have Founder Brown living at 1813 Titan Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was very cordial and very popular with the student body and Howard University Administration. He is credited with choosing the 9 charter members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. Founder Brown founded the Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, on April 9, 1917, and through oral interviews was a teacher at the Kansas Industrial School for Negroes in Topeka, Kansas.
Census records and oral interviews have showed us that Founder Brown was alive in the Topeka, Kansas area until 1931. Some believe that he was a casualty of the First World War; others believe that he moved.
While there are several aspects of Brown’s life that has not yet been fully restored, it is heartening to known that his remains were claimed by his beloved fraternity and he was given a proper memorial service. His legacy is worth reading.
CHARLES I. BROWN August 27, 1885 – December 21, 1981
Ann of the Good Genes Genealogy Services team began her interest in family genealogy at the age of 10. After asking her mother and paternal grandfather separate questions about their childhoods, siblings, families and more, Ann did not receive the replies she expected. In both cases, I could hear crickets (old schoolers will get the reference).
Middle Peninsula genealogy group to host virtual talk ‘Tracing Our Ancestors’ | Richmond Free Press
m.richmondfreepress.com
Historian and genealogist Karice Luck-Brimmer will discuss “Tracing Our Ancestors’ Footprints” and how Black people can reclaim their heritage during a virtual meeting of the Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Ms. Luck-Brimmer also will discuss her role in tracing the ancestry of Air Force veteran Fred Miller.
In 2020, Mr. Miller purchased an 1850s-era Gothic Revival-style house near his childhood home in Pittsylvania County. He wanted a large space to host gatherings for his extended family. In doing so, Mr. Miller found hidden information about his family’s past. The house, called Sharswood, was a former plantation where his ancestors once were enslaved. Ms. Luck-Brimmer helped uncover the family’s connection to Sharswood and the story behind the discovery made national news on media outlets such as CBS’ “60 Minutes” and the Washington Post.
As an education and community initiatives program associate, Ms. Luck-Brimmer works primarily in the Dan River/Danville region where she collaborates with local community members and cultural organizations committed to positive change.
A public historian and genealogist, she has conducted extensive genealogical research in the Pittsylvania County area and is the founding president of the Danville/Pittsylvania County chapter of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society.
While the Middle Peninsula African-American society focuses on the history and genealogy of Virginia’s Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck, its programs are accessible to anyone throughout the United States.
Eva Narcissus Boyd was a teenager who was a babysitter to the young child of the Brill Building songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin. They heard her sing and also loved her dancing. “Little Eva” was asked by the team to sing a demo of their anticipated song for Dee Dee Sharp.
Eva was so good that King and Goffin decided to release her first song, “The Loco-Motion,” and it became a #1 pop hit and sold a million copies in 1962. She ended her nanny career and became a singer. Sadly, her entertainment career suffered many setbacks after the popular song.
Good Genes Genealogy tip: Ask your relatives whether they know of any ancestors who traded one job or career for another one. Find out why and how they chose to work in certain jobs
At this Gullah Geechee home on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, painted doors and shutters keep out evil spirits called “haints.” DAWNA MOORE / ALAMY
Morning or night person
Remembering dreams
Risk taking
Omega-3
Vitamin B12
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