ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY

 

CHEROKEE : THE 1833 BEGINNINGS OF THE DAWES ROLLS : CRIMINAL WHITE SQUATTERS and the INDIAN PROBLEM : INCOMING SETTLERS THREATENED TRIBAL OWNERSHIP OF LAND

What a book this is!  I'm so glad author Aaron Kushner did not give into political correctness (as it is today) or go sentimental on us as he reported the complications of Cherokee Nation Citizenship.  So very many Americans are today seeking the truth of their ancestry and family history and many of them have heard they have some tribal ancestry as well. I would say that the Cherokee may be the most famous of all the tribes.

Excerpt page 107 -

"In 1883 a group of Eastern humanitarians, led by Senator Henry L. Dawes, began meeting regularly to discuss the "Indian problem."  They observed the influx of white settlers into Indian Territory and the lack of stable law enforcement therein; since the Cherokee Nation and other tribal nations could not prosecute crimes where an American was involved, lawlessness spread like wildfire, especially among white squatters."

Excerpt page 108 - William Ross was the leader of the Cherokee at that time.

"William Ross argued that their system (of communal tenure) created no "landless paupers" or "absent landlords" to brutally eject them; the Cherokee had among them poverty but not starvation.

By 1890 the white settlers were outnumbering the Cherokee and they wanted to acquire property. 

Excerpt page 110 -

"Undeterred by the Cherokee Nation or the half-hearted attempts made by the United States to escort them out, non-citizen whites continued to pour into the Nation. The most dangerous of these were those who advanced "some fantastic claim to citizenship, and who loudly demanded every privilege enjoyed by the Indians" despite tribal authorities repeatedly denying them access. Cherokee leaders soon found themselves operating a minority government in their own territory.  The United States census of Indian Territory of 1890 listed 56,309 inhabitants in the Cherokee Nation. 29,166 were coded white. 5,127 were coded Black, and 22,015 were coded Indian.

Excerpt page 111 -

"Up until 1887, Cherokee leaders had successfully resisted American pressures for allotment and territorial assimilation.  In 1887, Congress passed the General Allotment Act, better known as the Dawes Act, to turn the I*Indians into private land holders,.  By allotting land to individual in tribal nations, the thinking went, the total lands allotted would not equal the total acreage held in common by the tribes, the remainder would be left for white settlers and corporations to consume.  The Dawes act, however, did not app;ly to the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks,m= Chickasaws, or Seminoles because of prior Treaty agreements. Nevertheless, the writing was on the wall."  (These were the Five Civilized Tribes.)

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CHEROKEE AFTER THE TREATY OF 1866 : EASTERN BAND CITIZENS OF THE STATE RATHER THAN THE CHEROKEE NATION : LEAD UP TO THE DAWES ROLLS

In 1866, by defining who was a member of the Cherokee tribe/Nation, the Cherokee also determined that they could remove someone from the tribe.  This caused conflict as well... In 1866 it went to the Supreme Court

Excerpt page 105 -  "... The United States Supreme Court decided in the case of Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians v. United States and the Cherokee, Nation, Commonly Called Cherokee Nation West. ... the court ruled that, since Cherokees in North Carolina had "refused to join their countrymen in the removal to the lands ceded to them west of the Mississippi," they could claim nothing belonging to the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory.  These people had, in effect, legally cut themselves off from the common fund of the Cherokee Nation.  The Cherokees in North Carolina were considered to be "citizens of the state."

Was there total cooperation with this by Native Americans or governmental agents? NO! And forced removal was called a refusal to go to lands ceded to them!

The Cherokee were now in conflict with the United States as the Treaty allowed for a couple railroads to run through their Territory and they were considered to be backward and against progress when they did not easily give up their lands. Their traditional way of life held that land was held in common. So there again, if a particular Cherokee was for giving up land to make way for "progress" rather than stay put, it was a tribal issue and a political one. Did it always have to do with just how "red" someone was?

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LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY : MY RECENT VISIT : GENEALOGY AND HISTORY DEPARTMENT

I was recently able to visit LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY - CENTRAL (downtown Los Angeles) which has a rich history since 1926. There are a number of museum quality exhibits at that branch and special programs will take place through this year at all branches. Of course, the Genealogy and History Department is my favorite.  Here are some photographs I took that might interest you!  

These "big book" displays featured the various departments 

at Central Library. It's a dynamic display.

"Tucked deep inside Central Library, the History and Genealogy Department is one of the most distinctive research destinations in the Los Angeles Public Library system. The department is home to uniquely curated holdings that chronical the history of Los Angeles, Southern California, and the people who've shaped the region. It has become the deep-dive research into genealogy, regional history, and maps."

