Viewing African American History Through a Genealogical Lens
If you are conducting historical or genealogical research, you may be doing yourself a disservice if you aren’t researching old newspapers. In recent years, many old newspapers have been digitized and are accessible online. Check out FamilySearch’s list of online newspaper databases here. Newspapers can enrich your family stories by painting a fascinating or revealing …
Continue reading Newspaper Research Can Be Very Tale-telling
On 3 March 1865, Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau, formally known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, to help millions of freed African Americans and poor whites in the South and the District of Columbia in the aftermath of the Civil War. The Union’s win of the Civil War had emancipated over …
Continue reading Striking Gold with Freedmen’s Bureau Records
After months of procrastinating, I finally began using DNA Painter last month. I am typically not a major procrastinator, but I was convinced to move forward with it after reading a Facebook comment purporting its usefulness in determining the connection to DNA matches. Indeed, it is. This tool is so cool, that web developer Jonny …
When I started researching my family history in 1993, I easily traced one of my father’s lines back to my great great grandfather, John “Jack” Bass of Warren County, Mississippi. According to the censuses, he was born around 1845, in North Carolina. Like many, I hit that infamous 1870 Brick Wall after finding him in …
Continue reading A Google Success Story: Finding Grandpa Jack’s Folks
In 2011, as my cousin, Dr. Jeffrey Ogbar, and I were discussing our family connection via my maternal grandmother, he told me how his Edwards family knew the name of their "Kunta Kinte." In the 1970s, down in Panola County (Como), Mississippi, his great-uncle, the late Rev. Sidney Edwards, interviewed family elders. They shared with …
Continue reading Our “Kunta Kinte”: The Search for Our African Ancestor’s Origins
Let’s face it. A good amount of our family histories aren’t “peachy keen.” History involves humans, and humans aren’t perfect. Consequently, many – no, everyone – will encounter some family dirt when they embark on a journey to unearth their family’s past. Some family dirt can be quite earth-shaking that it may cause an array …
Earlier this year, as my father, oldest sister, nephew, and I toured the new Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, we conversed about the participation of my father’s great-grandfather, John “Jack” Bass of Warren County (Vicksburg), Mississippi, in the Civil War. I had confirmed that he served with the 49th Regiment, formerly the 11th Louisiana Infantry, of …
Continue reading Honoring the Slain Black Milliken’s Bend Soldiers Who Made A Huge Difference
