THE WAR OF 1812 DVD : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

THE WAR OF 1812 DVD :  ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

Watching this film, I realized that I knew a lot about the American Revolution and the Civil War but near nothing about the War of 1812, when the British tried to take back some or all of the 30-year-old United States. The British were most interested in the seaports and the Mississippi River, which they could use to link their territory in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Here are some of the highlights of this film from History Channel.

DOLLY MADISON - WASHINGTON D.C.

Dolly Madison, the First Lady, was beloved by Americans.  Her outgoing nature was a balance to that of her husband, President James Madison, who was more intellectual. She was the last hold out in the White House when the British troops were advancing on Washington. She'd been warned to leave but she and a servant remained. She ordered that servant to break the frame of the painting of George Washington, roll up the canvas, and take it with them! When the troops got to the White House they found a gourmet meal left out for them. They feasted, they looted, and took all that had been left, including the love letters between Dolly and the President. Then the British threw lit torches through the windows and the White House burned to the ground. 

Oddly, a hurricane struck Washington D.C. soon after and if that were not enough a tornado struck.  This weather scared the British troops away and some people think God was behind it.

BALTMORE - SAVING THE HARBOR

In order to prevent the British from getting near the city by harbor, citizens sunk a row of merchant boats to block the harbor. It worked.  The British had to go around another way. American troops quickly built an earthen fort. From the water the British used the most powerful weapon technology provided at the time which was 500-pound cannon balls. They were firing these cannon balls into the fort from their ships. The fort contained a massive amount of gun powder and one of these balls made it right to the place in the fort where the gun powder was stored. 

By some miracle that particular cannon ball was a dud, and the fort didn't blow up!

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER WAS WRITTEN by FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

I thought this song was written for the American Revolution, but the fact is the songwriter began to write the song while watching the battle for Baltimore from a British ship in the harbor where he was held captive. Two massive American flags that could be seen from that far were waving.  The flags had been commissioned and handsewn by women. He wrote the first two lines aboard. When he was released, he wrote the rest. It was set to a popular beer drinking song and published in small papers around the country.

NEW ORLEANS - THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

Because communications in those days was so slow, troops didn't know that there had actually been a truce signed in Belgium.  So the Battle of New Orleans went on anyway. Here is where Andew Jackson, a southern frontier boy who'd been orphaned, triumphed.  The heroic leader of an assembly of troops, some standard army, some volunteers from as far away as Kentucky, and one troop that included the pirate Jean LaFitte and other outlaws, fought their hardest. The United States lost about 13 souls - the British 2000.

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ORPHANS : JSTOR on TRACING ORPHANS IN YOUR ANCESTRY by D. JOSHUA TAYLOR - EXCELLENT!

JSTOR-TRACING ORPHANS IN YOUR ANCESTRY  by D. Joshua Taylor   

EXCERPTS: Many children who ended up institutions or orphanages might not have truly been orphans, but instead might have required the support of an organization. Their father or mother might have passed away, they could be suffering from a variety of ailments, or their parents could simply not afford to be able to provide for them...The first documented orphanage in what is now the United States was opened in New Orleans as early as 1727. Founded by a group of Ursulines the organization’s strong religious ties were central to its mission to help the poor children of New Orleans. Tracing the orphanages of New Orleans, Priscilla Ferguson Clement found that during the antebellum era children admitted to orphanages were not always truly orphans, as some had only lost one parent or had both parents living. In fact by 1915 only 15% of children registered with the New Orleans Board of Prisons and Asylums were reported as full orphans. However, it should be noted that not every orphanage opened their arms to abandoned children. Some New Orleans institutions rejected children under the age of five, due to the high death rate, as well as adolescents, who might have been turned away due to potential behavioral problems....          

HOW CAN I FIND MY GREAT GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S SLAVE SHIP AND PLACE OF BIRTH?

QUESTION for ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY

HOW CAN I FIND MY GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S SLAVE SHIP AND PLACE OF BIRTH IN AFRICA?

ANSWER

There is no one way this is done, when it is possible.  Learning the actual nation can be about DNA rather than following documentation as the documentation may not exist.  Slave Ship databases may help you learn about what ships went where but do not have slave names.  But in order to gather information to set you on the right path you still have to methodically go back in time and learn as much as you can about the history and culture of that time and place. Don't take wild leaps going back 100 years or more. Also expect to research around her, following her children and other relations you may have never met.

You have shown me your great great great grandmother is on the 1870 census and so let's take a good look at that census page.

Here is what I think:

First this is only five years after Emancipation and yet she is living in a farmstead with a planter and her daughter and their family where she is listed as being the mother in law of the head of household.  The value of this farmstead is such I believe that this planter did not earn a huge sum of money in five years.  I also see that the neighbors are listed as W while he and his family are listed as B.  They are not living in a B ghetto.  I believe that pre emancipation this person was free so look at the regular U.S.  census (free person's rather than slave registers) and continue backward as far as you can, to come up with a possible date of freedom.  Maybe the planter was born free.  Maybe he bought the freedom of his wife and mother in law.  If so there may be records of the transactions or court hearings.

Then there is the issue of his wife who would be a child of your GGG Grandmother.   I see based on children that they have been together for a good 10 years before Emancipation. I want you to follow her and her family forward.  I want you to see if you can get a possible death era or date for her.  Then check with the present day county of their location to find out where any possible death records might be kept.  it is possible that if the daughter lived as many years as her mother than she just might be on a civil register.  If they didn't have civil records in this time and place, perhaps church records.  You want to find the daughter's death record because it may name her parents even if it is a notation by a priest at her funeral Mass.  Likewise following the GGG Grandmother forward  you may try for a record of her death, hoping that there is familial information on it.

Obituaries are not out of the question and local Louisiana historical societies and libraries may help.

You show that on the 1870 your GGG Grandmother is listed as coming from Africa and family history is that she came into New Orleans.  You want to check New Orleans resources.  Make some phone calls and find out what they have or know that might help you.

Additionally the surname of the family group in 1870 is not the surname spelling that was brought forward.  Be sensitive to that.  I ran a Freedman's bank record check for this surname and came up with nothing.  However the English variant had many records.  My sense is that this family had no Freedman Bank account because they were already free.

Ancestry has some New Orleans slave ship manifests.

Here is the SLAVE VOYAGES (TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE SHIP DATABASE)  it lists ship names and captains.

Gwendolyn Midlo Hall (who is of Russian and Polish Jewish ancestry and a historian) is highly respected for what became a life's work and great contribution to slave research.  This is a link  about her work:

THE LOUISIANA SLAVE DATABASE AND THE LOUISIANA FREE DATABASE: NPS GOV GUIDE   (I believe this is a compact disk for purchase.)

A couple years ago another database became available from the Archdiocese of New Orleans.   ARCHIVES LOUISIANA - CATHOLIC CHURCH -BAPTISMALS SLAVE AND FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR   It begins with a note about how it was written in Spanish and to convert French names into their Spanish equivalents - or at least be sensitive that this may have happened.  Try for her daughter first since you know her birth year from the census.

GOOD LUCK!  Check in with me after you've done all this!