"Here visitors can explore Maps of Los Angeles and the world, from nautical charts to Thomas Guides to one of the largest collects of USGS topographic maps in a public library.

Genealogy tools like family folders, county records, and news clippings, many carefully indexed by staff using resources not found anywhere else.

The California Index, a one-of-a-kind, online research tool that points to people and subjects important to Southern California."

CONGRATULATIONS  LOS ANGLES PUBLIC LIBRARY!

WHITE HORSE

 

CHEROKEES and THE CIVIL WAR : FULL BLOODED PRIDE MEANT TO BE OPPOSED TO WHITE SOCIETY : CHEROKEE AFFILIATE WITH CONFEDERACY : TRIBAL MEMBERSHIP CHANGES : TREATY OF 1866

Previously, the Cherokee, Creek, and Osage Nations who had suffered removal (Trail of Tears) from their territories and were now forced to live together  and signed a compact which was intended to establish unity - peaceful relationships and secure the general welfare. It was signed on November 2, 1843. The idea was to protect themselves from the United States.

Excerpt page 80 -

"Notably, Article I, Section 9, provided that "any citizen of one Nation may be admitted to citizenship in any other Nation, party hereto, by consent of the proper authorities of such Nation."

Excerpt page 81 -

"Throughout the 1840's and 1850's, as Cherokees settled into their new territory, the Nation found itself changing demographically... to be "full blooded" meant something more than racial pride; "it indicated a distinct social, political, and economic attitude" opposed to the impositions and relishes of white civilization. Traditionalists generally did not own slaves and largely disliked the practice... The tension (between Cherokee slave owners who were usually partly Caucasian and these Traditionalists) came to a boil by the time the Confederates asked the Cherokee Nation to join the Southern cause..."

The social divisions between Cherokee meant that there were different attitudes about joining up to fight in the Civil War, and because the Cherokee overall were cooperative, pressure was put up on them to do so, for the Confederacy, as the South was their original territory. Abolitionist Christian missionaries were also speaking out in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama - wherever they had churches.

Excerpt page 83 - 

"In May 1861, "Confederate forces annexed the Indian Territory as a military district" and by October of that year, Albert Pike, Confederate liaison to Indian Territory, had convinced each of the Five Tribes (ie. The Five Civilized tribes - Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole nations) to join the Confederacy.

The Treaty of 1866 came after the participation in the Civil War proved to damage the Cherokee Nation significantly.  As Union troops came through, many defected to the Union side, but the conflict included political divisions within the tribe as well as the consequences of violence.

This Treaty redefined membership and there were significant changes in who could become a member of the tribe - or remain a member, and it emphasized blood. This means that increasingly blood quotients were aligned with political viewpoints.

Excerpt page 83 - 84

... "The new Treaty defined citizenship of the Cherokee Nation as belonging to all native-born Cherokees, all Indians and whites legally adopted by members, all freedmen liberated by acts of their masters, and all free Black persons residing therein."

It's stated by the author, Aaron Kushner, that this Treaty has had ramifications to this day on who is or is not a member of the tribe.

If you are tracing your Native American heritage, please check the changes in such rules or laws as you go back documenting your ancestors, and by tribe. In the case of Cherokee, or perhaps the other nations who potentially agreed to unification in 18 43, who was where in 1866? (Check all Federal and State census...) The Treaty also put into place a time limit or line for those who fit these definitions within 6 months of the Treaty. Because both removal from native lands to new territories and the Civil War, people were displaced, fighting, or traveling, hiding, or had other reasons why they might not have been able to declare themselves or be recognized within those 6 months. 

In the genealogy I mentioned researching in my first post of this series, I found that my client had reason to think that at least some of his relatives (if not his direct line) married into Native American tribes. He also might have had melungeon relatives. Though in the South, he stated that his family had never had slaves and did not believe in slavery. The families he was closely related to did not show up on slave schedules as slave owners.  However a potential branch of the family in the deep south did own slaves. I found that one side of his family did fight for the Union, signing up in other states,  but also that there were Confederate highway robbers among his relatives. Relatives on both sides had married Native Americans. At least one unrelated Native American in their agricultural community - a neighbor so to speak - had owned a good number of slaves. Presently this client likely has relatives who are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee whose DNA test would show them to have Scottish - Anglo - possibly French Huguenot ancestors. These Cherokee in general were not marched as they remained in North Carolina, in the mountains, married with Europeans.

