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Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Black History Month 2024 - Renate on the Mic!

For the past few years, I've done posts at the beginning of February to announce my upcoming Black History Month speaking engagements - and while I was at it, I went on and included talks for the few months that followed. I'd told myself I wasn't going to do it, this year, but as February approaches (tomorrow!) I'm realizing that sharing in one place is actually easier than trying to remember to post each event as it approaches. I'll still try to do that, for some, but anyway... here it is. (I'm only doing one month, this time.)

Black History Month 2024 - Here's where you'll find me! 

(Registration links are included if/where the talks are open to the public and I have them. All talks are virtual, unless otherwise stated and all times are given in Eastern time.)

February 2024

7th - (1:00 p.m.) Comite' des Archives de la Louisiane, Inc. (Baton Rouge)                                     https://www.lecomite.org/announcements.html

8th - (6:00 p.m.) Virginia Beach Genealogical Society  https://www.vbgsva.net/                

10th - (12:00 p.m.) Black Family Genealogy and History Society (Phoenix, AZ)                                bit.ly/BFGHS-zoom

10th - (2:00 p.m.) Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society - Jean Sampson Scott            Greater New York Chapter (Invite only)

13th - (7:00 p.m.) Virginia Beach Genealogical Society/How-To Group (VBGS members               only)

15th - (7:00 p.m.) Family Tree University (Webinar) http://tinyurl.com/FTU-Sanders

16th - (2:00 p.m.) Buffalo and Erie County Library                                                                             https://buffalolib.libcal.com/event/11665869

17th - (2:00 p.m.) Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society(CA)                                       http://tinyurl.com/SBCGS-Sanders                

29th - (11:30 a.m.) ROOTSTECH (Salt Lake City, UT) - In person and Virtual (See below for link.)

March 1 - (6:30 p.m.) ROOTSTECH (Salt Lake City, UT) - Virtual (See below for link.)

As you can see, I am giving two presentations at RootsTech, in Salt Lake City. I will be presenting in person, but only one of the talks will be hybrid. Registration for the virtual conference is FREE. Click here to learn more about RootsTech and to register to attend!

Well, there you have it. These are my scheduled presentations for the coming month. I do hope you'll join me for as many of these as you can. Don't forget to register at the links, above, and to add the events to your calendar. And, if you're looking for a speaker for your genealogy event, feel free to reach out to me at yarsan@aol.com to request a list of my current topics or to discuss your organization's needs.

I'll see you around - and thanks, in advance, for your support!

Renate


Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2024/01/black-history-month-2024-renate-on-mic.html




Thursday, January 25, 2024

52 Ancestors - Week 4: "Witness to History"

 This will be short and quick:

The prompt for Week 4 of "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" is "Witness to History

I'm pleased to be able to say that I, personally, witnessed the election of our nation's first black President, Barack Hussein Obama, in 2008 and that my vote went towards putting him in office, not once, but twice! However, it is even more meaningful to me that members of my family, who lived through and personally experienced all the years of the Civil Rights movement (during which I was a child) were also able to vote for and see President Obama take the highest office in the land.

Photo source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/barack-obama/

In that light, I am featuring photos of two of my family members who lived to proudly see our first black President and his beautiful family take residence in the White House.

This is my "aunt," Ruby Powell Greene, wife of my late cousin, Judge George Royster Greene,
at an event prior to Mr. Obama becoming President.

And, this is my late mother, Mary Anne Hill Yarborough,  just after she had cast her vote (for the second time) for President Barack Hussein Obama.


There've been so many witnesses to history in my family, and even a few history makers, themselves. Stay tuned for upcoming posts - and feel free to read back over previous posts - to learn more!

Thanks for reading!
Renate

Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2024/01/52-ancestors-week-4-witness-to-history.html
                                            









Wednesday, January 17, 2024

#52Ancestors - Week 3 - Favorite Photo!

Well, so far so good. It's Week 3 and I'm still on track with the #52Ancestors Challenge! This week's prompt is "favorite photo." That's kind of a tough one, for me, because I have so many beloved photos! However, I've decided to narrow it down to two that always make me smile; and that, despite the fact that I don't have an actual personal memory of when they were taken, both photos hold a special and very endearing place in my heart. 

My Favorite Photos

Both of these photos were taken at the same location - at my grandmother's home in Louisburg, NC. It's my understanding that I lived there with my paternal grandmother, Anna Green, from sometime in my infancy, until I was a toddler - around two years old. If that's true, I'm guessing that perhaps the first photo, showing me with my brother, Arthur, may have been taken when my parents brought me to Louisburg, from Ohio; but, I really don't know. Arthur and I are on my grandmother's bed, where I always slept (with her) in later years, when I would spend part of my summers there. I remember that bed very well. (It was actually one of two in the room, because my Aunt Sue slept in there also, before she married and moved to New York.)

This is me (right) with my brother, Arthur, on our grandmother's bed in Louisburg. We were 17 months apart, and the best of friends. Sadly, Arthur died (of liver cancer) when he was 23 and I was 22. 

