Census records can rightfully be called the foundation upon which much of our research builds upon. That begs a question. Have you learned to sift through each census record to extract every little clue about your ancestors and their communities? Many people haven’t. I’m still learning new ways to do this. We know that census […]
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Category: Posts 2014-2019
A Walk Through County Court Minutes
Have you ventured into the waters of county court records yet? I am a big fan of court records. Today, I’d like to show you what you can find in these records. As I’ve mentioned before, court records are an intermediate/advanced resource. I wouldn’t recommend them for beginners because of their complexity. It’s better […]
Tips for Family Photographs
By far, one of the things that has drawn me to family research are family photographs. I have collected hundreds of pictures over the years from various family members. I have “picture envy” for the collections of some of my friends (one of my favorites is the header on Mel Collier’s blog). The idea of […]
Genealogy Resource Recommendations
I’ve talked before on this blog about the importance of reading genealogical books in order to learn about how to use various record sets. I want to highlight two of the best resources for genealogical research that some of you may be unaware of. The book “The Source” has been a mainstay of genealogists since […]
Slave Research: Four Things You Need to ...
I’ve been conducting slave research on my family and teaching others how to do it for about 18 years now. There are a few points I tend to mention repeatedly on Reclaiming Kin, but thought it would be a good idea to list them all in one place. Especially for beginners, there are some things […]
Researching U.S. Colored Troops
For many years now, I’ve been interested in researching U.S. Colored Troops who served in Union forces from the communities where my family lived. Almost 200,000 black people, slaves and free blacks, served in the Union Army and Navy. The 1863 Emancipation Proclamation began the process of large-scale recruitment of black men into the service as […]
Slaves Search For Their Families in News...
After emancipation, former slaves placed thousands of ads in newspapers in search of sold-away spouses and children. These ads are just one more source that document the sale of millions of enslaved people. False Reasons Slaveowners conjured up many reasons to justify the buying and selling of people, especially when breaking up families. One was that […]
Henry’s Slaves: One in a Million
There have been only a few times in the 18 years of my research that have truly taken my breath away. I just had another one. John Campbell Henry’s Inventory I was researching the possible owners of a group of former slaves from Dorchester County, Maryland. John Campbell Henry died in 1857. A former governor […]
Are You Using Your Genealogical and Hist...
Your local Genealogical and Historical (G&S) Society could be holding the key to important pieces of your research. Although the web has certainly enabled us to find things we may have found otherwise, the truth remains that the bulk of genealogical records are not online and likely never will be. This example illustrates how the […]
Tips on Using World War Draft Registrati...
World War Draft Registrations (World War I and World War II) are some of the most valuable records in genealogy research. These records are especially helpful for researching men born in the late 1870s or 1880s. The lack of a 1890 census record makes that 20-year-gap hard to cross. Read the Details It’s important to […]