If you are seeking tribal membership, whatever the tribe, it is my strong suggestion that you continue documenting from the present to the past. Document entire families with birth, marriage, and death records, not just direct ancestry, find anything you can, because you may have success that way showing the lineage going back past the Treaty of 1866.

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POSTS ABOUT THIS BOOK WILL CONTINUE IN A FEW DAYS so STOP BACK!

CHEROKEE : 64 TOWNS : WARLIKE OR PEACEFUL? : SLAVERY BEFORE EUROPEANS ARRIVED : CHEROKEE ADOPTED BUT ALSO SOLD CAPTURED SLAVES : WAS IT RACISM?

Excerpt page 29 -

"By 1700, "the Cherokee Nation" consisted of sixty-four towns," loosely categorized as upper, middle, and lower, towns, depending on their geographical locations.  These towns, or villages, were politically autonomous.  Edmond Atkin, member of the South Carolina Governor's Council and Indian trader, reported on the status of Cherokee towns in 1755, noting particularly the difference between the upper towns and the lower towns. "The upper and lower Cherokees," Atkin wrote, "differ from each other, as much almost as two different nations."  The upper Cherokees were "much more warlike," yet were better protected by the mountains than their southern neighbors, the lower Cherokees, "whose Towns being the most and nearest (are much exposed), are glad to accept the Mediation of the South Carolina Government,: due to their more precarious position..."

The governments were identified by if they were "white" (peace loving) or "red" (war loving). However the Native councils themselves were not as dictatorial as state governments, allowed men and women to speak, even if what they had to say might be unpopular. Consensus, harmony and justice, was the goal. In the cases of murder or incest the council would prevail but punishment for lesser offences were often dealt with by public shaming. 

Excerpt: page 39 - 40

"Slavery existed in parts of North American long before European settlers arrived. Though slaves were traditionally taken as prisoners of war, according to historian Rudi Halliburton Jr., there appeared to have been a commercial traffic in some places as well. From the time of their earliest contact with Europeans, Cherokees had engaged in a practice of "quasi-slavery" and forced adoption among their Indian captives - a practice later used in the treatment of Caucasian and African prisoners as well... ...chattel Slavery as an institution did not exist prior to  European settlement.  Once introduced by English traders, Cherokees were quick to accept the European brand of slave holding as one of the benefits of white civilization. English traders in the seventeenth century began to establish themselves among the Cherokees through marriage and the spread of material wealth...  

Many Cherokees also took to institutionalized Slavery because of the benefits they received from stealing or returning runaway slaves.  English and French colonialists frequently urged Cherokees to sell them slaves stolen from the plantations or villages of their European adversaries. .... The return or barter of runaway slaves became so common that Cherokees were often known colloquially as 'slave catchers." .... "

But was it racism?  According to author Aaron Kushner, not exactly. The Cherokee were more focused on the otherness of both Caucasians and Africans and considered them both inferior... at least early on. Eventually, the tribe tackled with notions that would not see Freedman or  people of African descent as worthy of the same tribal membership status...

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MOUNTAIN COTTAGE

Where do you think this is? 

 

CHEROKEE NATION CITIZENSHIP - A POLITICAL HISTORY by AARON KUSNER : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BOOK RECOMMENDATION

This is an excellent book to read if you're interested in the Cherokee, the Cherokee Republic, and the twists and turns of what it was and is to have Cherokee Nation citizenship.  I'll be posting a few excerpts this month from this book, but I encourage you to get a copy because it's packed full of information.  A key question about tribal membership is this issue: Is it BLOOD AS ANCESTRY or is it BLOOD AS CULTURE?

The Cherokee are one of the native tribes that has government recognition from way back and numerous members to this day. They are counted on the Dawes Rolls. From the days of the mountain men, the trappers and traders, and then the ministers coming into the country, there have been intermarriages between Cherokee and persons of European descent. (One of the most famous, because of his writings, was James Adair.) While it is understood that many a European married a Native American woman, many a Native American man married an European settlers.  In the mid to late 1800's there were also "White squatters."

This book covers historical changes in tribal recognition that includes the cultural movement from a matriarchal society to one influenced by patriarchal world views, by the government of the United States and by Protestant Christian ministers. It shows that racism, in particular against slaves and Freedmen, had its impact on who gets to have a tribal identity.  Cherokee did hold slaves, and I know that this truth has been denied in college classrooms, but I've found that on census.  

Clan affiliation and a more communal view of responsibility to others and changes in attitudes about war and much else, including marriage, may confuse things further, as each of the 64 Cherokee towns had different cultural notions. As author Kushner states,  while some couples stayed together for life, polygamy was practiced and "divorce" was at will by either party. (What this means is that children being raised by a mother with several men as fathers to her children might actually be raised within a Clan due to the inter-dependence of Clan members, but some of the children might not have the same blood quotient or tribal identity.)

