What would you be worth to John McDowell's hiers?

As a researcher, you hope and pray that your ancestor's slaveowner died before the end of the Civil War.  Imagine that it's September 1861 all over again, the worse time of your life: "Massa" is died.

Will you be rented out?  Or, will his executors have you sent to the Oktibbeha County Courthouse where the auctions are held to pay off his debts?  Will you and your loved ones remain as one?  Or, will you be split up amongst his hiers and their families?   Today, three suspicious men have come by the plantation. 
 
What follows is a transcription of the actual slave inventory and appraisement of John McDowell's estate.  To give you a buyer's perspective and for the purpose of this exercise, I have eliminated their names and reframed it with a focus on property value.  In 1861, his slave inventory, valued at $7874.97, represented a fourth of his estate.  Based on your own age, exactly what would you be worth to his hiers?

NB: Harriet McDowell, the "Sand Creek" Boyd family matriarch, is found at the bottom of this post as the 66 year old "girl" who is described as superannuated (i.e., no longer of monetary value).  On the 1870 U.S. Census for Oktibbeha County, she was also described as blind.     

Sex                          Age                 (1861 Dollars)                x20 =            (2012 Dollars)     Remarks
girl                       2                  $  233.33                                 ($  4,666.60)

girl                       2                  $  200.00                                 ($  4,000.00)

girl                       3                  $  300.00                                 ($  6,000.00)

girl                       4                  $  316.66                                 ($  6,333.20)

girl                       4                  $  300.00                                 ($  6,000.00)

girl                       5                  $  350.00                                 ($  7,000.00)

girl                       6                  $  416.66                                 ($  8,333.20)

girl                       7                  $  483.33                                 ($  9,666.60)

girl                       8                  $  600.00                                 ($12,000.00)

girl                       8                  $  566.66                                 ($11,333.20)

boy                    10                  $  700.00                                 ($14,000.00)

boy                    14                  $  400.00                                 ($  8,000.00)   double jointed

girl                     17                  $  700.00                                 ($14,000.00)   burnt hand

girl                     19                  $  900.00                                 ($18,000.00)

boy                    21                  $1000.00                                 ($20,000.00)

girl                     23                  $  666.66                                 ($13,333.20)   unsound

girl                     24                  $  400.00                                 ($  8,000.00)   unsound

boy                    24                  $1000.00                                 ($20,000.00)

girl                     26                  $  966.66                                 ($19,333.20)   & infant

girl                     27                  $  966.66                                 ($19,333.20)   & infant

boy                    28                  $  800.00                                 ($16,000.00)   bro ankle

boy                    29                  $1000.00                                 ($20,000.00)

boy                    29                  $1000.00                                 ($20,000.00)

girl                     30                  $  908.33                                 ($18,166.60)   & infant

boy                    31                  $1000.00                                 ($20,000.00)

boy                    32                  $1000.00                                 ($20,000.00)

boy                    32                  $  966.66                                 ($19,333.20)

girl                     33                  $  966.66                                 ($19,333.20)   & infant

boy                    35                  $  966.66                                 ($19,333.20)

boy                    41                  $1000.00                                 ($20,000.00)

girl                     50                  $  486.66                                 ($  9,733.20)

girl                     53                  $  133.33                                 ($  2,666.60)

girl                     63                  $  100.00                                 ($  2,000.00)

girl                     66                  $  000.00                                                   superannuated 

Online Learning

Can't afford the costs associated with attending a regional or national genealogical conference? No worries! The internet has become the great equalizer of the digital divide. For the budget-conscious researcher, here are my favorite resources to aid you in learning how to research your family tree without leaving the comfort of your home.

Be sure to read Tom MacEntee "How To Attend A Genealogy Webinar" first!!!

• Geneawebinars (scroll to the bottom for the webinar calendar)

• Familysearch Learning Center

• Ancestry Learning Center

• Legacy Family Tree

• Georgia Genealogical Society

• Michael John Neill

• Family Tree University

2012 Boyd Family Biennial Reunion

"It's so nice to see all the folks you love together...Family Reunion...I wish grandma could see the whole family. I sure miss her face and her warm and tender embrace and if grandpa was here, I know that he would be smiling from ear to ear..." Family Reunion, OJays (1975)

August 22nd – 24th 2008, after years of promising to get together, the three branches of the “Sand Creek” Boyd Family Family reunited in Starkville, Mississippi. Some of us hadn’t seen each other in days or months while others hadn’t seen each other in years or decades and some of us had never met before. We had a ball despite a rainy weekend brought on by Hurricane Gustav. With a vow to continue this tradition, it was decided that the next one would be hosted by the Michigan and Minnesota branches of the Boyd Family.

