Roland Stampley: There are many sites to trace your ancestry. Go to Cyndislist.com and look under African American. Here are a couple of sites to try: www.afriquest.com www.africanaheritage.com There is a lot of information out there. Good luck on your search.
Faviola Dewire: Hey, The Sweetest Sin, I like your handle!O.K., I am a "white" guy, and I, too, have gone back 5 generations on my Dad's side and hit a dead end. On my Mom's side, counting her, going through her Dad, I can go back only 4 generations. (For me, in both instances, that takes me to 1769 for my Dad, 1790s for my Mom.) But, on both sides, by "zig-zagging", i.e., by going through the spose of an ancestor, I manage to keep going back in time.As to one of your ancestors being a "slave", of course it is possible. A number of mine were "indentured servants", which is pretty much the same; they could be beaten, raped, murdered and the law didn't care too much. (I say too much, but on my Dad's sid! e, back to Virginia, some white guy was hung for "unlawfully" killing a "slave").If you watched that series on TV sponsored by Ancestry.com, Emmet Smith traced his ancestry and got back to the 1800s and found that his black g-g-g-grandmother had a child by her "master".Depending upon when, and where, your ancestors lived, there may not have been any records...whether your ancestors were "red, yellow, black, white or brown". Women whose husband died were often "bound" to someone; children who were orphans were bound to someone; if a person owed a debt they could not pay, they were bound over to someone. My maternal grandmother was "bound" to some one. Usually when children were bound, once they reached 18 they were given a suit and $20 and told to hit the road. While searching for my Dad's ancestors, I have seen these things over and over. The records refer to "Indian women" being slaves (probably where my Indian ancestry came from) and the records state that usually sla! ves had only one name, effectively ending any search for their! parents..In these records, one woman had "4 illegitimate" children; 2 were bound to one man, the other 2 to another man. Mostly the records did not differentiate between "red, white, black or yellow" persons; they were either free, or they were "bound". "Race" never became an issue until President Abraham Lincold said that was the reason for the Civil War (which was not true). And, now a century and a half later, people still think that slavery was all about race. It never was; it was always about the "haves" and the "have nots".I got this information from a book about the county's history; so, I would suggest libraries, historical/genealogical societies. (e.g., try Virginia (or wherever) historical records).If all else fails, go for DNA testing. While I used www.familytreedna.com, there are other sites that specialize in "black" genealogy, "oriental" genealogy", "Jewish" genealogy, etc. But, Family Tree offers various tests also....Show more
Russel Gajate: Type! "African American genealogy" in your browser, should pop up with a very good list. One of them should be "Top 10 African American genealogy sites", I believe it is from About.com, but it is very good. I like AfriGenus (spelled that wrong) but you'll know it when you see it. I have been trying to help a friend of mine, so far all I found was a WW I record saying her great grandfather was from Ethiopia, but she was thrilled just to find that out. Good luck!
Rocio Karvis: If you are an African-American, it is almost certain your ancestors were slaves. One of the frustrations of AA genealogy is that blacks didn't count as people until 1870. For the 1850 and 1860, when all whites were listed by name, all you got were slave schedules. On the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules, all you got was their white owner, and how many slaves he owned of each age and sex. It is virtually impossible to tell if a 30-year old black lady is really your ggg-grandmother or not, based on the age ! and sex alone, and the fact John Smith owned her. For 1790 - 1840 no one! but free white males who were heads of households got their names listed. They used tally marks for how many boys 0 - 5, 5 - 10 and so one, and another set of tally marks for women, so white people know almost just how you feel with regard to the census.If you have tons of time and money you can dig through slave sales, which are on paper in dusty shelves in courthouses and maybe find a clue or two, but most AAs dead end in 1870.The Mormons have a CD of Freedman's Bank records at each Family History Center. You might try it; it can't hurt....Show more
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