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Researching Slave Ancestry
A forum to discuss the nuances specific to researching Slave Ancestry in the Americas. Share experiences, questions, tips and resource information as it relates to making our efforts researching African Ancestry more successful.
Views: 1645
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Luckie Daniels on
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Wow Bill that's AMAZING! I am so glad you're taking part in this discussion.
Toni & the LowCountry Africana team are doing a PHENOMENAL great job!
I'll be visiting your family site on next click (smile) & please make sure to post your DRAYTON info on LCA's forum (http://www.genealogywise.com/forum/topics/an-invitation-for-descend...) as well! We want all the branches connected!:-)
Your friend,
Luckie.
www.OurGeorgiaRoots.com
www.OurAlabamaRoots.com
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Permalink Reply by Craig Manson on
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It takes a lot of effort, but it's not necessarily impossible find out information on slave ancestors. Everybody has a little different approach to it. You started off right by asking a relative about her. Now branch out to other relatives and get as much as you can from them. Then start looking at the slave schedules in the census. It helps if you know who the key slaveholders were in the region. There are many sites these days with slave information, such as the Illinois Slave database.
CHASTITY said:I just wanted to say after reading the forum and topic for his discussion group the thing that bothers me still to this day: ok, my grandmother told me stories of my great grandmother and they were fine stories....But when I would ask about my grea-great grandmother she could only tell me she was too young to remember much but the young woman never had a name , or my granny just didn't remember for her being a child herself, but the lady's name was simply Mamie. Why? My granny said all she knew was that Mamie was a slave. I guess I will probably never find info on her, huh? Anyhow that's what's bugging me!
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Permalink Reply by Angela Walton-Raji on
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I just saw a video clip about that story. I am also amazed that the soldier McKinney did not end up in the 110th or 111th US Colored Troops that served in that same region. Fascinating story!
Angela Walton-R.aji
Descendant of 4 soldiers from the 111th US Colored Infantry
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Permalink Reply by Toni Carrier on
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I would second Craig's suggestion that you consult every family member who will entertain the question. It is amazing how different family members remember or know different information about family history. Sometimes even a distant cousin may know something about your immediate family you did not know. ---toni carrier
Craig Manson said:It takes a lot of effort, but it's not necessarily impossible find out information on slave ancestors. Everybody has a little different approach to it. You started off right by asking a relative about her. Now branch out to other relatives and get as much as you can from them. Then start looking at the slave schedules in the census. It helps if you know who the key slaveholders were in the region. There are many sites these days with slave information, such as the Illinois Slave database.
CHASTITY said:I just wanted to say after reading the forum and topic for his discussion group the thing that bothers me still to this day: ok, my grandmother told me stories of my great grandmother and they were fine stories....But when I would ask about my grea-great grandmother she could only tell me she was too young to remember much but the young woman never had a name , or my granny just didn't remember for her being a child herself, but the lady's name was simply Mamie. Why? My granny said all she knew was that Mamie was a slave. I guess I will probably never find info on her, huh? Anyhow that's what's bugging me!
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You know Chasity, I think the reason why your post has sparked so much interest is because we've all been where you are - new genealogists facing a road that seems hopeless...
I spent the first two years of my research going nowhere! The Great Aunts who really didn't support my desire to "dig-up" family history, had given me the wrong surnames to follow!
When I finally sat with my cousin Elbert STRINGER, he was able to share with me a few brief [but accurate] childhood memories that have since grown into being www.OurGeorgiaRoots.com.
Literally, I had three sentences of information when I got my REAL start!:-)
So all this is to say - be encouraged dear!
When the Ancestors "choose" you to tell their stories, they have a way of equipping you with the information you need. Trust me on this!:-)
You have technology, a calling & a community of seasoned researchers to support you along the way!
Luckie.
CHASTITY said:I just wanted to say after reading the forum and topic for his discussion group the thing that bothers me still to this day: ok, my grandmother told me stories of my great grandmother and they were fine stories....But when I would ask about my grea-great grandmother she could only tell me she was too young to remember much but the young woman never had a name , or my granny just didn't remember for her being a child herself, but the lady's name was simply Mamie. Why? My granny said all she knew was that Mamie was a slave. I guess I will probably never find info on her, huh? Anyhow that's what's bugging me!
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Permalink Reply by Vera Moore on
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Oh goodness Luckie....same here!
