19. Follow Friday: FamilySearch, a tribute to an old standby

The following is an excerpt from my book,  "Brought Home by a Story:  How family history changed my life"  which illustrates how FamilySearch resources have helped me to link to generations past: 

"After I had put so much together on my mother's parents, it occurred to me that I did not know much about her grandparents. I knew if I wanted to be able to trace them, I needed to start gathering what oral history I could.  I just started by asking my mother to tell me about her grandparents.


     The only one she really knew well as Lafayette Franklin Vance (1861-1952), the father of Emory Wallace Vance.  Most of what she could recall about him occurred between the years 1943 and 1951 during the time they lived on the farm in Gadsden, South Carolina.  I began to see similarities in his life that were interwoven in the lives of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.


     We are all hard workers.  Most of us live by high moral standards and have become very involved in the churches with which we are affiliated.  We have strong family values and are actively serving in our communities.  Lafayette helped and served in many communities throughout South Carolina.  He overcame the obstacles which were faced by African Americans from the time of Reconstruction on through segregation.  Like their forefathers, his descendants believe in the power of education.


     I was so fueled by the legacy he left behind, I wanted next to know who his parents were. Unfortunately at the time, no one could help me.  The only online resource that I knew of at the time was familysearch.org.  The 1880 US Census was free, and I figured that since Lafayette was born in 1861, I had a pretty good chance of finding him.


    All that was available where I lived was the dreaded dial up, but that did not matter. The page loaded like a curtain on open night.  I was not expecting what I saw when the screen came into view.  As it loaded ever so slowly, my eyes which were fixed on the center of the monitor, fell upon the name of Lafayette Franklin Vance.


     I had little doubt that I could find him.  What came as a great surprise to me was the fact that his entire family was so large that it practically filled the length of my screen.  I was speechless.  Tears just started streaming down my cheeks as I raised my eyes to the first two names at the head of the family group.

     My mom was waiting to see as well, and for the first time ever, the descendants of Emory Wallace Vance looked upon the names of Lafayette's parents, Beverly and Matilda Vance."

I am truly grateful the folks at FamilySearch for making genealogical resources available to the world for so many years.  This service has been a great benefit to me and to my family.  I am able to identify and preserve records for future generations. The new resources that you are rolling out are making wizards of even the most ordinary family historians.  Thank you!

More Links:

  

South Carolina GenResources 101: 10 ways past your brick wall

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15. Madness Monday: I am not just "Waltzing Matilda"

Grandma Matilda, if it were not for the 1870 US Census, 1880 US Census, an Abbeville County, SC land deed, and my first glimpse of your name in print in an old church hymnal before I was school age, I would think you were only a figment of my imagination.

I have no photograph, and no one living seems to have any recollection of you.  Oh yeah, there's that one mention of you in the biography of your son, Lafayette Franklin Vance in 1919.  I know you were born around 1841 and your mother who is nameless to me was born in Virginia during slavery.   Your maiden name was Dunlap.  I am going mad trying to connect you to parents.  Do you know how many Dunlaps were in Virginia?  Did you leave her behind when you came to South Carolina? Whew!

I suspect your mother could be Sarah Dunlap who had a son named Robert living in Calhoun County near Abbeville, but close is just not good enough.  You have simply got to give me a little more to go on.  You just disappeared after the 1880's with not even a trace in a descendant's memory.  That is pretty hard to do with 8 children...one would think.

I share the blame.  I could have asked more about you when I opened your grandson Emory's hymnal.   He did not volunteer any information other than you were his grandmother.  The fact that hymnal was dedicated to you means you made an impact somewhere.  Only one problem.....someone forgot to keep your memory alive.


For goodness sakes, no one even knows where you were buried or even when you died.  We are only talking  five generations here...what a shame.  I have gone far past that on other lines.   You make me think of the song "Waltzing Matilda."  People are in disagreement about the origins of the song and they even think the song is about  traveling with a bag over your back.  Some argue that the Matilda in the song is a bag not a lady.  See Waltzing Matilda and Waltzing Matilda a little ditty. How could you lose the memory of someone or something you cherish so much?  People love the song so much they have written many versions, but know one is sure what it is about.

I know so much about all your children and your brave husband, Beverly Vance (1832--1899), who I consider a Reconstruction Era hero.  You were there too.  If he made the choice in 1868 to vote, he would have been dead in ten days as he had been warned.  He did not cross party lines though, and in 1876, he was a constable standing guard at the ballot box.

Thanks for that decision....I would not be here.  He was one mile from the place Senator B. F. Randolph was shot and killed in 1868.  A different decision would have cost him the same price.    I wish you were here to experience my day.  I saw a YouTube video, We Are All Cousins, the other night that made me feel so fortunate to have the genfriends that I do. Elizabeth Shown Mills explained that she has never encountered feelings of prejudice among members of the genealogy community.  I feel the same.

So Grandma...I have to be going...I snuck away from the family BBQ.  It's Labor Day.  Just remember, I am not just waltzing here.  I could use some help :). 

Love,
Your GGGrandaughter, Robin

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