FootNote
The new kid on the block, FootNote is known for digitizing historical
documents... many of which are genealogical gems. With naturalizations,
city directories, war records, newspapers, town records, etc... this new
kid is quickly being recognized as an alternative to Ancestry.
While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
African American Genealogy online research is
much more difficult due to the scant nature of record keeping for African
American's prior to the Civil War. This is the reason for creating a
separate section for African Americans much like we have for Native
Americans who's research can also be hampered by the available records.
The links below provide an accurate reflection of what is available to be
searched for African American genealogy.
Access Genealogy's Illinois Cemetery Records The most complete coverage of Cemetery
records available on the web. They are
broken down by county. We do know know
if there are African Americans in these
cemeteries, so you should browse them for
ancestors also.
Access Genealogy's Illinois Census Records Providing the most
complete coverage of census records available on the web. We've broken the
list down by county, and take a careful look at the index page where we
explain which records are missing from the census data and may never be
recovered.
The Challenge of African American
Research
Conducting successful
African American genealogical research
can be a challenging adventure. In
recent years, the challenge has been
lessened and the adventure heightened by
the growing body of publications
relating to this ethnic group.
Special-interest groups and genealogical
societies nationwide are publishing key
guides, new bibliographies, and
important how-to books. Before delving
into published sources, however, it is
always important to pause long enough to
organize one’s own personal papers and
review standard research methodology.
African American Research, Part 3: Case
Studies
Searching for African American families
involves two distinct research
approaches. These approaches correspond
to the distinct change in the legal
status of African Americans in the
United States before and after the Civil
War. Genealogical techniques used to
track slave families before the war are
necessarily quite different than those
used for white or free African
Americans; however, research conducted
on African Americans after the war
usually involves the same types of
records as those used for whites.
African American Genealogy Program at
Indiana Historical Society
Internationally known genealogist Tony
Burroughs will present a lecture titled
"Black Roots: A Beginner's Guide to
Tracing the African American Family
Tree" at the Indiana Historical Society
on February 10, from 1–4 p.m. The
program, cosponsored by the IHS and the
Indiana African American Genealogy
Group, will discuss conducting African
American family history research. IHS
Program Archivist Wilma Gibbs will
present a discussion on research
resources available at the IHS and other
repositories.
Finding Your African American Ancestors:
A BeginnerÆs Guide Few
areas of American genealogy pose as much
challenge as the search for African
American ancestry prior to the Civil
War. Notwithstanding the inherent
difficulties, there are few areas that
contain as much unrealized potential.
Despite great strides within the last
two decades, the basic outlines of the
field are only now being clarified.
While the difficulties of African
American genealogical research are not
to be discounted, these difficulties are
not always insurmountable.
Celebrating African American Family
History
February is Black History Month in the
United States. If you have Black
American ancestry, you might want to
begin tracing your family tree this
month while many museums and archives
have special exhibits to mark the month.
Ancestry.com Slave Narratives $$
Perhaps no other resource
approaches the range of human experience found in Ancestry.com's Slave
Narratives. This collection of interviews stands in contrast to other slave
narratives that
appear in most literature anthologies which were written by the
rare few who, against staggering odds, had become literate. This database
provides a more poignant picture of what it was to live as a slave in the
American South. Taken from The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, this
collection is the most complete available picture of the African-American
slavery experience. There is simply no other historical document quite like it.
The collection contains over 20,000 pages of type-scripted interviews with more
than 3,500 former slaves collected over a ten year period.
(Requires Ancestry.com Membership)
Get 14 Days Free Access!!!
