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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

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32. Wordless Wednesday: "Sugar" was her name for me


December 1988 in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

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31. Tuesday Tip: Are your family members trapped as .jpegs?

Before they were digitized,  our family photos could be found in albums, cardboard boxes and  top drawers.  Now with digital cameras and scanners, many family photos never see the light of day.  Those wonderful photos of family vacations, reunions, and other special events are still trapped in the camera, computer hard drive, flash drive, or on cd-roms.


Do our family members even how to access these photos?  They knew they could pull out the old trusty photo album when they wanted to reminisce.  I have had computers to break down, flash drives to malfunction and cd-roms to wear out.  I found a way my family can access all my photos and no matter where they live.


I have access to free unlimited online storage with my own private Heritage Makers account. I store copies of historical documents there as well.  I am able to download high resolution photos or drag my photos over to make beautiful projects like storybooks and calendars within HM.  A free Basic Heritage Makers account has limited storage.


I love it because I upload my photos to my HM account right from my camera, and when I need one for a blog post, I can easily find it in one of my categorized folders.  When I visit family members who have old photographs, I simply take a shot with my digital camera, and they do not have to worry about being without the photo while I make copies.


I have been using this service since 2007, and it has saved me a great deal of time.


Friday, October 15, 2010

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30. My take on uncovering Reconstruction Era resources

African American History Monument at The State House, Columbia
by Robin Foster
I was so happy to be able to attend Tony Burrough's seminar his past Sunday at the Robert Mills Courthouse in Camden.  I have his book, Black Roots,  and I have used it faithfully for almost a decade.  It will never become obsolete.


I have been researching for over 20 years, and I still learned so much.  The greatest thing that I remember he said was, "If you want to locate information about a slave ancestor, research Reconstruction records."








Well, I have only skimmed the surface when it comes to Reconstruction Era records.  A light bulb somehow went on, and now I am on a mission to find all I can.  I am having a great deal of success. It is as if the resources have just been waiting for me.  I am learning so much about this period in our history that I did not know.


A study of Reconstruction can be quite challenging because there are so MANY contradictions and opposing viewpoints.  Freedmen who struggled to exercise and keep their new found freedoms were seen as shiftless, criminals, and less than equal.  You must be able to keep the proper perspective as you trudge through these records.  They are useful to those who have slave owner as well as slave ancestry.


I can certainly see why anyone would want to avoid having to use them in genealogical research, but doing so may result in never finding that link back to slavery (see Reconstruction Era records are neglected genealogical resources).  I have been very successful in locating a few of my ancestors so far.


Even though I have struggled a little this week and had to do some major soul searching, I feel a significant change as come over me.  I understand so much more about the complexities of being African American.  I understand so much more the purpose for me being taught to have integrity and to "NEVER use the word, can't." when I was growing up.


I am understanding more about the responsibility I have to share these perspectives and the resources that can help others find documentation.  Yes, we are working to find evidence to document our ancestry, but in the process we are really discovering ourselves.  Reconstruction was in many respects harsher than slavery.


Freedmen had no monetary value to former slave owners and were even more expendable.  How did they do it?  What were they made of?  I hope I will understand better as I go along.  I will continue to share my feelings here, but I will share resources and how you can access them in a more formal way here:  Columbia Ethnic Community Examiner.  I have written 3 articles this week so far.    Click the "subscribe" button at the top of any of the articles so you do not miss any resources.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

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29. Tuesday Tip: Search Reconstruction records to learn more about an emancipated ancestor

African American History Monument on The State House grounds
Columbia, South Carolina
Many Reconstruction Era resources can help you identify the following important information about your ancestor:  former slave owner’s identity, land ownership, military experience, occupation, family life, and more.  

Search the local library for books about Reconstruction.  Search the local university libraries and the local archives.  Search "Reconstruction" at Google Books as well as the name of your ancestor along with the county
and state where he lived.


During Reconstruction, most newly emancipated African Americans became Republicans and the white farmers (Red Shirts) who were mostly Democrats sorely persecuted the former slaves.  This is an excerpt of one of Beverly's testimony which I found:

THE MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS OK THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS IN SIX VOLUMES:

BEVERLY VANCE—ABBEVILLE COUNTY. (page 417)

Columbia, S. C, December 22,1876. Beverly Vance (colored) sworn and examined.

By Mr. Cameron : Question. Where do you live ?—Answer. I live in Abbeville when I am at home. Q. What township or precinct -?—A. I live in Cokesbury township. Q. What is your age?—A. I am forty-four. Q. Are you republican ?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. How long have you belonged to the republican party ?—A. Ever since the emancipation.


Q. Where were you on the day of election ?—A. I was at the ballotbox at Cokesbury precinct.
Q. Yon may state whether or not there were any armed democrats at that polling-place on the day of the election.—A. Well, there were men armed there with pistols.


Q. You may state whether or not they had guns when there.—A. Yes, sir; they bad guns. Some had double-barreled shotguns in their wagons, I suppose, I will say, in from thirty five to one hundred yards of the polling place; they had some of these old muskels, old Army guns, about three hundred yards from there, in Mr. Conner's store.


Q. What else did the democrats have there that day ?—A. Well, sir, they had a good deal of whisky, and one thing and another around there. They had a barrel of whisky in about fifty yards, in Mr. Conner's store, and then they had some jugs in their wagons where they camped tbe night before. There was a good, large crowd of them camped there, and they had a barrel of whisky and a big supper, and was eating and drinking the night before the election.
Q. You may state whether or not the whites threatened the republicans before the election in any way.—A. O, yes, sir; they did that a great deal in every direction, 1 suppose, three months before the elec tion. Myself was threatened the night before the election. I had to have a body-guard around me the whole night. We laid out the whole night. We were expecting them. They had sworn they would kill me.


I also found Beverly in  a 1869 Militia Enrollment for South Carolina and on a 1868 SC Voter's Registration in Abbeville County.  See US Reconstruction Era records help to document ancestor's and link to slavery.

Each type of record will vary according to geographical location.  Here are the results I received from searching Google for South Carolina Reconstruction records:  Click here.  This search led to several great resources that I did not know existed.

If we are to have any hope of finding out more about an ancestor who lived during slavery, we must uncover all we can to document them between 1865 and 1877.

Sources:  THE MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS IN SIX VOLUMES; SC Department of Archives and History; Hurrah for Hampton!: Black Red Shirts in South Carolina during Reconstruction,  By Edmund L. Drago

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