My* mother, Angeline Cecil Owen, approximately one-year-old, with her parents, Helen Wilks Owen and Eugene Owen, Jr., in Springfield, Missouri (*Ann Wead Kimbrough)
For many, the question of where to begin the hunt for their ancestors, is huge.
Here are a few of the questions and comments the Good Genes Genealogy Services (GGGS) team receives from our prospective and new clients:
I am adoptedand I don’t know anything about my birth family.
I don’t know my mother’s maiden name.
I don’t know my Dad or his family.
Since the U.S. Census doesn’t have any official records about Black people until 1870 and even that is incomplete, how am I supposed to trace my family back to their arrival in the United States?
I started my family research but then I hit that “brick wall” and cannot move forward. I am ready to give up.
I don’t know anything about my family past my maternal grandmother and my great grandfather on my father’s side.
I heard that my entire family is buried in cemeteries in South Carolina and that’s where I’m from but I don’t know my family’s history.
For African Diasporan-connected family members, the quest to begin the ancestry search may appear to be even more daunting than our counterparts. Yet, we all had to begin somewhere. That’s our first tip:
Begin where you are (see our March 20, 2023 post). Some begin with a picture like the one above. Just one photograph, in this case taken in 1938, is the start of the family tree building.
Interview living relatives. Someone knows a nugget of a story that can lead to greater discovery. For instance, asking a family elder what s/he remembers about their childhood home, will likely lead to extended dialogue based on responses such as “uncle Jim used to bring home melons every Saturday after he cashed his check from working as a “soda jerk” in a hotel kitchen in Omaha.”
Follow any lead and visit a federal government website for expansion of your findings. Using the hint provided in #2, you may be able to gain the once “lost” uncle’s name — even if it’s just the first name — and begin there. Use his first name and the family name in the online research tree search. If it doesn’t work, it is likely an online hint will arrive to give you more clarity. Also, knowing that the uncle worked as a “soda jerk” during your elder’s childhood, can lead you to the U.S. Department of Labor’s website. From there, you can research the number of soda jerks working in the 1940s, for instance. Also, you may be able to locate the exact hotel in Omaha with a lead from the federal site to the local, Omaha newspapers and historical societies.
Sign up on social media sites, websites, and engage with other virtual or in-person groups to learn more about how others are conquering their ancestry research.
Remember to write and record your results. This is the start of building your family tree and hopefully, other family members are doing the same. Be sure to link with those family members to make your family tree even more robust.
Those are just a few tips offered to help anyone get started or re-energized to keep up the research for one’s family heritage.
Everyone’s journey is different. Yet, there are similarities in our collective ancestry research efforts based on our listening skills, questioning of relatives, learning new techniques, and jumping in the swim of family research.
Breaking through brick walls to learn more about your African American ancestors
Sampson Luster Wead, center facing to the right, at the Reed’s Ice Cream Shop boycott
The tall dude to the right of the protest sign is Sampson Luster Wead, the paternal grandfather of Ann Lineve Wead Kimbrough of Good Genes Genealogy Service. It is from Ann Lineve’s perspective that this blog is written about a man born on July 2, 1904 in Helena, Arkansas.
This picture appeared in the Omaha World-Herald newspaper on July 31, 1953. It included other photos including the one below that accompanied an article about the successful boycotting of a popular ice cream shop due to its blatant discriminatory hiring practices. I found the picture (above) of my grandfather a few years ago. What I learned today is that there were several articles and likely broadcast reports about this important protest and boycott.
Breaking through brick walls
In researching African Diaspora ancestry and genealogy, it is widely known that there are likely several brick walls that will be encountered. It is notable that in researching the facts around the Reed’s Ice Cream Shop protest, I learned three new and compelling things about my grandfather’s character and beliefs:
He held a great job at a local meat packing plant, yet was willing to risk it all to protest the lack of jobs available to Black persons at another employer. After all, his picture was in the newspaper and widely circulated.
Although he closely guarded his past that included his teenage years in Helena and Elaine, Arkansas, where costly racial killings occurred, my grandfather demonstrated that he was not afraid to stand up for civil rights.
My grandfather was a member of the DePorres Club, an Omaha-based organization comprised of all races and heritages. Its purpose was to protest and bring about change in employment and civic practices that discriminated against persons because of the color of their skin and ethnic origin.
I learned about the DePorres Club’s purpose from the article found below from the Omaha Star newspaper. Just below the “congratulations grads” ad, is the article about the civil rights organization of the 1940s – today.