I had literally a few sentences to start with!! The information I received came from my non-AA maternal grandmother who never met my father's mother, lived in North Dakota and had talked on the phone 1 or 2 times with my paternal grandmother who lived all the way in Georgia!! She died in1968 while my mother was still pregnant with me!! I didn't even start my research until 1994, but just with those few conversations she had she actually remembered a few key details including her mother's name!! I made my first inquiries on Afrigeneas (thank you Denise) and once I located my suspected paternal g-grandparents in the 1920 census (Jasper Co., Ga) I worked my way back to 1870 on the Moore side, but it wasn't until after I was able to locate my grandmother in their 1930 census household that I was able to verify I had the absolute correct MOORE family. From here I started working back on her mother's side which brought me to Henry County, Ga (GRANT family) eventually locating the last slave owners of my 4th g-gm and 3rd g-gf and siblings. I also got information from my maternal grandmother regarding my father's father, but not much...just a name and that he had died the year my father was born!! THEN It wouldn't be yet for another 10 years that I had located my father and got confirmation that I had documented the correct families!! For me it was not knowing my father that motivated me into finding out who I was and where I came from. It has also been the starting point of a relationship I now have with him and never thought possible!! He now knows more information about his ancestors then he ever dreamed of and was able to share that knowledge with his older sister before her passing in 2005.
So my dear Chastity......it may not be easy but IT CAN BE DONE!! You will have tons of help..guaranteed :)
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Permalink Reply by Cindy Johnston Sorley on
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I am excited about this topic and I hope I do not raise alot of eyebrows with this posting but I may.
I grew up in basically all white Utah. I was born into the LDS church and left it a number of years ago. As a child I had ONE black student in our school. He had moved to the military base. I was in NINTH grade at the time. I am not exaggerating. Well, my mom remarried and we moved to Zaragoza, Spain when I was 14 and my brother was 10. We enrolled in the military high school and we became fast friends with many of the black, Asian and European students of military parents. These friends were always welcome in our home and I had four great years of never knowing racism. Back up a bit. I had never experienced racism because I had never had contact with a black person in Utah until ninth grade and I was becoming friends with Darin when we moved to Spain.
Following high school graduation, I took six months and toured Europe and such and then eventually settled on going to Nursing School at an Mississippi University For Women in Columbus. My first month at this college was pure hell as I tried to meet friends. I was an outsider, a Yankee and was not accepted. I ended up moving in with two students from Mexico and Honduras. We became fast friends with our new neighbors, two black girls from Georgia and Alabama. Within a few days, our tires were slashed, I was threatened by white girls in elevators to not hang out with blacks and was really treated poorly. My roommates received the same or worse treatment. I was livid and made a point to let them know I had experienced prejudice for the first time in my life and it was 1980.
I ended up graduating from college and since my parents could not be there for my graduation, my dear friend had her grandmother who was a midwife in Lamar county Alabama pin me for my degree. Mary was black and she had become a second mother to me in my years at MUW and Itawamba Jr College.
After graduation she knew I had a love for genealogy and asked me if I could help her look for records on her family.... I was thrilled to do it.. the problem... they were so few and far between I felt like a failure to her. I was appalled what was available in 1980 and am as appalled today in 2009 what is available. As I did the research later on my boys line of slave owners in Georgia, I have to admit, I didn't care that they owned slaves. It was not important to me. I guess it bothered me and I didn't want to put it in my genealogy. I did research for a paid job and finding the slave records made me mad, like they were hidden and I had to dig for them..
I got excited this past year while doing genealogy for a dear friend, I ran across the term Melungeon when researching his family. Melungeons are tri racial (Sub Saharan, Caucasian and some say European or even Native American) isolates of the hills of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and parts of West Virginia. After studying them and devouring any information I could on the Melungeons I realized that many of the reasons they are living the hills is because of the treatment they received when on census records they were listed as Black, Colored, Mulatto and sometimes White. Many were not allowed to vote and were treated as though they had leprosy. So how do you tell someone that is Caucasian that they have black in them? I just blurted it out. I said.. you know your Estep line has a Melungeon in them? He said What? I said Tri racial isolates! Black, White, Indian and Portuguese or Spanish or something? He never even flinched.. he said.. so Melungeon huh? Let's look it up. I gave him all the information I had. Now we have found it is on a number of his lines.
