For 14 years Mary L. Jackson Fears worked diligently on her family’s history. Slave Ancestral Research: It’s Something Else is a narrative of her experiences in researching her slave ancestors. Instead of a how-to book, Fears has created a guide by example. Her her words, “My purpose is to narrate the details of my roots search in a manner to inspire others.”
This book outlines, step by step, the process of finding documents and records, with her interpretations, as she traced her ancestry, with all pitfalls and stumbling blocks one might expect in finding relative once held in slavery. Sometimes tracing the family lines of slaveholders is necessary in order to find one’s own ancestors. Fears guides the reader, with over 64 documents serving as examples throughout the book.
In these pages the reader will discover sage advice and tips just from reading the experiences shared and insights provided in the context. For example:
“Rarely was a surname listed with the slave’s given names. Sometimes a relationship was given with a woman’s name, Example, ‘Mary and her child, Susie.’ A father was seldom given recognition in the records.” [page 23]
This quote provides useful insight to what someone may expect in researching documents and records. Knowing what to expect ahead of time may help alleviate the frustrations one might otherwise experience when not finding a desired bit of information. For those with slave ancestors, this book will easily inspire and guide your research. For those who don’t descend from slave, one might sill learn and find inspiration for their own genealogical studies no matter where they my lead.
Table of Contents
List of Charts
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
List of Abbreviations
1. My Discovery of Grandpa Simon and Grandma Tildy McCants
2. Slave Ancestral Research
3. Taylor County Court Records
4. A Discovery
5. Are These My Folks: Abram, Emily, and Mary on Catharine Daniel’s Inventory and Sale of Perishable Property?
6. He’s the One, John McCrary
7. Talbot County Returns
8. A Light at the End of the Tunnel
Beneath Taylor County Sod
On to Talbot County
On to Atlanta and the Georgia Archives
A Rude Awakenting
Questions, Questions, Questions
9. From Pillar to Post
10. Baldwin County Probate Records
RECORD GROUP No. 1 Bartley McCrary
Jenny Poindexter
“Oh Lord, How Come We Here?”
RECORD GROUP No. 2 John McCrary, Sr.
Warren County Records
RECORD GROUP No. 3 Jonathan McCrary
RECORD GROUP No. 4 Issac McCrary
RECORD GROUP No. 5 Robert McCrary
RECORD GROUP No. 6 William McCrary
Hiring Day
Matthew McCrary
RECORD GROUP No. 7 John McCrary (d. 1845)
11. A Name, A Name, What Name Shall I Take?
12. Where to Go From Here
July 7, 1993, A Day Remembered
13. The Day I Found My Folks
14. John McCrary, 1789–1854, Estate Records
The Division and Whereabouts of “Old Visues”
15. Revelations from Revolutionary War Records
16. The Transfer Chart
17. “All Things Work Together for Good”
The Metamorphosis of a Name
18. Missing Links, Divine Guidance and John McCrary
19. So Little to Go On, Reflections
20. The Descendants of Luveser McCrary
Notes
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Order Slave Ancestral Research: It’s Something Else today, from Family Roots Publishing; Item #: HBF0200, Price: $36.26.