This book reminded me of my first big genealogy assignment because the person's heritage was in North Carolina, a state I knew nothing about at the time, and the Central to Western portion, where there were also Melungeons - then a mystery. On page 26 of this book is the mention of a Cherokee story that taught values and "Kanadi" which translates to "Lucky One." Faintly and badly written on a census was a marriage between one of his not-direct ancestors and a woman with this name. However, it had been interpreted as Canadi, Canada, and Kennedy.  On one census, one of his relatives with a large family, had three children identified as "Negroes" and a family photo did show these children to be darker than the others.  However, I came to think that they were actually all partially Native American. This was before DNA tests... but now that there is ...

I will be posting excerpts in the next weeks from this fascinating book that I hope will be of help to those of you interested in Native American and Cherokee Genealogy and family history!

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BE HAPPY

 

TO YOU

 

ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY

 

VICTORIAN

A history of the houses you or your ancestors lived in can be about architecture

 but so much more.

Did they build their own house?
Design their own house?

Add onto their house?

Buy or rent their house?

How long did they live in the house?

Where did they move to?

What did it look like?
What was your room like?

Did you share a room? With who?

Does the house still stand?

When did it last sell - and for how much?

What was Grandma's house like?

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GENEALOGY MYOPIA and PARTNERING WITH ANOTHER RESEARCHER TO BREAK THROUGH BLOCK

Genealogy myopia - a term used to mean that a researcher has become too close to their assumptions about their research subjects to break through block or to attack their research another way - can be dealt with by teaming up with another researcher as a partner.

But not just any person!  First you must like and respect the other person enough to commit to sharing work, talking to each other easily and being able to respectfully deal with someone else's personal information.

Here are some tips for choosing a genealogy research partner.

1)  Believe it or not, the best partner is usually someone who is NOT working on the same research as you are, meaning not a family member, not even someone who is working on the same place and time.  When you choose someone who is working on an entirely different family and place and time, you will both bring uneducated and unformed but fresh ideas into the research, based on what you have learned on your own and your own research.

2) Trade copies of your research.  You and your partner will "check" each other's research and write any ideas or questions that come up as you're doing so.   (One friend of mine found a simple math error that had been much depended on.  Once the proper year of birth was found, all else fell in place.)

3) Work a little on the other person's research in terms of time and place.  When someone is experiencing being stuck they may also be discouraged or bored and they may not have done enough Internet research to understand that time and place.  As an exercise, take one ancestor and put them into their historical moments. (Maybe you can help them come up with a good list of questions to ask when interviewing relatives.)

4) When you look at someone else's research ask yourself "If this was my project and this line is blocked, what else could I be doing?  Is there another line that hasn't been worked on enough?  Is there new information available on a database or in an archive or historical museum that would add to this family's story?

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This post originally appeared here at  Ancestry Worship - Genealogy on October 8 2014

THE LAST SEEN PROJECT - FINDING FAMILY : INFORMATION WANTED ORG ; A COLLECTION OF ADS BY FORMER SLAVES TO RECONNECT WITH LOVED ONES

You can get involved.

INFORMATION WANTED ORG

Excerpt: Last Seen is recovering stories of families separated in the domestic slave trade. Formerly enslaved people placed these ads hoping to reconnect with family and loved ones for decades following emancipation. The ads serve as testaments to their enduring hope and determination to regain what was taken from them. As of today, we have recovered 5020 ads.

Formerly enslaved people placed ads looking for loved ones from all over the United States and sometimes from as far away as Africa. Explore the map to see the locations of those placing ads or locations where ads appeared.

My search used the word 'Washington' and brought up ads that included an offer of $5 for information to find a wife. You can go to to the State and search newspapers from there too.

The Last Seen Project is committed to supporting the genealogical work of descendants of enslaved people. Transcribing the ads helps people today find their ancestors. You may also wish to contact us and tell us about your ancestors. Please let us know when you find an ancestor in the ads.  

(Yes there are some genealogy success stories!)

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LAST SEEN by JUDITH GIESBERG : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BOOK RECOMMENDATION : BLACK HISTORY - LOVE STORIES

This book is about love stories: the love of family, of partners, siblings, and children who were once enslaved, of friends and those who served in the military together seeking each other to reconnect. These people were sold away or escaped to freedom. They were gone and those who loved them wanted to know the truth. Were they alive or dead? Where were they? What had happened to them since they last saw each other?  (Had they married?  Had more children?) Could the family be reunited?

