Ancestry.com- Shaking Your Family Tree, April 29, 1999

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Shaking Your Family Tree

April 29, 1999

Shaking Your Family Tree, by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

African Americans Embrace Their Past

by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

More than ever before, African Americans embrace their past and look for their history, both collective and personal. In the outstanding Finding a Place Called Home, Dee Parmer Woodtor, Ph.D., shows how to sort out racial and cultural identities and how to begin the systematic process of searching for one's familial African roots.

The author provides excellent advice on ways to sidestep many of the roadblocks that often hinder black genealogy. She also shares numerous personal stories of African Americans that have gone through this experience. Woodtor is an instructor at DePaul University's School for New Learning in Afro-American Family History and Genealogy, and at Chicago's Newberry Library.

This is an invaluable guide through the tangled African American historical lineage. It shows how once the extended living family is marked on the family tree, the ancestral limbs and trunk must be found through interviews, courthouse documents, grave markers, old periodicals, church records and in other materials.

Some of the topics explored include:

- Documenting the contemporary family
- Collecting evidence from vital records
- Collecting evidence on the ancestral home
- Collecting evidence from federal population censuses
- Collecting evidence from the Civil War and Reconstruction periods
- Collecting evidence to identify the last slave owner
- Slave Genealogy or researching the last slave owner
- Tracing your ancestors over time as slaves
- Finding the first Africans
In discussing genealogical proof (widely misunderstood by many would-be genealogists) Woodtor explains: "One record or source alone is not sufficient to document or 'prove' any event or relationship in your ancestors' life cycle.

"Think of yourself as a lawyer who is building a case using the 'who shot Joe' method. Without Mary's confession, you must prove to members of the jury that they have no other choice but to find Mary guilty of shooting Joe based on an overwhelming and convincing amount of evidence. In all of your research, you must locate all the evidence (that is, all of the possible records for each of your ancestors), evaluate the truth or falsity of the evidence ... and come to sound conclusions, including those which allow you to state that a kin or blood relationship between two individuals could not be verified.''

Finding a Place called Home: An African American Guide to Genealogy and Historical Identity, details that the African American family's history is a unique one -- its naming patterns, its paths of migration, its physical features, its sheer ability to replicate itself from one generation to the next. This superb genealogical and historical guide is published by Random House, 201 E. 50th St., New York, NY 10022, ISBN: 0-375-40565-X (452 pages; $25 in hardcover).

STAR BREAK

The History of the Black Population of Amherst, Massachusetts, 1728-1870, by James Avery Smith, is available from NEHGS Sales, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 160 N. Washington St., Boston, MA 02114-2120; (888) 296-3447 ($13.50 postpaid).

Smith's study begins with a traditional style narrative of the history of Amherst, with the population of African descent as his focus. The second part of the book features an alphabetized, genealogical register of every Amherst African American he encountered in his research. He traces the descent of several families to three generations. Since most New England town histories are sadly lacking in any discussion of the black communities within their borders, this book is a remarkable and valuable addition -- historically and genealogically.

(c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate

Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter

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April 29, 1999
	African Americans Embrace Their Past by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
More than ever before, African Americans embrace their past and look for their history, both collective and personal. In the outstanding Finding a Place Called Home, Dee Parmer Woodtor, Ph.D., shows how to sort out racial and cultural identities and how to begin the systematic process of searching for one's familial African roots. The author provides excellent advice on ways to sidestep many of the roadblocks that often hinder black genealogy. She also shares numerous personal stories of African Americans that have gone through this experience. Woodtor is an instructor at DePaul University's School for New Learning in Afro-American Family History and Genealogy, and at Chicago's Newberry Library. This is an invaluable guide through the tangled African American historical lineage. It shows how once the extended living family is marked on the family tree, the ancestral limbs and trunk must be found through interviews, courthouse documents, grave markers, old periodicals, church records and in other materials. Some of the topics explored include: - Documenting the contemporary family - Collecting evidence from vital records - Collecting evidence on the ancestral home - Collecting evidence from federal population censuses - Collecting evidence from the Civil War and Reconstruction periods - Collecting evidence to identify the last slave owner - Slave Genealogy or researching the last slave owner - Tracing your ancestors over time as slaves - Finding the first Africans In discussing genealogical proof (widely misunderstood by many would-be genealogists) Woodtor explains: "One record or source alone is not sufficient to document or 'prove' any event or relationship in your ancestors' life cycle. "Think of yourself as a lawyer who is building a case using the 'who shot Joe' method. Without Mary's confession, you must prove to members of the jury that they have no other choice but to find Mary guilty of shooting Joe based on an overwhelming and convincing amount of evidence. In all of your research, you must locate all the evidence (that is, all of the possible records for each of your ancestors), evaluate the truth or falsity of the evidence ... and come to sound conclusions, including those which allow you to state that a kin or blood relationship between two individuals could not be verified.'' Finding a Place called Home: An African American Guide to Genealogy and Historical Identity, details that the African American family's history is a unique one -- its naming patterns, its paths of migration, its physical features, its sheer ability to replicate itself from one generation to the next. This superb genealogical and historical guide is published by Random House, 201 E. 50th St., New York, NY 10022, ISBN: 0-375-40565-X (452 pages; $25 in hardcover). STAR BREAK The History of the Black Population of Amherst, Massachusetts, 1728-1870, by James Avery Smith, is available from NEHGS Sales, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 160 N. Washington St., Boston, MA 02114-2120; (888) 296-3447 ($13.50 postpaid). Smith's study begins with a traditional style narrative of the history of Amherst, with the population of African descent as his focus. The second part of the book features an alphabetized, genealogical register of every Amherst African American he encountered in his research. He traces the descent of several families to three generations. Since most New England town histories are sadly lacking in any discussion of the black communities within their borders, this book is a remarkable and valuable addition -- historically and genealogically. (c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
Copyright 1998, 1999, Ancestry.com Inc. and its subsidiaries. Terms and Conditions \| Privacy Statement