Author: kenya

International African American Museum, Charleston, South Carolina

I visited the International African American Museum located on Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston, South Carolina. Gadsden’s Wharf was the first destination for an estimated 100,000 enslaved Africans during the peak of the international slave trade. Some researchers estimate that 40% of the enslaved Africans in the United States landed at Gadsden’s Wharf. The museum covers the history of Africans in America starting with the Black … Continue reading International African American Museum, Charleston, South Carolina

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5th great-grandmother Angelina Urquhart

I have recently found the maiden names of two of my female ancestors both on my maternal grandmother’s maternal lines. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this because oftentimes, women’s entire identities were wiped away when they got married. The second one is my 5th great-grandmother Angelina Gwaltney nee Urquhart. Here she is on my MyHeritage tree. I found a death certificate … Continue reading 5th great-grandmother Angelina Urquhart

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4th great-grandmother Martha Blizzard

I have recently found the maiden names of two of my female ancestors both on my maternal grandmother’s maternal lines. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this because oftentimes, women’s entire identities were wiped away when they got married. The first one is my 4th great-grandmother Martha Cypress nee Blizzard. Here she is on my My Heritage tree, which I have not … Continue reading 4th great-grandmother Martha Blizzard

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Historical Black Newspapers

I wasn’t finding obituaries or any mention of my relatives prior to maybe the 1950s in the local newspapers that are available via Newspapers.com, VirginiaChronicle.com and NewsBank. Something I specifically didn’t find was an obituary for each of my Allmond great-grandparents. The only mention I found was a notice for a pressure canner clinic for Farm Security Housewives at my great-grandmother’s house in 1946. My … Continue reading Historical Black Newspapers

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Virginia Free Negro Registers

Last weekend, I participated in a transcribe-a-thon to index Free Negro Registers that have recently been digitized by the Library of Virginia. In 1793, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law requiring that all free Black people “be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the town clerk, which shall specify age, name, color, status and by whom, and in what court … Continue reading Virginia Free Negro Registers

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Another Lighthouse Related Find

Here’s another situation where I was working on genealogy stuff and happened upon something lighthouse related. My relatives are at the top of this page from the Portsmouth City Directory from 1933 but I immediately saw the USLS (United States Lighthouse Service). More can be found about Holder Almy at the United States Lighthouse Society’s J. Candace Clifford Lighthouse Research Library: https://archives.uslhs.org/type-person/engineers Continue reading Another Lighthouse Related Find

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I Just Broke My Whole Family Tree: Are We Johnsons, Lesanes or Both?

I just broke my whole family tree, well not the whole tree but definitely the Johnson line. Family oral history says that my great-grandfather Charley Johnson was born Charley Lesane but due to circumstances in the South he changed his name to Johnson when he moved to Philadelphia. But then I found this marriage notice from Mayesville in 1916, I was definitely confused. Here was … Continue reading I Just Broke My Whole Family Tree: Are We Johnsons, Lesanes or Both?

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