Author Judith Giesberg calls these people "The Freedom Generation."

Allow me to give you some back-story on this. As you may know, after emancipation from slavery, former enslaved people were allowed to have bank accounts and own land and property (though they were often segregated when it came to where, per localities), and also allowed to legally marry (though there were rituals of commitment and sometimes services to unite slaves, (per the slave owners values and discretion). However, in those times communications traveled slowly, very slowly compared to these days when even "snail mail" has been replaced by electronic bill paying and e-mail and unlimited long distance cell phone use. Because some slaves were sold and resold or moved along, they were often out of communication entirely. The Underground Railroad moved people to freedom. The Civil War also scattered people, including those who had been part of the military or escaped to the Union while soldiering. Upon emancipation, some had no means to move from the place they had been enslaved while others took any means possible to move elsewhere. The years passed.

You may also know about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and his New Deal which resulted in federal funds being used for projects such as the Federal Writer's Project. One of the projects that writers participated in was interviewing former slaves. These writings appear in databases as "SLAVE NARRATIVES." (At my local library this database is available and searchable.) Author Giesberg search through those testimonials as well as doing research in archives for now historical newspaper advertisements and such and brought forth some stories that might break your heart too.

Some people searched for decades, not only placing ads in newspapers but traveling and networking, asking ministers and local politicians who might be inclined to help them search. Some were successful, others not. (Through genealogy that search continues.)

In the Introduction of this book, Giesberg writes, "Tens of thousands of children were taken from their mothers and fathers over the four decades of the Second Middle Passage" and "Chance meetings of formerly enslaved people were rare."

Excerpt page 65 -

"Among the one million people sold from the Upper to the Lower South before 1860, thousands were children sold alone.  According to historian Edward Baptist, between 1815 and 1820, 2,646 children under the age of thirteen were sold in New Orleans out of a total of 12,370 sales.  Of their number 1,001 were sold alone."

Giesberg writes about the emotional and psychological effects that being sold away or sent away had on children and families as an aspect of her explorations of slavery in this book. Today, we find child trafficking and child labor to be abhorrent. I will say that that children who were not enslaved were also trafficked and many went to work both in Europe and the America's very young, especially before public education. That was tied in with shorter lifespans and the fact that the age of thirteen was generally thought to be the onset of adulthood; some say being a "teenager" is also a recent experience and back in the day you were either a child or an adult. It was also an aspect of a rural or agricultural society in which large families put everyone to work in some capacity, of informal apprenticeships, and very little time to play. So we're all evolving and rejecting notions that were acceptable in the past.

This is one more book I highly recommend for its extensive researched historical content and value to anyone who wants to be inspired.

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ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY

 

SLAVE SOLDIERS FIGHTING FOR THE CONFEDERACY IN THE CIVIL WAR

Imagine being a slave and being told you will go to war, the Civil War, for the Confederacy, by the person who owns you! If a researcher finds that their ancestors who was enslaved was in the war, they may wonder "did he see action?"

The answer, generally but emphatically, is NO.  Confederate law prohibited it.  Yet, there were reports that this was so. And, there was always the possibility that a person who was forced to follow the troops as a cook or another useful supportive role could use that opportunity to escape or go north and join the Union Army! There is also another consideration. What if the person was a Free Person of Color and then joined up?

So, some of the things a researcher wants to do is to verify which company/troop the person fought in. Check the census or other records to see if that person reports being disabled or is not working for money after the war. Also see where they are living after that war. 

AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD TRUST : BLACK CONFEDERATES - TRUTH Excellent article!

Excerpt: Many Southern slaves took advantage of the fog of war to escape towards freedom. Before the Emancipation Proclamation was officially adopted, these escapes usually meant congregating around the Union armies that were operating in Southern territory. Vast columns of escaped slaves followed almost every major Union army at one point or another. These people, sometimes called “contrabands,” as in “confiscated enemy property,” frequently served as scouts and spies for the Union soldiers. 

...There were no black Confederate combat units in service during the war and no documentation whatsoever exists for any black man being paid or pensioned as a Confederate soldier, although some did receive pensions for their work as laborers.

... To be specific, in the “Official Records of the War of the Rebellion,” a collection of military records from both sides which spans more than 50 volumes and more than 50,000 pages, there are a total of seven Union eyewitness reports of black Confederates.

***

BUT THERE WAS AN EXCEPTION FOR A LITTLE WHILE

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE : ARMING THE ENSLAVED

Excerpt: Near 21st and Main Street in Richmond, Virginia, the first legally authorized African American Confederate soldiers were assembled and trained in the final weeks of the Civil War. Legislation passed by the Confederate congress on March 13, 1865, allowed for enslaved African Americans to be mustered and equipped on an experimental basis as combat soldiers. Before that date (less than a month before the end of hostilities in Virginia), Confederate law specified that only white men were permitted to serve as soldiers....