A very interesting turn to this story. A number of years ago we came across my boys great great grandfathers written story about growing up in the South and his family having slaves. He said he remembered his grand father father being upset with the census takers when they would not take the names of the slaves for the census. He also mentioned his son tried to find info on what happened to the "friends" and checking census records he could not find a thing about any member of this group and he said he was convinced they were never added to the census for 1870, 1880 and knew they were alive. I am finding the same to be said for tracing Melungeon lines as with the black lines I have researched.. it is almost like the census record takers didn't feel they were important and left many of them off.
Memoirs are very important of slave owners in the South. I found a great deal written about a family that named every slave and I was later able to find them on the census. I would have no clue where to look had I not found that memoir. If you know the slave owners name, look for written papers: Memoirs, Wills, etc. My boy's gggrandfather left items to his former slaves when he died and all their names were in the will. I realized these people were members of this family and I then made a tree for for them and did some work on them and when I have time, I will do more..my mind was changed about the research when I saw their names in written word being left items in a will... they were important to someone and they are now important to me.
sorry I rambled...
so look at WILLS... very important.. the last three I have researched had gifts to former slaves or slaves.
off to wonder around..
Cindy
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Thank you for sharing Cindy & no raised eyebrows from me!:-)
What you've described experiencing is common for most African-Americans - be we Genealogists or not. Bigotry is appalling yes, but not uncommon.
What I have appreciated over the years is that for the most part, there is a sense of etiquette when it comes to approaching research in general and I have found it extended to me in my pursuit of discovering my Slave Ancestry.
Yes - there have been times when my requests/emails have been ignored but the outreach I've received has tripled the amount of snubs.
Even now, descendants of Rev. James Madison DICKEY, the Minister who owned my 4th Grandmother Catie WINGFIELD DORSEY live & have knowledge of my Grandmother in respect to her time with the Minister. The problem? They've been less than forthcoming about sharing it with me.
What I would hope is that people, particularly Genealogists, would understand just how hurtful not being able to identify your immediate family is - through no fault of your own no less.
It's the not knowing that gets you.
I believe open dialogues, like the one occurring here, are the ONLY way to heal & move through a very ugly period in US history.
Thank you for joining us.
Luckie.
Cindy Johnston Sorley said:I am excited about this topic and I hope I do not raise alot of eyebrows with this posting but I may.
I grew up in basically all white Utah. I was born into the LDS church and left it a number of years ago. As a child I had ONE black student in our school. He had moved to the military base. I was in NINTH grade at the time. I am not exaggerating. Well, my mom remarried and we moved to Zaragoza, Spain when I was 14 and my brother was 10. We enrolled in the military high school and we became fast friends with many of the black, Asian and European students of military parents. These friends were always welcome in our home and I had four great years of never knowing racism. Back up a bit. I had never experienced racism because I had never had contact with a black person in Utah until ninth grade and I was becoming friends with Darin when we moved to Spain. Following high school graduation, I took six months and toured Europe and such and then eventually settled on going to Nursing School at an Mississippi University For Women in Columbus. My first month at this college was pure hell as I tried to meet friends. I was an outsider, a Yankee and was not accepted. I ended up moving in with two students from Mexico and Honduras. We became fast friends with our new neighbors, two black girls from Georgia and Alabama. Within a few days, our tires were slashed, I was threatened by white girls in elevators to not hang out with blacks and was really treated poorly. My roommates received the same or worse treatment. I was livid and made a point to let them know I had experienced prejudice for the first time in my life and it was 1980.
I ended up graduating from college and since my parents could not be there for my graduation, my dear friend had her grandmother who was a midwife in Lamar county Alabama pin me for my degree. Mary was black and she had become a second mother to me in my years at MUW and Itawamba Jr College.
After graduation she knew I had a love for genealogy and asked me if I could help her look for records on her family.... I was thrilled to do it.. the problem... they were so few and far between I felt like a failure to her. I was appalled what was available in 1980 and am as appalled today in 2009 what is available. As I did the research later on my boys line of slave owners in Georgia, I have to admit, I didn't care that they owned slaves. It was not important to me. I guess it bothered me and I didn't want to put it in my genealogy. I did research for a paid job and finding the slave records made me mad, like they were hidden and I had to dig for them..
