black genealogy advice
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Tracing Your Roots: Did My Ancestor Work in a Prior Enslaver’s Home?
Repeating patterns in Reconstruction-era census records point to possible connections during slavery. Dear Professor Gates: I’m trying to determine if my third great-grandmother (from my mother’s paternal side of the family) was a slave or if her mother was. In the 1880 census in Lytle’s Fork of Scott County, Ky., she is listed as Polly…
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Tracing Your Roots: How Did My Black Ancestor Come to Own Land?
Finding out how a great-grandfather came to own 300 acres of land in post-Civil War South Carolina. Dear Professor Gates: It is a mystery to me how and when my great-grandfather Peter Golphin obtained his wealth and holdings. He was born about 1858 in Barnwell, S.C. Somehow he obtained 300 acres of land. I have…
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Tracing Your Roots: What Did Freedom Bring for My Ancestor?
Post-Civil War records point to a common fate for many African Americans after emancipation. Dear Professor Gates: I’m searching for any information on my third great-grandfather Hardy Dykes, who was born in 1843. I assume that he was born in or near Hawkinsville, Ga. The only record I could find on him was in the…
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Tracing Your Roots: Have I Found My Ancestor’s Plantation?
She found a photo of her great-grandmother in the records of a historic plantation house in Georgia, but little information about her life under slavery. Dear Professor Gates: I have located my great-grandmother Cora Lundy in the 1880 census. I would like to learn about her life before 1880 but have so few clues. She…
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Tracing Your Roots: Who Were My Granddad’s Enslaved Parents?
A reader encounters the proverbial brick wall that African Americans encounter in antebellum genealogy research. Dear Professor Gates: Please help me find the parents of my grandfather Frank Lockhart (born July 28, 1878; died March 15, 1968). At some point he married Amanda Standback, but I have not been able to confirm any records for…
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Tracing Your Roots: Did a White Lawyer Adopt My Granddad?
A family legend points to a turn-of-the-20th-century transracial adoption. Could that have actually happened? Dear Professor Gates: My mother and I have been tracing the family tree on the side of my father, Samuel Gibbs, for a while now. We have not been successful in finding out who the mystery white attorney is on my…
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Tracing Your Roots: Was My Ancestor Deported to Ghana?
A series of run-ins with law enforcement in the United Kingdom splits a family apart. Now the family is seeking answers. Dear Professor Gates: I’m trying to trace my great-grandfather, whose name was either David Sebe Agyemah Darku or David Sebe Agyeman Darku. He was sent to jail in England for a high-profile crime involving…
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Tracing Your Roots: How Did My Ancestor Escape Slavery?
In revisiting the story of black refugees to Trinidad, we came across the tale of a foiled slave rebellion in Maryland. Dear Professor Gates: I am a Trinidadian who has been searching for information on my ancestor Henry Ransom, a black Colonial Marine who joined with the British in 1814 and was resettled in 5th…
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Tracing Your Roots: Is My Family’s Big Secret Presidential?
A reader wonders if she could be related to Andrew Jackson through one of his slaves. Dear Professor Gates: The story goes that my great-grandmother Laura Emily Jackson shouted to her only daughter, “I found my family. I found my family!” That night my grandmother went downstairs and found her mother burning all the family…
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Tracing Your Roots: Were Slaves’ Surnames Like Brands?
We made a surprising discovery while addressing a question about how slaves got their last names. Dear Professor Gates: Were the surnames of enslaved people changed when they were sold, or were they allowed to keep the surnames of their former slave owners? It would seem plausible that a slave’s name was like a brand…