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ABANDONED COTTAGE

 

FREEDMEN'S MARRIAGE BUREAU RECORDS 1846-1867 : USING THE ANCESTRY TM GENEALOGY DATABASE : LET THIS FUEL YOUR HISTORICAL RESEARCH!

I've posted about the Freedman * Bank Records before, but did you know that the Freedman Bureau also kept a record of former slaves (and some "free colored") who married soon after they were free from enslavement? 

In the past I've also posted on some methodology for African-American research, stating first of all it is American research and one ought to proceed with going back as neatly as possible, using census records, both federal and state, if possible. If a researcher can find their people on the census after liberation, they have some names. Other than that, there may be some oral history in the family but one must be careful to accept stories without some proofing. Our African-American cautionary tale is that upon liberation, a person could choose to change their surname and some did more than once, wanting to feel comfortable with that surname, and sometimes various family members chose various names. That said, I wonder how often that happened.

I explored this database for a few hours recently and want to give you some information that may be helpful.

So for the purposes of this post I'm using the Ancestry TM genealogy database. To find the database called Freedman Bureau Marriage Records you want to go into NEW COLLECTIONS (WHICH ACTUALLY ALLOWS YOU TO SEARCH THE ENTIRE CATALOG, not just recently added collections. You will see to the top left the words CARD CATALOG.) Put the word Freedman in the keyword search. You will see that you can search the  U.S.,Freedman's Bureau Records, 1865-1878

Then to the right bottom it says U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Marriage Records 1845-1867 

Remember that the NATIONAL ARCHIVES of THE UNITED STATES is usually the original or primary source for databases.

While the other records held in the overall records can be interesting, because if you may be able to find out who a plantation owner was, I like to focus on marriages because you have twice the chance of recognizing someone as an ancestor - a bride or a groom.  This may give you the name of a female ancestor by her married and maiden name.

My first impression was that I was able to easily pull up records without knowing any particular name simply by putting in the state. I also tried common names such as Smith, Watson, or Jefferson.

The database includes many states including, according to the database:
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. NOTE THAT WEST VIRGINIA DID NOT YET EXIST so Virginia included what is now West Virginia and South Western Pennsylvania below the Monongahela River. However, I think you will find that this does not mean ALL THE INFORMATION EVER COLLECTED IN EACH STATE but that in some way that state is represented in the collection.

We can learn from exploring the database, even if we do not have an ancestor who was enslaved or are unsure of who was.

For instance, there may be questions such as if a person lived with another (without marriage) and for how long, how they were separated (dead, forced, separated by war, sold away), and the skin color of parents, partners, and others (mulatto, black, dark, white, yellow, milk.) Unlike the census in which a census taker might make the decision to list a person's color as they see it or because of community notions, in this case the person themselves is probably reporting parents who are not in attendance. In some cases the percentage of African- Black a person was given.  The persons who are marrying may be asked how many children they had with others and you might find a comment that they 'unitedly had children.' Once in a while the name of a former partner may come up.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND : The records were kept where the marriage was performed.

Just as many people who are part of the LBGT community rushed to be married as soon as it was legal to, many formally enslaved people who had been partnered without marriage rushed to be married.  It is not unusual to find that a particular Minister of the Gospel married twelve couples in one day. Perhaps your research can include the name of the Minister which might lead to the name of a church, church records, even church graveyard records.

Even when the couple appear on a register, rather than an individual slip of paper or form (not standardized from one state to the next), their ages are usually listed. These are adults who were generally born twenty or more years earlier. I found one record that said both persons were "free people of color" and I wondered if that meant "last week' or 'all along.'

As well, some of these forms or handwritten documents ask where the person is from. There may be the name of a place other than where the marriage took place. But you may just find a fantastic clue that the man served in the military, and most likely that means in the CIVIL WAR on the Confederate side!  If you see a line of abbreviations such as Pot. Co. C. 60 *** where it could say the name of a town or county or plantation, that means you were just given the company/troop information. You can then find what battles they might have served in...

In my next post, I'm going to write about the Black soldiers who fought for the Confederacy.

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* (I'm aware that the bank records seem to have the Freedman spelling while the other records are in plural, Freedmen.)

AMERICAN ANCESTORS GENEALOGY DATABASE : NEW! NORTH AMERICAN - RECORDS OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE FROM PLANTATIONS and ESTATES 1765-1890

You may find that your local library has AMERICAN ANCESTORS GENEALOGY DATABASE.  To begin using this new database: According to my library, this database  includes birth, death, marriage, and census records of those who were enslaved as well as family members.