Encouragement for the ancestry and genealogy researchers
Keep researching your ancestors, even if you are covering the so-called same ground.
From the information that you unearth, ask the same and new questions of anyone in your family or institutions that may have more insight about the ancestors’ activities.
Cross check your new findings with local and national media reports found in historical clippings and broadcasts. You are piecing together the story about your ancestor that will greatly aid in your genealogy reports to family and importantly, to yourself.
Through their residency in these PWA housing complexes, African Americans were able to save money and plan for their future. “PWA (Public Works Administration) housing project for Negroes.” Omaha, Nebraska, November 1938. Photograph by John Vachon, 1914–1975. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC, 20540.
Wading through the thousands of files in the Library of Congress, this one stood out because it is the housing projects where my father, Dr. Rodney S. Wead, lived while boy growing up in Omaha, Nebraska.
We don’t know the man and young people in the picture. It was taken three years after Wead was born; his family had not moved into the housing development. In fact, Wead said that they were delighted when they moved into the Logan Fontanelle Housing facility because it was a “big step up” from their impoverished housing a few blocks away in a crowded rooming house.
Found my father’s housing unit
Keep searching archives. I did. Once my father viewed the photo (see below), he identified the now famous individuals whose families lived in Logal Fontenelle.
Often, we are hit with brick walls in our ancestral searches. There are thousands of photographs that were taken across the country of its citizens — especially Black Americans — as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal or Works Progress Administration program that included Omaha during the 1930s.
Dr. Rodney S. Wead identified several housing “apartments” and youth who were residents of the Logan Fontenelle development.
Don’t you love Black History Month? Although February is the shortest month in days of our calendar year, it is nonetheless a time to pause, respect and relish the fantastic achievements of African American, Black and Caribbean ancestors whose works and lives were largely ignored or never revealed.
That’s where your great genealogy research comes in. This month, hopefully the multitude of U.S. and global Black History Month recognitions, will prompt you to uncover new finds from your family. Tour museums. Visit special sites. Listen to great lectures. Watch broadcasts on public broadcasting and other media channels that provide insight on the lives that were courageously and well lived.
Thanks to the creation of and steadfast lobbying of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, we celebrate Black History Month. Woodson was the second black person to receive a doctorate degree from Harvard University, received two degrees from the University of Chicago, and a bachelor degree in Literature from Berea College. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris.
Today, some may shrug our shoulders about Woodson’s academic, literature, social and educational achievements. Yet, pause for a moment and think about when and where and how he accomplished so much after being born to former slaves and in poverty in 1875 to former slaves in Virginia. He worked smart during the era with remnants of the slave codes and other racial threats to his life. Yet, he authored several books, founded major organizations, and although he was never married and had no children, Woodson’s influence is an integral part of Black families around the globe.
Here are a few of the exciting happenings this month to honor Black History, beginning with the Good Genes Genealogy Services workshop:
Good Genes Genealogy Services is presenting its 3rd annual Sankofa Black Genealogy Workshop in partnership with Hillside International Truth Center. It’s free and you will be encouraged to purchase our workbook. Coming soon!
Please add your Black History Month events and the Good Genes Genealogy Services team will continue to update the great events throughout the month of February 2023.
Black Genealogy research requires attention to obits, homegoings and surviving family members
Camden, Tenn. – About 340 miles northwest of Atlanta, lies a small community with a big heart that was originally named “Tranquility.” The community counted as one of its more than 3,000 residents a special lady, Delia Mae Tharpe, mother of Dr. Jack L. Bomar, Executive Bishop/Senior Pastor of Atlanta’s Hillside International Truth Center.
Ms. Delia, as many called her, was funeralized on the third Saturday of January admist a mountainous cool afternoon. It would have been an ordinary “homegoing” service, except Ms. Delia was anything but ordinary. Her extraordinary life on earth for 81 years is one for the history books. I barely knew Ms. Delia, meeting her perhaps once. Yet, nearly 55 persons, including my mother, Angeline Wead and me, traveled five hours each way to share with hundreds of others to celebrate the life of this lady.
What caused us to travel early on Saturday morning and return late that evening, is what I will share later in this blog.
Delia Mae Tharpe, September 28, 1941 – January 14, 2023
Just one day earlier, was the funeral for my maternal cousin, M. Madeline Wilks Matthews, who I’ve known all of my life. Her service took place in St. Louis, Missouri. My mother was the eldest cousin to Madeline. I was asked to write her obituary, which was delivered to her church secretary with all the love and care that I could deliver. Madeline was a bright light who was on this earth 93 years.