July 23rd – 25th, 2010, we had a wonderful time in Bloomington and Eaton, Minnesota. With a theme of “Bridging Our Past with Our Future”, we paid tribute to family members no longer with us, were treated to a recital by two of our younger cousins and, learned more about our long-forgotten ancestors and our family history.

July 27th – 29th, 2012, this year’s biennial gathering we will be hosted by the Illinois branches of the Boyd Family. This year’s theme is "Learning and Honoring Our Legacy" and we have planned several fun-filled activities to accommodate your stay in and around "Mississippi of the North".

We hope that you will join us for this very special get-together!

Saint Louis Genealogy Conference: February 18th, 2012

If you're in the Saint Louis area, consider attending the StL-African American History & Genealogy Society's 3rd Annual Conference at Harris-Stowe State University on Compton Avenue.

Angela Walton-Raji, well-known speaker and author of Black Indian Genealogy Research, will be the keynote speaker and will be joined by several others, including the Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago's (AAGHSC) past-president, Angela F. McGhee, and AAGHSC's Alabama Study Group chair, Janis Minor Forté.

Full details can be found here.

Black in Latin America airs Tuesday, April 19th, @ 8pm est/cst

I must admit when I first heard that Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was working on narrating his newest mini-series and that it would air in April -- two months after Black History month -- I had my doubts. Well, April is here and so are the showers. Moreover, so is Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s latest offering in his trilogy that began with African American Lives and continued with Faces of America.

Of course, I'll be looking for the genealogy angle as I watch Black in Latin America, which airs on your local PBS station. For a sneak peak, go to: http://video.pbs.org/video/1822481755/ and check out the PBS's website .

Let me know what you think about the series.

Tupelo, MS Interactive Video Genealogy Conference: Friday, March 25, 2011

Attention Mississippi genealogy researchers, the Lee County Extension Office will bring together Betty Wiltshire, Mona Vance, & Rick Dixon on Friday, March 25th, 2011. The three-hour Genealogy Fair will begin at 12:00 noon.

12:00 pm -- African-American and Native American Research
Betty Wiltshire, presenting from Carroll County, is the owner of Pioneer Press, in Carrollton, MS.

1:00 pm -- How to Archive Family Memories
Mona Vance, presenting from Lowndes County, is the Columbus Public Library Archivist.

2:00 pm -- Preserving & Restoring Tombstones.
Rick Dixon, presenting from Coahoma County, represents Mississippi Marble & Granite and has restored many cemeteries.

Contact the Lee County Extension Office, at 841-6400, to ensure video conference seating or to obtain addtional information regarding the conference. The Lee County Extension Office is located at 5338 Cliff Gookin Boulevard, Tupelo, MS 38801.

For more information, see: http://nems360.com/pages/ad_details/listing_details?id=31477383-geneaology-fair

Update: To view the March 25th video conference, click here.

Early Postcards of Starkville

I'm always looking for early postcards of Starkville and don't you know I came across this charming book.

If you live in/near Fort Wayne, Salt Lake City, or Washington, D.C., copies of this book will soon be available for viewing at the Allen County Public Library, Family History Library, and the Library of Congress.

Black and white copies are still available. Send me an e-mail and I'll be sure to forward your query to Ruth Morgan.

Getting Serious About Your Research

Those of us who attended the International Black Genealogy Summit are still talking about the wonderful speakers we heard. From the East Coast, to the West Coast, and all points in between, more than 400 of us were there to represent, network, and put on our thinking caps.

This year, October 20, 21, and 22, Fort Wayne will host the National Black Genealogy Summit. Roberta Ridley, of the Allen County Public Library, and I promised ourselves that when we found our common Ridley ancestor that we would do a part two presentation of Deborah Abbott's and Char McCargo Bah's He Owned Our People: One Plantation, Two Families, Two States...

My grandmother's great grandfather, James Ridley, was born in North Carolina -- just as Roberta's Ridley family had been. While her family eventually went to Indiana, mine remained in Mississippi. I have no doubt that 2011 will be the year that we will break through that brick-wall.

