Family Tree: Discovering Me

I have always been drawn to African American history.  I remember growing up and my grandmother telling me about relatives that had long passed away.  Apart me was a little sad because I never had the opportunity to meet these people.  Her stories left me with so many questions in which I had very little options to obtain an answer.

After talking with my co-worker, she showed me her family tree.  Her tree with went back numerous generations.  It was simply amazing to see all that history in one location.  Just seeing her family tree inspired me to embark on the journey of compiling my own family tree.  In less than one week I was able to identify 3 great great grandparents.  In addition I found out one of my great great grandparents is from the Bahamas.  I was able to find census records and even some World War I draft cards that could possibly belong to my great great uncle.  As I complied this information I was filled with pride yet sadness.  Looking at the years in which my family was born I realized they lived during times in which they were likely slaves.  Having looked at 1900 census records I discovered that anything prior to 1870 would be of little use to me since we were not identified by name on census records until the 1870s.  Prior to that we were simply identified by age and sex since we were considered property (unless you were over 100 years old).  My journey to identify my family has encouraged some of my family to help me so that we can have a central record of who we are and where we come from.

I strongly encourage everyone to embark on a journey to discover your family history.  We as individuals need to know our history and who we are.  I will return periodically to provide updates.  As always your feedback and comments are always welcome!