Can genealogists take a negative (the absence of something) and develop it into a positive (proof of something)? Yes! If we understand what we’re working with and how to develop it. Negative evidence is a tool used by many investigative fields; but its definition varies between disciplines. This session defines the concept used by genealogists and historians: contextually suggestive silence. In layman’s language, Mills clearly separates negative evidence from concepts that are often confused with it: negative searches, negative findings, negative arguments, and negative conclusions. Case studies using autosomal and Y-DNA, censuses, church records, death certificates, land deeds and grants, topo maps, and other source types to demonstrate how to recognize contextually suggestive silence and develop it into solutions for situations in which no document explicitly answers our research question. *** This class requires a password and an active webinar membership to attend. On the day of the webinar, obtain the password (located at the top of FamilyTreeWebinars.com when logged in as a member). Then click the Join Webinar link in your confirmation/reminder email, and enter the password when prompted. ***

Discover how DNA, online and offline genealogy converged to break down a more than 100 year old brick wall revealing the life, times, and relations of a mysterious multi-ethnic man named John Lee.

A researcher’s number one goal is to find ancestors for their client or their own family and share their story. Within the story oral history is followed, critical records and resources will be discovered which helped guide the research. This session will take attendees through the challenges, successes, and the continued unanswered questions of researching an African American family from enslavement to freedom through the states of VA, PA, OH, and MI.

Witnesses are not afterthoughts tacked onto the end of documents. Although they filled a routine role for our ancestors, they are significant informants for us—once we learn how to use those names to develop evidence. This session approaches the topic in two ways: theory and application. It explores record types that offer witnesses, ways in which witnesses were used, situations that affected the choice of witnesses, signals that indicate whether a witness would be important to our research, and methods to apply in our development of the clues they offer. A challenging case study presents an unmarried freedwoman, never named in any census, who died about 1817—and applies key strategies to determine her death and burial sites.

Using the records of the Southern Claims Commission to discover first-person accounts of the lives of freedmen, Union loyalists and former Confederates in their efforts to recover losses during the Civil war; includes the structure of the SCC and how the records can be used to advance research goals.

Discover 8 options for pushing through difficult research of Midwestern Black families.

This groundbreaking collection, which also goes by the name Louisiana, U.S., Records of Enslaved People, 1719-1820, was the brainchild of Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo-Hall and features the names, genders, ages, occupations, illnesses, family relationships, places of origin and more for upwards of 100,000 formerly enslaved in Louisiana. In this session, learn the history of the collection, where records were obtained, how to search and find original documents, and more.

The Pullman Company was one of the leading employers of African Americans, primarily male Porters, who worked on the railroad in the late 19th and early 20th century. This presentation will look briefly at the general growth of the railroad as well as the Pullman Company which built rail cars and rented them to rail companies. Pullman hired primarily African American men and women to staff the dining and sleeping cars. What was the job like and what were lives like for the Porters and Maids? How do we find records of ancestors who were Pullman Porters or Maids?

Organized in August 1862, the First Kansas Colored Infantry was the first Black unit recruited in the North, the first to see and die in battle in the Civil War. Made up of both free and enslaved men, including those from the Five Tribes, its exploits were legendary. Yet, the lives of its rank and file outside of their service were prolific and unsung.

Utilizing the FAN Club method, DNA, and enslaved ancestral research, Collier finally found major clues to help solve a longtime mystery – who was the previous enslaver of his great-great grandmother, Polly Partee of Panola County, Mississippi, and where did she come from? Her last enslaver was Squire Boone Partee of Panola County, and Polly had been the head cook on his plantation during and after slavery, according to oral history. According to the censuses, she was born somewhere in North Carolina and sold to Squire by 1852, but her origins had been largely unknown. Collier will present a plethora of DNA evidence, in conjunction with genealogy research and the FAN Club methodology, to uncover Polly’s North Carolina origins. Collier will also argue how a court-investigated lunatic, Alfred Alston of Fayette County, Tennessee, was most likely her previous enslaver.

What exactly are the 1850 and 1860 United States Slave Schedules and what is their value to researchers? A closer look at this enumeration of “slave inhabitants” will streamline interpretation of these records and will help define the do’s and don’ts of working with them.

Slavery existed in some northern states well into the 19th century. Learn about the motives for gradual emancipation, how it affected enslaved African Americans and enslavers at this time, the state laws surrounding slavery, and the records that it created.