Genealogy Reviews Online

National Archives Prologue - Spring 2008 Issue

My Spring 2008 issue of the National Archives Prologue magazine arrived the other day.  I always look forward to this quarterly journal and this issue has some great articles.  One thing puzzles me though...it costs $24 to have it delivered, but most of the feature articles are available online for free.  I guess I need to reevaluate my subscription next time it comes due.

There are 3 very good articles worth reading and they are available online.  The first is the cover story called Jim Crow, Meet Lieutenant Robinson.  Most everyone knows Jackie Robinson was the first African  American to play Major League Baseball, but I bet not many know the story of his short Army career and the fact he faced a court martial at Camp Hood (now Fort Hood),Texas for his actions surrounding his refusal to sit in the back of a bus.   He showed the same grit and determination here he had to exhibit when breaking into the major leagues, and because of this incident, the Army changed some of it's policies about segregation.  One fascinating part of this article is it was written mostly using documents found in the National Archives.  I know his baseball story very well, but this one was new to me.

The second article worth reading is in the Genealogy Notes section titled To Protect and to Serve:  The Records of the D.C. Metropolitan Police, 1861-1930.  The article covers the history of the department and highlights records from the assassination of Lincoln to the arrest of pickpockets.  It also shows these records contain information on people employed by the department and on the various day-to-day law enforcement activities - a very interesting article about records I never considered.

The third article I haven't read yet, but it looks tasty and is titled "No Little Historical Value" The Records of Department of State Posts in Revolutionary Russia. It's about how diplomats had to scramble to save and ship back documents during the anarchy surrounding the Russian Revolution.

All of these articles are well written and documented from records obtained in the National Archives.  There are so many unknown stories housed in those billions and billions of pages stored by the Federal Government.         

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Book Review - Inheriting the Trade by Thomas Norman DeWolf

Last month I wrote a post called Family Secrets: The Slave Trade in Early America about a new book and documentary film on the subject.  I ordered the book, titled Inheriting the Trade, just before I wrote the post and have been trying to write a review for the last week.  The book is about the DeWolf Family of Rhode Island, and how it ruled the slave trading industry well into the 19th century - at least this is what it says on the cover.  The reality is the book is about 10 DeWolf family descendants trying to come to grips with this knowledge during the making of a documentary film by traveling from Rhode Island to West Africa to Cuba and back.   These descendants discover the history of their family's business is intertwined with the industrial growth of the Northern States.  It appears the slave trade was an economic engine creating great wealth in the North.  The molasses, rum and ship building industries were mainly focused on the slave trade during its existence.  In fact, at one point the DeWolf family slave ship fleet was bigger than the US Navy.  The central theme...at least at the beginning of the book (I say this because the theme appears to change later on...is the question "Why is this history not taught in schools?"

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Photos of the Civil Rights Movement

Look for rarely seen National Archive photos on Footnote.com

Time Magazine is showing some interesting "rare and unpublished photos" documenting the Civil Rights movement taken from the Life Magazine archives.  Although I know we still have many problems today, I find it amazing some of the activities depicted here took place in my lifetime and in my country.  When I look at this photo, from the point of view of 2008, the first thought that comes to my mind is "what were they thinking?"  I wonder if the white people terrorizing their fellow citizens in the car remember the moment and are now disgusted with their actions...or do they think about it at all?  I know history is all about context, and judging the past from the context of the present usually doesn't provide a complete understanding of historical events.  But still...when I see photos like these, especially when many of the events took place in my lifetime, I find it hard to suppress my emotions and "clinically" evaluate the history involved.   I guess that's why objective history is usually written generations later when the emotions of the time have subsided.  I still can't get passed my question - "what were they thinking?" 

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Family Secrets - The Slave Trade in Early America

How would you feel if you discovered your ancestors were responsible for transporting over 10,000 human beings from Africa into slavery in the early part of our country's existence?  Most of us research our family history and discover many people we look up to and admire, but there are also some who inspire the opposite feelings.  Research shows there are some of both kinds of people in my family, and I try to treat each fairly...but I'm not so sure how I would feel if these were my ancestors.  This article in the Denver Post discusses how a few descendants of the DeWolf family of Bristol, Rhode Island decided to break the "no-talk rule" and deal with their family's past.  In the process they came face to face with their ancestor's misdeeds which lead to a book "Inheriting the Trade" and a documentary film "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North."  The film documents the journey of 10 family members "along the infamous Triangle Trade route that made [their] family rich: sugar from Cuba became rum in New England that was traded for slaves in Africa."  I just ordered the book from Amazon and will write about my impressions of it.

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Prologue - Summer 2007 Issue

Download Original Historical Documents

I just received my Summer 2007 issue of Prologue - a publication of the National Archives.  As soon as I found my magazine in the mail, I quickly went to the the website to make sure all of the articles in the hard copy were also posted online - most were, but some were listed with no links.  Luckily, the one I wanted to write about did have a link (the Smithsonian "Genealogy is Bunk" thing was in the back of my mind).   In this issue, the Genealogy Notes section had a very interesting article titled "Pre-Bureau" Records and Civil War African American Genealogy.  Written by Rebecca K. Sharp, the article discusses records available prior to the government setting up the Freedmen's Bureau.  Most of these records center around military efforts to take care of refugees as the Union forces defeated the Confederate armies.  The article is very well written, cited, and includes example photos of selected documents.  Here is a detailed description of these records with instructions on how to order.  Every time I read this magazine I just marvel at the types of information housed at the National Archives.  It's also very frustrating knowing the majority of the holdings are beyond the reach of most people - this is why I love the fact they are partnering with Footnote.com to get some of these documents digitized so people can discover them.  One of the articles written by the Archivist of the United States (Allen Weinstein), is titled Progress Toward a Goal of Greater Access and discusses his philosophy, and initiatives to make more of our country's history available to everyone.      

