Tracing Your Roots: My Ancestor’s Census Record Is Confusing!
Here’s how to approach an unrecognized or illegible notation, as well as missing information, in a record.
Tracing Your Roots: How Do I Research My Cuban Origins?
Inspired by a shocking revelation on Professor Henry Louis Gates’ show, a woman wonders how to research her own heritage.
How Do I Legally Prove Native American Ancestry?
For this week’s column, we decided to address a topic that comes up frequently in your questions:
Tracing Your Roots: Untangle My Redbone Heritage
A mystery illustrates how an 18th-century family became caught up in Virginia’s laws around race, sex and freedom.
The Museum of You: The International African American Museum Wants to Personalize African-American History With Its Genealogy Center
Museums can impart a vast amount of information to visitors, sharing with them history, culture, science, art. But what if a museum could personalize your own story, your own background and your own history? That is exactly what the International African American Museum is hoping to do with the launch Tuesday of its…
Tracing Your Roots: Deciphering Illegible Genealogy Records
Use these pro tips for handling poorly reproduced images from microfilm or microfiche.
Tracing Your Roots: Our Family Matriarch Was a White Indentured Servant
Untangling the origins of Virginian ancestors whose lives crossed boundaries of race, freedom and the law.
Tracing Your Roots: How Safe Is It to Date a Cousin?
A woman seeks to know the risks of dating—and the risk of having offspring with—a relative.
Tracing Your Roots: Help Me Separate Fact From Family Fiction!
An upcoming family reunion motivates a young woman to prepare an accurate presentation about the storied family matriarch.
Tracing Your Roots: What Is the Secret of My Grandma’s Past?
A record search uncovers clues to why a Georgia family fractured eight decades ago, leaving painful memories.
Tracing Your Roots: Was My Ancestor Kidnapped From Freedom to Slavery?
A book claims that a man’s great-grandfather was abducted as a boy and sold into bondage. Official records back up at least part of the heartbreaking story.
Tracing Your Roots: Were My Married Slave Ancestors Forced to Live Apart?
A historical document that appears to legalize a marriage formed under bondage in 1858 suggests a heartbreaking scenario for one woman’s ancestors. Professor Gates and his team of genealogy researchers address the answers she seeks.
Tracing Your Roots: I Want to Find a Slave’s Descendants and Apologize
I’m Australian, and hoping to trace living relatives of a slave owned by a relative of my uncle in Trinidad. I want to apologize for my ancestor’s actions.
