Genealogy
ge·ne·al·o·gy | \ ˌjē-nē-ˈä-lə-jē
a record or account of the ancestry and descent of a person, family, group, etc.
The Assignment That Became My Passion
In 1988, I enrolled in a class at Penn State University and one of our assignments was to create a family tree. Little did I know that this assignment would eventually become my passion. Over the 32 years, my penchant for genealogy has evolved into researching, documenting, sharing and writing family stories. I hadn’t heard of the five year old website ancestry.com in 1988, so it wasn’t a resource that I utilize to do my research. I relied on good old fashion oral history, conversations with my grandmothers and other family members. I was also fortunate to have hand-written documents from family members that recorded the names and dates of many of my ancestors. My only regret is that I did not sit down and record conversations with many of my relatives that have now passed. That’s why I strongly urge people to interview their relatives while they are still alive because their information and stories are so valuable. I still have that creased and faded bright yellow poster board with my handwritten family tree chart and notes from thirty-two years ago. In my eyes it’s a valuable family treasure with a lot of recorded history.
Cheryl Caldwell, AAHSB Founder
Inspiring The Next Generation
Genealogy can do more than just teach people about their past. It can bring a person closer to their living relatives as they talk with them about their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other ancestors. By piecing together family stories, they'll also learn more about themselves. Genealogy can also bring about a sense of pride in oneself by discovering how their ancestors lived, toiled and persevered through challenging times.
Pictured above is the 1920 United States Federal Census for the Beloit City. Note the Place of Abode, Column 1 is the Edge Water Addition. Some of the families listed are John D. Stevenson, G. P. L. Gordon, Len Cameron, Erskin Herd and Robert Wilson.
Tips to get started
Before you start the journey of researching your ancestors there are a few tools and supplies you may want to have that will help you stay organized and make your discoveries last for years. Below is a list of items to have on hand, remember these are only helpful suggestions.
• Pencils and pens are always needed.
• Notebooks- The spiral type of any size.
• Digital camera- Keep in mind that a small camera is ideal so you can keep it in your pocket or purse. Cell phone cameras today are just as good as a small point and shoot camera.
• Recording device- Any type of digital voice recorder, camera or mobile phone with video/audio record function. While written content on family history is always valuable, so are audio, and video recordings. This can supplement your notes and capture each family member’s appearance and personality. Your multimedia approach to interviewing can help bring your family stories to life.
Where to start
Start with yourself and work backwards generation by generation. Recording information about yourself and each generation allows you to gather information as you progress, and in the long run you will find out even more about great-grandfather and those before him. Talk to older relatives in your family and learn what they know about the family. Be sure to look in the attic or open an old trunk, there are many, many things that can give you clues to your family.
Look through family albums or old family photos, this is very useful especially if the pictures have information written on them. Photos can also be very good clues about the personalities and occupations of your relatives. A family bible is another very useful source for gathering information.
United States Census provides many details about your family. Keep in mind that this data was provided by individuals and is prone to error. Enumerators, the person employed in taking a census, made mistakes. So when searching for your family member in the census, know that you will find misspelling of their names, many variations with ages and other data that was recorded.
Birth, death and marriage records are key sources to use when searching for information on your family. City directories offer information such as addresses, occupations, marital status, and other personal information.
Keep in mind that you might discover some unpleasant information about a relative. Don't let it get to you-it's never affected you before, it won't now. It has no bearing on your present circumstances.
Be aware that some of the information that you discover may not be entirely correct, either deliberately or accidentally. For example, someone may lie about his or her birth date to seem older to enlist in a war effort.
The 1870 United States Federal Census
One of the first steps for those just beginning to research their African American family history, is a close examination of the census records. Since the 1870 census was the first census taken after the Civil War, it is particularly important for African Americans. It was the first census to enumerate all citizens by name, regardless of race, and is often the first document recording the surname of former slaves. Prior to 1870 only free African Americans were actually named in the census, under the category "other free colored persons". Those held as slaves were enumerated under the name of the slave owner.
The 1850 and 1860 census were the first to identify by name every "free citizen," in a household, including women and children, with a separate "Slave Schedule" for slaves. Slave Schedules identified each slave by number, age, gender and color, under the name of the slave owner. Only in "rare instances" are slaves mentioned by name. Although the category of "free persons of color" was not used after 1840, free blacks were identified by race, "B" for black, "M" for mulatto -- in some instances identified as "N" for negro.
Don’t assume that your ancestors were enslaved unless you have proof. There were free people of color living in the U.S. prior to the Civil War. If your ancestors were enslaved, they were considered “property,” so your next task will be to try and figure out who the name of the slave owner.
If you were successful in finding your family in the 1870 census, start your search in the location that your ancestors were living in. Look closely at white families who lived near your relatives in the 1870 census and shared the same surname. Sometimes former slaves adopted their former white slaveholders surname as their own when they were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Many of them continued to live in proximity to their former slave owner so if you find a white family with the same last name, try tracking them back.
Begin by checking the 1860 census for that family and see if they held slaves, and check the 1860 slave schedules and see if there were slaves on the schedule whose ages match up with your ancestors’ ages at that time. Sometimes the listings for large slaveholdings appear to take the form of family groupings, but in most cases, slaves are listed from eldest to youngest with no apparent effort to portray family structure. These slave schedules themselves almost never provide conclusive evidence for the presence of a specific slave in the household or plantation of a particular slaveholder.
There are also a number of post-Civil War records that specifically document thousands of African Americans, including the Freedman's Bureau Records.
Believe me, I know first-hand how difficult it can be to research and find your ancestors. You will have those eureka moments but there will also be moments when you think your search is a lost cause. Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor will you be able to create your family tree in a short period of time. My words of encouragement to you before you begin your genealogy journey, stay diligent and BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE! Enjoy researching, discovering and learning your family history!
Below are five suggested genealogy websites that can greatly benefit you in your research. Of the five suggestions, ancestry.com is a subscription genealogy website, that website has a lot of helpful information and is user friendly. Visit ancestry.com to view the membership options offered. You will find that the free genealogy websites provide good records, sometimes as many as offered on the subscription websites.
familysearch.org
The USGenWeb Project-usgenweb.org
Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center, Fort Wayne, IN-genealogycenter.org
ancestry.com (subscription required)
myheritage.com (be sure to go to the myheritage.com free genealogy page)