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Sharpton/Thurmond - Final Word

Ok, this is the final article I will post about the Sharpton/Thurmond issue.  The column, written by Cortland Milloy of the Washington Post, ends by saying "big deal."  That's kind of how I feel about it right now.  The story is overblown; Sharpton is doing and saying the kinds of things he always says and does; the Thurmond clan is not saying much of anything; and Ancestry is all pumped up and touting it's success.  Milloy's column in the Washington Post puts it all in perspective and is a good way to end the controversy - at least in this blog and for my 5 readers.

Sharpton/Thurmond from the British Perspective

Here is an interesting perspective of the Al Sharpton - Strom Thurmond news from a British newspaper.  While this whole thing is an interesting story, I really don't think it's that unique. I'm sure there are a lot more connections like this between well known black and white Americans.  In fact, I posted a link to a story about J. Edgar Hoover being related to an African American a few weeks ago, but it didn't get that much press - even though Hoover was probably as much of a racist as Thurmond.  I tell you one thing, though...I bet Ancestry.com is just loving this right about now.  What started out as a little publicity event with a reporter has turned into monster (free) advertising for them. 

Al Sharpton and Strom Thurmand - Connected

Now here's an interesting story I found that will probably be all over the genealogy world because of the researcher involved.  I'm sure more details we come out later.  Here is another article on the story.  Here apparently is the source article for the AP story.  Now this will certainly get Ancestry.com a lot of attention in the coming days.

Family History - Family Secrets

Genealogy for most of us is a fascinating trip into history.  We discover family characters that make us laugh, scratch our heads, and occasionally we dig up dark family secrets that ancestors have tried to hide.  This article in the St. Louis Today News is one such story.  An African American man spends 5 years unearthing secrets and tragedies that family members preferred to keep hidden.  There should be no secrets in family history.  The past is what it is and we should unearth it in an attempt to understand how we got to where we are.    

Denver Roots - Part 6

Here is the final installment of a series in the Rocky Mountain News on African American DNA testing.  This final article is about former Denver mayor Wellington Webb and his experience.  While the series started out pretty good, it seems to have ended with a whimper.  This one shows the former mayor almost disinterested in the whole thing.  I know we genealogists tend to be evangelical about our passion, and sometimes have a hard time understanding why others don't feel the same way...but I just wonder why they wrote this article - the feeling I got was that he just doesn't really care that much. 

Denver Roots - Parts 4 and 5

Sorry I didn't post yesterday...I was overcome by events.  Here are parts four and five of the series in the Rocky Mountain News on area African Americans using DNA testing to break through the genealogy brick wall caused by slavery.

Denver Roots - Part 3...I think

I think this article is part 3 of 6 of the African American DNA series in the Rocky Mountain News...the paper is not very clear about it.  However, it's about DNA and genealogy so I'm posting it.

DNA Testing - African Roots

Black History Month is producing a huge number of articles on DNA testing for African Americans.  This is one of the better articles I've read by a Fortune Magazine reporter who decides to get the test.  I'm glad this area of DNA testing is getting so much press...the more people who take it the better the results will be.  Although the tester mentioned in the article has the largest database of samples from Africa, I think it has to be larger to get the desired results.  If I understand correctly, testing companies can only tell what general part of Africa a person's ancestors came from and can't narrow it down to a specific area or tribe.    

Denver Roots - First of Six Part DNA Series

I just found parts one and two of a six part series of articles in the Rocky Mountain News about the experiences of Denver area African Americans who had their DNA tested.  The series is presented by the paper in honor of Black History Month.  I will try to post all six articles as they are published. 

More on African Americans and DNA

I'm sure finding a lot of good articles on African American genealogy lately - I guess it's because of Black History Month.  Here's another one by Toni Coleman of Diverse Magazine.  It has a little bit of everything in it, but centers on using DNA testing to recover the genetic trail of Americans who had ancestors brought to the new world in bondage.  This article really gives a good overview of the whole process, but is very open about the limitations because of the small sample population from Africa who have had DNA tests.

Good Hard Nosed Detective Work

I love this article by Robert L. Smith of The Cleveland Plain Dealer.   It's really a classical genealogy story about an African American man who traces his family back to a run-away slave in 1771.  He actually found the reward notice in a Virginia newspaper.  This article describes his very interesting journey into the past.    

J. Edger Hoover Genealogy

Here is an interesting article about J. Edger Hoover's genealogy.  There are no facts here and it appears the story is mainly from oral history, but it's a fascinating thought knowing Hoover's views of African Americans.   

African American Genealogy Using DNA

Here is an month old article that discusses the use of DNA testing in African American genealogy.  This subject fascinates me because of the research challenges caused by slavery.  DNA testing, while not providing the documentation most genealogists seek, provides context for most people, but may be the devise African American's can use to break through the brick wall of slavery.

African American Genealogy

In the short time I've been involved in genealogy I've hit my share of brick walls, but eventually I always find a way around them and keep going.  African Americans, on the other hand, have several brick walls that are very difficult to break down.  Not only has slavery created unique genealogy challenges, but also equally as challenging was the institutional racism in the United States following the Civil War.  This article, titled A Forgotten History by Matthew Miller of the Lansing State Journal, tells of a group determined to break through those walls.  This is an example of genealogy being used to uncover the history of a community that was often left out of the official documents that most of us use.  This is actually a very motivating story.