Come join us for fun-filled and edifying weekend!

February: My Favorite Month

Forget about the cold, February is my favorite month. I so look forward to see black history programming on my local PBS stations in Chicago: WTTW (aka Window To The World), WYCC (City Colleges of Chicago Public Television), & WYIN (Lakeshore Public Television).

Tuesday, I watched When I Rise, a documentary about Barbara Smith Conrad. "I am from east Texas: Center Point community...Rolling hills, red clay dirt, honeysuckle everywhere...this community was founded by five freedmen. One of them was my great grandfather...We sang all the time..."

Ms. Smith Conrad, with a voice to-die-for, was one of the first black students admitted to University of Texas at Austin. During an era of Jim Crow, she was dropped from a student opera, Dido and Aeneas. Life-changing events will take her across the globe, several times over, on an incredible odyssey.

Clip 1
Clip 2

Family Tree Magazine

Every now and then, when I'm at my local bookstore, I comb the magazine racks for genealogy magazines. Sometimes, I luck out and the current edition is still available.

And then, there are other times, when I'm not so lucky and the my bookstore has already soldout of that issue. This year, I'm going to start the year off right with year's subscription to my favorite magazine.

In addition, there are lots of "Family Tree Magazine" how-to videos at YouTube.com (20 at last count). One of them, Organize Your Hard Drive, grabbed my attention for obvious reasons!

I liked the idea of folders but I organized by research first by family surnames and then by category. For me, it made writing my family stories easier. No matter which method you choose, the goal remains the same: organizing your research.

Mississippi Roots, Once Removed

If you still haven't read Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, this interview will tempt you otherwise. Spoiler Alert: The interview with Isabel Wilkerson immediately follows the minute forty-six second donation solicitation.

The Great Migration involved three streams: the East Coast, the Midwest, and the West Coast. In fifteen years, Wilkerson interviewed more than 1200 persons for this tome. Many friends have talked about this book but it wasn't until I saw her at BookTV.org, that I too wanted to know more about the migration. 

With Mississippi roots, once removed, I focused on Ida Mae (Brandon) Gladney, who migrated from Chickasaw County, MS to Chicago in 1930s. By contrast, George Starling of Lake County, FL migrated to Harlem in the 1940s and Robert Foster, of Monroe, Ouachita Parish, LA migrated to Los Angeles in the 1950s.

Want to know more? Be sure to watch Part II of Amy Goodman's interview here.

Question?  Comment?  Email me!

Happy New Year 2011!

Even though I'm still in the honeymoon phase of my new job, it promises to be everything that I hoped for.  With a feeling of gratitude, I'm absolutely inspired to make 2011 a year to remember.  With a combination of short-term and long-term goals, all things are possible. 

I can't believe that I'm even considering genealogy resolutions but here goes:

• Read the Old Testament before June
• Declutter & Get Organize 
• Transition to Family Tree Maker
• Mindmap two books & two articles each month
• Source all family stories
• Attend NGS & FGS conferences 

Question? Comment? Email me!

Thomas Jefferson's Ties to Starkville?!

The Golden Rule of Genealogy says that: "There is no truth without proof."   While oral history is important, documenting your family history is even more important.  Don't just take someone's word that an event happened, try to substantiate their claim with a paper trail.  Recently, I've been spending a lot of time perusing old newspapers. 

In fact, some of the articles have left me speechless.  Don't believe me?  Check out my first entry under Starkville: Believe it or Not!

Question? Comment?  Email me!

    

National Day of Listening (NDL)

Rosalind M., of AAGHSC's Mississippi Study Group, had reviewed Isabel Wilkerson's book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, for the group at the November meeting.  This morning, at BookTV.org, I saw Isabel Wilkerson's name at the bottom of my TV screen.

Wilkerson and Michele Norris, former ABC news correspondent and author of The Grace of Silence, were discussing their new books at the 2010 Texas Book Festival.  Soon, their respective back stories came to a close and Norris mentioned National Day of Listening, the day after Thanksgiving.  A well known journalist, Norris teared up as she spoke of her father. 

With regret, she told the audience, "...my children will never hear my father's voice because I never recorded it."  As we spend time with family over the holiday weekend, remember NDL, a day to spend time with family members and video/tape record family stories for the future generations.  Click here for an Instructional Guide.

Question? Comment? Email me!