I got excited this past year while doing genealogy for a dear friend, I ran across the term Melungeon when researching his family. Melungeons are tri racial (Sub Saharan, Caucasian and some say European or even Native American) isolates of the hills of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and parts of West Virginia. After studying them and devouring any information I could on the Melungeons I realized that many of the reasons they are living the hills is because of the treatment they received when on census records they were listed as Black, Colored, Mulatto and sometimes White. Many were not allowed to vote and were treated as though they had leprosy. So how do you tell someone that is Caucasian that they have black in them? I just blurted it out. I said.. you know your Estep line has a Melungeon in them? He said What? I said Tri racial isolates! Black, White, Indian and Portuguese or Spanish or something? He never even flinched.. he said.. so Melungeon huh? Let's look it up. I gave him all the information I had. Now we have found it is on a number of his lines.
A very interesting turn to this story. A number of years ago we came across my boys great great grandfathers written story about growing up in the South and his family having slaves. He said he remembered his grand father father being upset with the census takers when they would not take the names of the slaves for the census. He also mentioned his son tried to find info on what happened to the "friends" and checking census records he could not find a thing about any member of this group and he said he was convinced they were never added to the census for 1870, 1880 and knew they were alive. I am finding the same to be said for tracing Melungeon lines as with the black lines I have researched.. it is almost like the census record takers didn't feel they were important and left many of them off.
Memoirs are very important of slave owners in the South. I found a great deal written about a family that named every slave and I was later able to find them on the census. I would have no clue where to look had I not found that memoir. If you know the slave owners name, look for written papers: Memoirs, Wills, etc. My boy's gggrandfather left items to his former slaves when he died and all their names were in the will. I realized these people were members of this family and I then made a tree for for them and did some work on them and when I have time, I will do more..my mind was changed about the research when I saw their names in written word being left items in a will... they were important to someone and they are now important to me.
sorry I rambled...
so look at WILLS... very important.. the last three I have researched had gifts to former slaves or slaves.
off to wonder around..
Cindy
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Luckie, I am going to pull out the papers of my boys great grandfather in the next few weeks and write what he said about the slaves .. you never know.. someone might be looking for that exact person down the road and I can share the memories of them.
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Thank you Cindy! I'll make sure it gets posted here at GWise & on both my other sites - OurGeorgiaRoots.com & OurAlabamaRoots.com too!
Like you said - you never know who may be researching. This type of information is LIFE CHANGING.
Luckie.
Cindy Johnston Sorley said:Luckie, I am going to pull out the papers of my boys great grandfather in the next few weeks and write what he said about the slaves .. you never know.. someone might be looking for that exact person down the road and I can share the memories of them.
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Permalink Reply by Bill Drayton on
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I've posted a whole lot of info I gathered from ancestry.com on members of the Drayton Fellowship which is on facebook.
Luckie Daniels said:Wow Bill that's AMAZING! I am so glad you're taking part in this discussion.
Toni & the LowCountry Africana team are doing a PHENOMENAL great job!
I'll be visiting your family site on next click (smile) & please make sure to post your DRAYTON info on LCA's forum (http://www.genealogywise.com/forum/topics/an-invitation-for-descend...) as well! We want all the branches connected!:-)
Your friend,
Luckie.
www.OurGeorgiaRoots.com
www.OurAlabamaRoots.com
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Toni has posted details of my great-great-great-great grandfather, John Faucheraud Grimke, on the lowcountryafricana.org site. I found it very interesting. Curiously it does not mention by name my ggg grandfather, Thomas Smith Grimke, or perhaps I missed something. Thomas married Sally Daniels Drayton, and it was his second son, Rev John Drayton Grimke, whoe inherited Magnolia Plantation from his maternal grandfather, Thomas Drayton, son of John Drayton, builder of Drayton Hall, by his 3rd wife, Margaret Glen. Rev. John had to add the name Drayton to his surname as a condition for the inheritance.
Bill Drayton said:I've posted a whole lot of info I gathered from ancestry.com on members of the Drayton Fellowship which is on facebook.
Luckie Daniels said:Wow Bill that's AMAZING! I am so glad you're taking part in this discussion.
Toni & the LowCountry Africana team are doing a PHENOMENAL great job!
I'll be visiting your family site on next click (smile) & please make sure to post your DRAYTON info on LCA's forum (http://www.genealogywise.com/forum/topics/an-invitation-for-descend...) as well! We want all the branches connected!:-)
Your friend,
Luckie.
www.OurGeorgiaRoots.com
www.OurAlabamaRoots.com
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