Why I’m Studying About African American Research

This past week I attended the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI for short) that was originally scheduled for three days of instruction at the Allen County Public Library (ACPL) but because of Covid-19, was scheduled online. This gave me the opportunity to attend. Check out their website for next year’s courses. Just $50 can reserve you spot!

I took Track IB: Methods & Strategies for Slavery Era Research, coordinated by Dr. Shelley Murphy. We had these wonderful instructors:

Nicka Sewell-Smith

• “Systems to Track and Document Enslaved Populations.” Excel or Google Sheets is your friend in keeping track of all of the data about the enslaved and enslavers, plus keeping track of DNA matches.
• “No Stone Unturned: Case Studies in Identifying the Last Slaveholder.” Surnames are not always an indicator of last enslaver. It was seeing her success stories.
• “Case Studies in Gray: Identifying Shared Ancestries Thru DNA.” Lots more use of online DNA sites and spreadsheets.

Toni Carrier

• “Reconstruction Era Records: the Key to Breaking Through the 1870 Brick Wall.” Lots of different types of records, some of which I was unaware of. I kept adding ideas to include in future talks I want to create, ensuring I include records that include people of color. I want to find sharecropping, tenant former, and crop lien records for both the formerly enslaved of my ancestors and for my own poor ancestors.
• “Documenting Enslaved Ancestors: Working in Antebellum Records.” Estate Account books, marriage contracts, Equity court records, coroner’s reports, and insurance records were some I hadn’t thought of using. Many of these can be found on FamilySearch and if not, then check out local and state archives or the actually courthouse.

Angela Walton-Raji

• “Slave Rebellions & Resistance.” She gave an excellent history of slave rebellion and the best sources to find out local resistance information is from local newspapers. Chronicling America has a great source for 19^th Century newspapers.
• “Slave Schedules – Use Them Properly.”  This source can only give you indirect evidence about enslaved people because there are no names, only age, sex, and complexion are given for each enslaved person. Unless you know for sure that the owner listed in the schedule is the enslaver of your enslaved person, it is only a tool. One can see who had enslaved people, the number of enslaved and the number of houses, get an idea of the size of the enslaver’s estate, and if there was any resistance. I discovered when using them for the previous night’s homework, that Ancestry has re-connected the slave schedules to the enslaver in the index when you search on a name. This is very important—descendants should be aware their ancestors were enslavers.

Judy Russell

• “Slavery and the Law.” I had heard something similar before but it doesn’t hurt to hear about the law again.

Bernice Bennett

We had three presentations from her on Thursday. 

• “Slave Ship Manifests” 
• “Southern Claims Commission” 
• “Runaway Slave Ads”

After speaking about fifteen to twenty minutes on each topic, we were put loose to search in Ancestry or other sites to view and record data from these sources. Then we spent 30-plus minutes reporting on our finds. I loved this methodology and being able to dive right into the documents. I learn and remember better about the subject when we do something immediately.

We missed one presentation from Janis Minor Forté on the “Digital Library on American Slavery” due to a technical issue with Zoom. It will be rescheduled in the future.

Why I Took the Class

I took the class to learn about how to conduct research for African Americans. I might need to help someone with their research while volunteering at the library. I also took it to help me document the enslaved people my ancestors enslaved. My mother’s entire line is from the south. I have found ancestors in every southern state. Many of the same tools to research African Americans will also help research southern white ancestors.

In our Monday evening homework assignment, I looked at the records of my mother’s southern family and chose the Coor family of Copiah County, Mississippi to investigate. In 1860, Ann Coor, a widow who was about 60 years, had a value of $6,000 in real estate and $33,000 in personal property. The majority of that value was due to the 24 enslaved people listed in the 1860 Slave Schedule. I had not paid attention to that information before.

I looked at the 1870 census to see if there were any African Americans living in the area named COOR. There were none. Either they did not take the name of Coor, they moved away, or both. There were many African American people living around her named BUTLER. Ann’s brother, Bryan Kethley, also lived nearby and he had married Sarah Butler in 1831. So perhaps, I need to add to my research the slave schedules for Bryan as well.

As I write the story of the Coors, Kethleys, and Butlers, I need to include the stories of their enslaved, for without them, their story would not be complete. These enslaved people are intertwined in the story. Actually, I think there would not be a story to tell if not for them and the work they did on their property.

Copyright © 2020 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.