For those who were looking for the slides from my conference—including anyone who wanted to go but couldn’t make it, and those who are interested in starting their family history but aren’t sure where to start—here you go! These tips really apply to anyone–the basics of talking to your family, seeing what you already know, and using research principles to go from there work for anyone just starting out. It’s when you go further back that complications set in, whether that means trying to figure out how to read old German writing (and that’s HARD–it basically looks like a long string of loops), having to delve into the Freedman’s Bureau and Southern Claims Commission records to hopefully find an ancestor, or figuring out how to research your Asian ancestry if you don’t speak the language. But by the time you get there, hopefully you’ll be more of an expert!
Tag: genealogy
Tu covers!
We’ve got some exciting news over at the Lee & Low blog that you need to check out.
Also, for those who were interested in the African American genealogy conference, I promised I’d post my Top Ten Tips slides here and have gotten quite busy this week and haven’t gotten to it yet. I’ll post over the weekend. Thanks for your patience!
African American Genealogy Conference
This Saturday, March 12, from 1–4 p.m., my church is sponsoring a genealogical conference focusing on African American genealogical research. I’ll be teaching one of the breakout sessions, Top Ten Tips for Getting Started in Genealogy. They’re bringing in a well-renowned speaker who’s an expert in this field, but I can’t find my flier to tell you who he is (I’ll edit this later if I do—his credentials were impressive). I believe he had something to do with the opening up of the Freedmen’s Bureau records for family history research. I’ll be focusing on methodology—making sure you cover all your bases. That can get pretty tricky in African American research in particular, depending on what area of the country your family is from, how well their records were kept, and at what point you either leave the country, hit slavery, or both. This is complicated by many Southern records being destroyed during the Civil War and our country’s history of institutional racism, which sometimes affects the quality of census and vital records. We’ll start with the basics, and then talk about some places to go that might not be as “easy” as the census but might bear more fruit in individual circumstances.
There will also be a simultaneous workshop that will let people get individualized attention if they’re beyond the basics.
If you’re in the New York City area and interested in getting started on your family history, or if you’ve been stumped at some point and want to get back into it, come on up to Harlem this Saturday.
Harlem LDS Chapel
306 Malcolm X Blvd
New York, NY 10027
Saturday, March 12
1–4 p.m.
ETA: Aha! I found the flier with the speaker information, and yep, it’s pretty cool. He’s from the National Archives. Here’s the flier and more info:
Reginald Washington is an archivist and genealogy specialist at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). A frequent lecturer and published author, he testified before Congress in support of The Freedmen’s Bureau Preservation Act of 2000, which provided three million dollars for the preservation of Freedmen’s Bureau records.
Mr. Washington’s keynote address will discuss the use, availability and the value of the Southern Claims Commission‘s case files for African American Genealogical research. He will also provide information on how to utilize the resources found at the National Archives and Records Administration office in Washington DC.
Attendees can also choose to attend two of the following workshops:
- Freedmen’s Bureau Marriage Records
- African-American Research: Geographical Resource Tutorial
- “Top 10 Tips for Getting Started on Genealogy”
- Interactive Work Session – exploring www.familysearch.org
Free and open to the public you can register by emailing HarlemAAGC@gmail.com
or in person the day of the conference