Go to 10 MILLION NAMES. 

This is a database in progress: CEDAR GROVE PLANTATION, a very large plantation, is the first plantation to be included and IT IS ARRANGED BY PLANTATION or ESTATE.

CEDAR GROVE PLANTATION is currently privately owned historical site in Huntersville, Mecklenburg, county, North Carolina and was built in the early 1830's by James G. Torrance.

There are a good number of posts and links of interest to those who have slavery in their family history here at ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY.  I look forward to using this database and would like to hear from those of you who use it!

You can pull up past posts about topics here by using the search feature to search or by clicking on the tab below the post, which should bring up all posts with that tag!

VALENTINE CUPIDS

 

The date on this card is supposed to be 1900 - 1910.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE? TIME CAPSULES? LOVE LETTERS THAT TOOK DECADES TO ARRIVE IN THE MAIL? I LOVE THAT STUFF!

If you know about a Message in a Bottle that was washed ashore, or any Time Capsules that have been opened recently, or any Love Letters that took decades to arrive in the mail, I'd like to hear about them.  Comment!

I'm interested. I love that stuff!

TO MY SWEETHEART

 

RECLAIM THE RECORDS FOR NEW JERSEY

RECLAIM THE RECORDS- NEW JERSEY SEARCH

New Jersey - so near New York - is what I call a difficult state.  I do believe in privacy laws and I know there is good reason to have them. However, I have come to think that some town librarians in that state have basically been stubborn about allowing collections that should be available to be filmed or digitalized. New Jersey is a historically important Colonial state, involved in the American Revolution and the Civil War. Those records seem to be available. But more modern ones - not so!

Have fun with RECLAIM THE RECORDS and see what's new!

*** As a note. New Jersey research often links to New York and Pennsylvania, as well as some other states. Check especially when your ancestors lived hear state borders!  For instance, one ancestor who lived their life in New Jersey, spent their last years in a Pennsylvania retirement home and their death certificate was from Pennsylvania.

*** The New Jersey State Archives may be helpful.

C 2026 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

USING NEW JERSEY AS AN EXAMPLE : THE HISTORIC STATE : STATE CENSUS ADVENTURE #5

  Some of my ancestry lived in New Jersey. New Jersey is a rather difficult state due to privacy laws and such. I remember years ago sending money orders to New Jersey for the death and other records that would "prove" what I had come up with and they were returned. Basically, if I didn't already know the information, then I could not have that information. Other researchers have told me about dealing with New Jersey (as well as New Mexico) and basically this is why I check certain paid databases every few months to see what, if anything, has shown up.

Here is our list of state census.

New Jersey - 1855, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915.

History of New Jersey : Lenape Native Americans first, then Dutch and Swedish settlements.

NJ GOV STATE ARCHIVES START PAGE

Excerpt: State Censuses (1855 – 1915)

 • Taken every 10 years on years that ended with a 5 (1855, 1865, and 1875 are incomplete).

 • Certain individual counties have been indexed: Hunterdon County in 1875; Monmouth County in 1875 (available on-line at the Monmouth County Archives web site); and 1885 Camden (excluding city)

• Searchable database for Atlantic and Passaic Counties in 1885 available on our web site. These counties are the only ones we search through the mail. 

• Complete 1895 State Census is available on www.ancestry.com.

• The indexes to 1885, 1905 and 1915 State Censuses are available on www.familysearch.com.

C 2026 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy  All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

OTHER RESOURCES FOR NEW JERSEY might be found through the genealogy activist group RECLAIM THE RECORDS:

C 2026 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY

 

CONFUSING LISTING OF GREAT-GREAT GRANDMA'S SURNAME(S) : QUESTIONS FROM READERS of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY

Readers please note that I've changed the names given by this reader due to a need for privacy.

Q: I'm looking at some information on the Internet that was added to a genealogy database by someone else, someone I don't know. This concerns my great-great grandmother in Arkansas. My great-great grandmother is listed as Mary Johnson, Formerly Marie Smith. Someone else posted Mary Johnson was Formerly Marie Walker. What does this mean?

Thanks,

Alice

A: Hello Alice. 

I find the way that information was posted as a bit strange - and confusing - as if the postings came from stories or rumors rather than genealogy research. "Formerly" could mean this was a previous surname or previous married name. And as you found the same woman also listed by someone else as "Formerly" with yet another surname, it could be that your great-great grandmother was married twice. Also this could indicate an informal or formal name change. Or an adoption.