Margaret Madeline Wilks Matthews, Aug. 30, 1929 – January 7, 2023
The lives of Madeline and Ms. Delia were different and yet there were a few similarities. Both ladies lived full lives, sang in their church choirs, held many positions in church leadership, and each worked more than four decades in their respective fields. Madeline did not have children; while Ms. Delia bore nine children and had many grandchildren. Madeline was active in politics and in her retirement years, she gained additional education and served as a substitute teacher and paraprofessional in special education.
In short, I am proud of Madeline’s accomplishments that began in her college prep Omaha Central High School years where she excelled in academics, music, other creative endeavors, and as student government leader. As a young high school graduate, she was denied employment in her hometown because she was Black. That’s why she ventured south of Nebraska to Missouri where she lived the next nearly 80 years and endured the sadly typical ups and downs of trailblazing, independent thinking and working women.
Madeline in her Omaha Central High School Yearbook, 1941
Ms. Delia’s life couldn’t have been easy by usual, societal measures. She was a “dedicated and hard worker for more than forty-three years at Henry I. Siegel, ‘the H.I.S. factory’ in Bruceton, TN as a press operator,” according to her obituary. She bore nine children and raised them in humble conditions with such love, leadership and purpose as shared with laughter, sympathy tears and memorable message.
Her life was inspiring as experienced by hundreds in the near standing room-only chapel where the roomful of upright flower displays served as fragrant reminders of the depth of her influence in this hamlet of about 3,000 residents within 5.7 square miles of the Tennessee hills.
So impactful was Ms. Delia’s life that a young lady who was seated behind me said that she attended the service even though she lived in the area, yet did not know Ms. Delia “that well.” Eula Eikerenkoetter, widow of the late, popular minister, “Rev. Ike,” was there. So were several messages of condolences in the form of proclamations and recognitions that included many Atlanta City Councilmembers.
A guide for genealogy researchers
Family genealogists can learn many lessons from our new ancestors while honoring their time on this earth and their vibrant spirits. The obituaries, the services are the beginning of sharing the legacies of the families. Usually, many blanks are filled in that often break through the typical brick walls found in Black ancestry pursuits.
Tips:
Ensure the obituaries are well-researched and well written. Many eyes are on the obituaries. Besides family and friends, other entities utilize the information for legal, government, insurance, retirement, military (if applicable), social and community purposes.
The best way to achieve the best written obituaries is through preparation that is based on accurate written and oral information.
When written and oral background is provided for the deceased loved one, engage at least one friend or family member to edit and fact-check. This is not the time to worry about whether anyone has hurt feelings about fact-checking another’s input. This is about getting things right for the legacy of the individual and accuracy for larger purposes.
The way the services are rendered are usually the best examples of how persons lived. Take notes.
During the service, the songs that are sung, the scriptures that are read and the officiants are all indications of the best parts of the deceased lives.
Meet the persons who spoke at the services. At minimal, offer condolences to them as well as the family members. As a maximum benefit for the family researcher, politely seek more information from the individuals either after the service or another time.
The burial or final resting places provide additional insight into family histories. My cousin, Mark S. Owen, partner in Good Genes Genealogy Services, often teases me that I am fixed on cemeteries and death certificates. It is for good reason. There are details such as health information and other bits of information that can benefit the living from the official documents. At cemeteries, I walk the grounds, especially if the recent ancestors are placed in family plots. There are often other clues about our extended families and friends based on surnames and first names found on the cemetery markers.
After receiving new and/or best information, please record and update family records. Family members deserve vibrant and verified information. Studies show the positive mental and spiritual health benefits from individuals learning more about loved ones.
Step back a few times during this process and reflect on how you feel during the process. Often Mark and I take time to release and “breathe” to ensure that our emotional health is intact. Researching, updating and engaging in this process is sometimes taxing for individuals.
Celebrate the lives of our ancestors. They deserve our respect, understanding and accurate depictions of their lives.
There are many ways to learn of our ancestor’s good taste in fine things. The Good Genes Genealogy team — First Cousins Ann Wead Kimbrough and Mark Owen — are fortunate that our grandmother, “Mama” Helen Wilkes Owen Douthy, was a collector of fine items, including china settings.
Mama Helen always found discreet ways to ‘break the mold.’ She was mother of six children and the twice-divorced mother made sure that her children were raised in a close-knit community as she worked as an administrative specialist — a “Hidden Figure” — employed at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska. She found ways to travel the world as an ambassador from her church. It was on those travels that we also gained valued treasures that are great conversation pieces today.
The exquisite porcelain, blue flowered paisley and white patterns on her china, were indicators of the time period in which Mama Helen owned her set. The clues are good for genealogy sleuths who are interested in how our ancestors acquired and valued their fine things that provided for our great foundation.
This pattern provided great hints for the time frame of its acquisition.
Here are some tips on finding out when Mama Helen acquired this beautifully maintained china place setting.
Turn over the back of the dishes to study the numbering and markings.
Look at the back markings that including numbering and its logo
Locate websites that have graphic images for you to compare your findings with the others. We were fortunate in that this was a relatively quick search. Here are our results.
This marking was from the company’s 1960s collections.
The upside of the china set also reveals its estimated manufacturing period. In our case, the beautiful, gold-trimmings confirmed the purchase time frame.
The antique chair and table cloth are also from ancestors.
It is also interesting to learn of the heritage of the china that my grandmother selected. “History of the Chodziez faience factory starts in 1852 or 1854 when Hermann Müller and Ludwik Schnorr bought a burnt building of the Grudzinski castle from count Koenigsmarck. The castle building is still in possession of the company.”
As we reflect upon the meals that were eaten on this tableware, it is an opportunity to recall our fond family gatherings. At the time, I am sure that we did not know just how precious the dinnerware would mean to us. This is another way for your family genealogy to help bring back good times to our hearts and minds. Try it.
(First cousins Ann and Mark’s mothers are the daughters of Mama Helen).
In our family, we are aware of at least two relatives — one is an ancestor — who were and are visually impaired. In our lineage, Great Aunt Ada Chitwood Wilkes, became blind during our Grandmother Helen Wilkes Owen Douthy’s youth. The other visually impaired — fully blind — relative is John Charles Kimbrough, 36, son of Ann Wead Kimbrough of Good Genes Genealogy.
On Oct. 15, 2022, we honor White Cane Safety Day by sharing what we know of our Great Aunt Ada. She and Great Uncle Cecil Wilkes, were co-principal caregivers for Grandmother Helen along with her mother, Edna Wilkes Robinson, the Good Genes Genealogy team, Mark Owen and Kimbrough.
“I remember ‘Mom’ was blind and yet, she could really cook and sew,” said Angeline Cecil Owen Wead, eldest daughter of Grandmother Helen, also the mother and aunt of the Good Genes Genealogy team.
Ancestry.com research confirmed the abilities of Great Aunt Ada and Great Uncle Cecil inhabited a home in 1934 that confirmed her occupation. We suggest that all readers of this blog research ancestors who were differently abled by asking questions of your living relatives. That is how we learned about the life of Great Aunt Ada. She transitioned on Nov. 19, 1955 in Omaha, Nebraska, several years following the death of her husband, Great Uncle Cecil.
Capture from ancestry.com by Ann Wead Kimbrough
White Cane Day Safety Day is one way to pause and observe the challenges our ancestors faced while navigating the sighted U.S. prior to the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. The signing of the U.S. law followed years of discrimination lawsuits and awareness campaigns by advocates and individuals who knew well the hurdles faced by those with mental, emotional and physical ailments.
The United States does not have the lock on providing legislation to protect and support those with visual and other disabilities. While in Hong Kong, Good Genes Genealogy’s Ann Wead Kimbrough, learned firsthand of the societal accommodations for its elderly and disabled residents. For instance, streetlights, public signage and private facilities showcased its welcoming adjustments for “specially abled” individuals.
Kowloon, Hong Kong Home for the Aged Blind (Photo by Ann Wead Kimbrough)
Here are some ideas on how to honor our ancestors on White Cane Safety Day:
Ask questions of relatives to learn about ancestors who were partially or wholly blind or otherwise visually impaired.
Research those lives of ancestors and conduct additional searches of how their lifestyles intersected with public accommodations, private settings and more.
Write about what you have discovered. Keep our ancestors stories in front of our families and friends.
I was moved by a newspaper columnist’s description of the great flood in the 1940s that invaded my hometown, Omaha, Nebraska and neighboring city, Council Bluffs, Iowa. What led me to this article was an active conversation I was having with my parents about a time when the entire community pulled together to help one another.
My Dad and his buddies were drafted to help build structures to help fend off the water disaster that paralyzed the area for several weeks.
As I listened to their separate remembrances, I was scanning the flooded areas via today’s Internet. There were empty spaces where houses and businesses once stood, while stronger structures remaining upon the soggy grounds.
What was my fantastic tool to locate the historical Iowa and Nebraska? It’s the Freebie Friday “My Genealogy Hound.” It’s a great website with more than 2,100 historic county maps from throughout the United States. I’ve found it helpful when I was researching my ancestors in Georgia. I wanted to see where my paternal family lived in Helena, Arkansas in 1919, and our (Good Genes Genealogy team) maternal relatives’ homes and businesses in Springfield, Missouri between 1900 and 1945.
Some maps don’t allow the researcher to drill down and find every old road that I was seeking. Yet, most of the county maps give me a great sense of the areas.
The 1904 map of Springfield, Greene County, Missouri.
There’s at least one county map for every county in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.
Only partial lists exist for the remaining U.S. states. Within all states, more county maps are regularly added.
On this annual day of Epiphany, it is also the birth of my most cheriished ancestor. Today, Jan. 6, 2022, would have been my Paternal Aunt Beverly Ann Wead Blackburn Jones’ 85th birthday. She transitioned in 1973 at the age of 36. I was 15 years old. It was the first family death that left an indelible mark upon my life.
My father’s baby sister, my mother’s best friend, my dear ancestor Aunt Beverly, has taught me so much over the nearly 49 years since her transition. Many of our ancestors have that ability to guide us through our genealogy journeys. My advice: Let them.
Aunt Bev’s Grave Marker in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Omaha, Nebraska
Aunt Beverly is more than the grave marker of her birth and death dates. She was a standout scholar, athlete and civic citizen that began in her high school years. She continued with similar activities in college and added accomplishments that included journalist, sorority member and U.S. Senate recognized achiever. She was twice married, had three children during her first marriage, owned businesses and hosted many recreational and entertainment activities for children and teenagers in our hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
The summary of Aunt Beverly’s life from our family tree on ancestry.com’s website
When I wrote about my dear Aunt Beverly a year ago, I did not have the family details that I have since retrieved. Thanks to Aunt Beverly, I offer the following genealogy tips that lead to more discoveries in our ancestry searches:
Update ancestor’s information. Review the ancestor’s information for updates that are often added through online sources. I found new information relevant to Aunt Beverly’s ancestry data. A closer look at the 1940 U.S. Census data for Aunt Beverly’s/my Dad’s family showed that their Dad/my grandfather completed one year of high school.
Review linked ancestor’s information. While reviewing your ancestor, follow her or his lineage for the same purpose of online updates. I found new and rich updates about my ancestors who are Aunt Beverly’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-grandmother’s information.
Resist the tendency to keep your original research. Often, we don’t want to release our early research about our ancestors after we find new documents that provide validity. For instance, my great-great grandmother’s birth year and location were incorrect on my family tree. Documents were recently released that gave accurate results based on Fannie Robinson Wade’s recently found birth certificate from 1841.
4. Verify new information. Using my paternal great-great grandmother’s data, I verified her birth year by reviewing the 1880 U.S. Census for her age at that time. I also found two other trees that included Fannie Robinson Wade as part of their research. The reconciled birth year information appears to be accurate.
5. Select a routine day or date to review and update ancestral information. I use my ancestors’ birthdays, marriage anniversaries, holidays and death anniversaries to pause and review existing information for updates. With Aunt Beverly, I review her life’s story on her birthday and in June of each year.
The how-tos that I presented can be expanded by each researcher reading this WordPress blog and social media post. Share your ideas to help others and the Good Genes Genealogy team to gain new research techniques.
This column is reprinted from WeadWriteAwayandGenealogy
Author: Learning family histories
Our genealogy traces our family from western and central Africa and western Europe. Our ancestors entered the United States at the Virginia and Georgia Ports. First cousins Mark Owen and Ann Lineve Wead (it is protocol to use the maiden names of females in genealogy searches) are responsible for writing this blog. Although Ann has been involved in genealogy research while searching for certain ancestors since the age of 10, the cousins began deeper research of their families during the COVID-19 Pandemic Year of 2020. Devoting as much as 6 hours some evenings to the methodical training and research of genealogy, the cousins completed the year 2020 by earning genealogy certificates. Join us. @goodgenesgenealogy on wordpress and fb, twitter Sign up for our blog and enjoy the journey. View all posts by Learning family histories
