Genealogist Finds Strength in Her Past

I am convinced that genealogy is important to everyone. It gives you information about your family and the things they did. You may find survivors in your family that just continued to live, raise their children, attend church and be good citizens. It can give you strength to face the things we each confront every day.

I’ve discovered I had family members that did everything--nurses, attorneys, engineers. Most of the men in my family were dining-car railroad men, so the railroad is part of our family history.

Genealogy can also give you more family, especially through collateral lines, which are not your direct blood lines but come down by way of your cousins or aunts through marriage. This is in contrast to the pedigree line which goes directly back to your parents, grandparents and great-great grandparents. Through the pedigree line you can develop family group sheets which display the family with mother, father and all the children in the order of birth. There are several computer software programs to help.

There are several major streams of information that can be used to begin assembling your family history. You might consider looking for birth and death information, marriages, land transfers and probate records. Court records can also be extremely helpful.

But please don’t forget that churches can be an important source of information, especially for African-Americans, because you may find baptisms, confirmation and even marriage records. During the slavery period, churches kept records of slave marriages and it wasn’t until 1885 and 1886 that ex-slaves were asked to come in and have their marriages formally registered with the court. Sometimes you’ll find children listed on those church records.

You’ll also find many other slave documents that give the names of the children. Oftentimes records exist of when land was given to a slave upon the death of the slave’s master, or when slaves were given their freedom, or when a marriage took place and the daughter of the plantation owner might bring two or three slaves into the new marriage. Slave records are also kept at the Black Resource Center at A.C. Bilbrew Library at 150 E. El Segundo Blvd.

A good place to start your research locally is at the Mormon Temple’s Family History Center at 10777 Santa Monica Blvd. in Westwood. They also offer classes to help you begin your research.

Genealogy brings together several of my interests, including geography, history and my fascination with people.