Let's go over this:

First, we cannot believe everything that is posted on the Internet or on databases that offer individuals to post their research (or family stories or rumors), especially when no documents are attached, especially because I see these errors uploaded to multiple genealogy sites.

Secondly, the history of name changes in Arkansas is that informal (common law) name changes were recognized for some time, even when the process of legal (court ordered) name changes was introduced in 1851. In other words, she could have changed her name because she wanted to, without being married, widowed, or divorced, and without a legal proceeding.

So, I would suggest that you try to get a birth certificate or church record of her birth/baptism and see what it says. I would also suggest you try to get a death certificate or cemetery/funeral home document. And of course, any evidence of her marriage or marriages through marriage certificates. I trust you have traced her back as far as you can go with census records as well. 

1830 is the first Federal Census for that state and you can also check the State Census' which were done in 1823,1829.1865, and 1911.

There are better ways to indicate that a woman is being listed by her maiden name.

Instead of the word "formerly"

Marie "Mary" Johnson née Marie Smith

Marie "Mary" Johnson born Marie Smith

Marie "Mary" Smith - Johnson

Marie "Mary" Smith, wife of Jed Johnson

Mrs. Marie "Mary" Johnson, born Marie Walker

Ask yourself, which of these forms is least confusing and most informative!

Keep Researching!

Christine

C 2026 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy All Rights Reserved

PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE

 

USING PENNSYLVANIA AS AN EXAMPLE : WHAT IS AVAILABLE AS CENSUS SUBSTITUTES? : STATE CENSUS ADVENTURE" #4

As we learned from the previous post on CALIFORNIA, what may be available when a state census is not available or the "state" was not a state when your ancestors lived there, could be birth/baptismal, marriage, or burial records. And from the previous post that lists the STATE CENSUS we read PENNSYLVANIA - No state census records are known to exist.

IS IT TRUE?

Historical research :  Dutch there 1641. Founded 1667 as a colony of England - British took control. 1681 Colony of William Penn; King Charles gave it to him as Province of Pennsylvania. 1776 Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. December 1787 Pennsylvania ratified the United States Constitution and becomes the second state to join the United States.  FEDERAL CENSUS TAKEN WAS FROM 1790 and every ten years... but you will encounter the 1890 being lost. Note that the majority of the population was near the eastern seaboard - Philadelphia for some time. Also note that if you look at the maps of early Pennsylvania you'll see that the present map with the straight western line is not what Pennsylvania looked like at the time. There is no West Virginia and much of what is Western Pennsylvania today was Virginia. 

OK - so now what we are going to do is find out what, if anything, there is available. 

PENNSYLVANIA STATE ARCHIVES

Excerpt: There were some non-federal censuses, such as a colonial census in 1671 and taxpayer enumerations known as the Septennial Census Returns from 1779 to 1863, which are also held by the Pennsylvania State Archives.

Excerpt:  

Record Group 7: Records of the General Assembly

Septennial Census Returns, 1779-1863 - This series contains returns for a census conducted every seven years, enumerating taxpayers for the purpose of determining representation in the General Assembly. Only about 11% of the original records have survived and the only information provided in most of the surviving returns is the name of the taxpayer, though occasionally the occupation is also given. The style and details of enumeration varies for the different counties and in different periods of time. All counties have lists of "Taxable inhabitants" and "freemen", while others also include "inmates". Commencing in 1800, the age, name, gender and place of residence of each slave is also frequently given and occasionally the name of the slave's owner. Last names of slaves are usually not given because changes in ownership would have altered these over time. A few returns for Franklin County (1828, 1835, 1842), Columbia County (1821), Mifflin County (1821), and Philadelphia City (1863) provide the name, age and gender of deaf, dumb and blind inhabitants.

Manuscript Group 262: Special Collections Microfilm

United States Direct Tax of 1798: Tax Lists for the State of Pennsylvania - Compiled to facilitate the first federal tax based on wealth (Act of July 14, 1798), these lists and summary abstracts not only document property owners but also the number and types of buildings and slaves that they owned. The 1798 Act established nine divisions in Pennsylvania. The National Archives arranged the volumes by divisions and thereunder by district, county, township, or other subdivision.

HERE IS AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ON EARLY MAPPING OF PENNSYLVANIA

D HAYTON HAVERFORD EDU : MARKETING A COLONY WILLIAM PENN

This is going to be a SERIES of POSTS and so I'm going to designate a TAG that will (eventually) bring them ALL up!

The TAG WILL BE  "STATE CENSUS ADVENTURE"

C 2026 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy  All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights.