Genealogy Knots for Beginners - cont.

 
Genealogical Internet Subscriptions and Large Databases

Question: I didn’t find any of my ancestors in these databases. What’s the problem? Is there something wrong with my computer, or did they ignore Black folks. (No joke, these are the things that might run through your mind.)

Answer: You are more likely to find that information from your family members rather than from large databases -- at least until you find out the value of these databases from your fellow researchers. While information on African Americans do appear in these massive compilations such as the IGI, you will have to know something about how this information was compiled. A partial rating follows for certain types of databases and indexes. Note, however, that the same sources will be used during the stage when you research slaveowners.

• Bible Records: Very unlikely to find African Americans because few transcriptions of African American bible records have been done. That is the task of African American genealogists.
   
• Cemetery Transcriptions: Very unlikely to find African American cemeteries because few transcriptions of African American cemeteries have been done. That is the task of African American genealogists.
   
• Marriages, Births & Death: It depends on who compiled the data and what was microfilmed at the local county courthouse. African Americans may not always appear in these records for a number of reasons. These reasons are:

1. maintenance of separate county record books under various titles such as “Colored Marriage Register” or “Colored Birth Register” during the era of segregation
    
2. low registration of African American vital events for many counties in the United States well up through the 1930s
    
3. lack of knowledge that these records existed in a separate place when the microfilming occurred
    
4. exclusion of African American data by the compiler such as a county cemetery transcription project. Note however, that the IGI is a source that should be used, especially for marriages that took place after the 1920s.

• Vital Events Transcribed From Local Newspapers: Transcriptions from newspapers have been done my many individual genealogists, most often for dates in the nineteenth century using the larger papers, few of which would have been African American newspapers. The task of African American genealogists is to begin transcribing data from African American newspapers.

An important point to remember is this: if you can’t find your ancestors in a surname database, the record may exist at the local court house or another place but it never made it into any of these data bases. The rule in genealogy is to try to go to the original source when you can’t find the information in a surname data base or index. This is especially true for African American research. African American genealogists are just now beginning to extract and compile specific information on African Americans from the many records that exist in the country. African American Genealogy is a new field.

The important thing right now is to get off to a good start and do a thorough job on finding information that exists within your family -- family records and information from your interviews. This is an ongoing process that will take some time. While you may begin to explore the censuses and order copies of records, the information will be more meaningful if you continue to interview family members. Find and talk to those old folks. Find and copy family photographs and documents now and not tomorrow!