Research: Were My Kin’s White Neighbors Descendants of My Ancestor’s Owners?

This useful guide to researching relationships between freed people, their descendants, and their white neighbors came to my attention through a post on New England Historic Genealogical Society's (NEHGS) Facebook page.

Originally posted on The Root, Henry Louis Gates Jr. consulting with Christopher Lee, a researcher from NEHGS, responds to the query Were My Kin’s White Neighbors Descendants of My Ancestor’s Owners? with a variety of avenues to explore.

What we found illustrates the close relationship that the emancipated people and their former owners frequently had in the years following the end of the U.S. Civil War, and the ways old patterns of power and economic interdependency endured.

NEHGS also has a free webinar about the topic posted earlier this year on YouTube.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday Tip: Maine Genealogy

["Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.", 1873, from the David Rumsey Map Collection.  Accessed 14 Oct 2014]

Here are some nice guides to Maine genealogy:

• New State Research Guide: Welcome to Maine, The “Pine Tree State” (.pdf) from Ancestry.com Blog
• Finding local genealogy records of Maine ancestors from FamilySearch.org (also Maine Genealogy)
• Maine Family History Research from the Ancestry.com wiki

TIP: Don't forget to look at Massachusetts and New Hampshire records and archives for early Maine genealogy.   Maine used to be a part of Massachusetts.  And most populated areas in early Maine were by water, either by the ocean or rivers. For example, I had ancestors who lived on both the New Hampshire and Maine side of the Salmon Falls river.  Try:

• Massachusetts Archives Collection
• AmericanAncestors.org (NEHGS*)
• Roland Rhoades' compilation of New Hampshire and Maine collections at NEHGS (.pdf)

*New England Historic Genealogical Society is a must if you have any New England ancestry.  Most of their databases are for members, although they rotate a number of databases for free for non-members.




© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.