This second photo was also taken at the Louisburg house, but this time in the "front room," most certainly on one of our Sunday trips to Grandma's house, with all 6 of us (parents, 3 brothers, and me) packed into our blue and brown station wagon for what is now a 2 hour and 45 minute drive, but was most certainly closer to 4 hours in the 60s and 70s. I do have very vague memory of my maternal grandmother, Mary Thomas, traveling with us a time or two - and here I have photographic proof that it actually happened! Grandma Thomas lived just "across the water" from us, in Norfolk, and she eventually ended up moving in with us in the late 1970s.

My two grandmothers: On the left, my maternal grandmother, Mary Davis Thomas, who lived in Norfolk, VA (but was born in Warren County, NC). On the right, my paternal grandmother, Anna Beatrice Green Yarborough, who lived in Louisburg, Franklin County, NC. 
(Photo colorized on MyHeritage.com)


Family Time!

In an effort to get my family more involved in sharing our history, I've invited all of my kin to contribute, as they may desire, to the #52Ancestors posts. Many of my connected family lines don't know each other; and, I believe that this way of sharing our stories and photos could really benefit all of us. I do hope for more participation, but (for now) I am pleased  to introduce my second-cousin, Willa-Jo Greene, to my readers. Willa-Jo is the first relative to contribute to these posts, and I'm so excited and grateful! Willa-Jo is sharing this photo, taken in 2015 on the steps of her back deck, at the conclusion of her 50th birthday celebration. Willa-Jo describes this photo as follows: "This photo of my immediate family, 3 nieces, one nephew and three cousins was taken in September 2015 on the back steps of my house in Beltsville MD on the occasion of my 50th birthday."

In this photo:  Karen Greene Braithwaite, Diana T Bedden, Georgia M Braithwaite, Avanna D Davenport, Tiberius C Braithwaite, Natalia Sanders Parker, Willa-Jo M Greene, Ava D Greene, William Greene, Renate Yarborough Sanders, George R Greene, Jr.

I will add that the MRCA (most recent common ancestors) for all of us in the photo are our (William, Willa-Jo, Ava, George, Karen, and Renate) great-grandparents, John Wesley Green and Susan Georgiana Dunston. My daughter, Natalia, I descend from their daughter, Anna Beatrice Green; and, the rest of these siblings and first-cousins (and their children) descend from their son, William Lawrence Greene (who added an e to the end of his name). 

Thanks, Cousin Willa-Jo, for your contribution! Bravo!

(I have told my family members that they can still send photos after the post has been done, so more may be added after the original posting date.) 😊

Thanks for reading!

Renate

Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2024/01/52ancestors-week-3-favorite-photo.html

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

52 Ancestors - Week 2 - Origins

 Last week (Week 2), I revised a post from 2011 for the theme "Origins." I realized, after that fact, that doing it the way I did would not result in that post showing up in order with my other responses to the 52 Ancestors prompts. Therefore, I'm inserting this post so that weeks will all be included and in order - and I'll know to do other reposts a different way!

So, to read my Week 2 post, of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, please click here. If you're one of the 500+ people who've already read it, as of this posting, I appreciate you!

Thanks!

Renate

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

#52Ancestors: Week 1 - "Family Lore"

 2024! Happy New Year!

I have not been a good blogger, but I'm hoping to recommit to this platform by participating (once again) in Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" blogging initiative! Thankfully, Amy gives participants grace - there is no pressure to post every single week. As a matter of fact, we are free to change it to 12 Ancestors in 12 Months - or whatever suits our lives and schedules. I love (and share) Amy's perspective that anything we do is more than we had before! 

The prompt for the first week is "Family Lore," also known as "oral history" or "oral tradition.
No matter what you call it, this is something that I don't have a lot of in my family - especially not in my immediate lines. What I've discovered, through the past 30 years of interviewing relatives, is that even where my family members did have stories, most of of them only contained that tiny "grain of truth" that we all know is usually there. My research has uncovered realities that don't match what has been passed down; and that hasn't made me very popular with some of my family members, most of whom were new to me - discovered as a result of my research and/or dna testing.

Here are just a few of the stories that have been fine-tuned by my work:

1. Oral history:  My second-great-grandmother, Anna Green, was at least 1/2 Native American. Her mother was "full-blooded Indian."

Truth: As uncovered by MtDNA testing done by a cousin who is a confirmed direct female descendant of Anna Green: The MtDNA is from Africa.

2. Oral History: There are three distinct, unrelated groups of black HILL families in Tyrrell County, NC. 

Truth: All of the black Hills in Tyrrell County, NC trace back to one couple, my third-great-grandparents, Charn/Charlton/Charnton/Charleston Hill and Grace/Gracy Bryant, free people of color, born in 1794 and 1800, respectively. The couple had at least 9 known children, from whom all of the resulting Hills in Tyrrell County descend.

3. Several of my GREEN ancestors moved to New York and were living/passing as white and all had white spouses. Another was said to have been doing the same in Florida.

Truth: Although these ancestors certainly looked white, most of the records I've found them in record them as black, mulatto, or Negro. Only one, my second-great-grand-uncle, William A. Green, had consistently ambiguous racial categories, and more often than not, was noted to be white. William was also the only one who actually married white.

               
              This is either Bettie or Ruby Green.

William Adam Green, who served 
in a black regiment during the
Spanish American War, but tried 
to obscure his race in New York.

By the way, the cousin in Florida married a black doctor, who worked in a black hospital, and they had a home in the historical black American Beach

4. Oral History: My mother's father abandoned their family before my mother turned four, and they never heard from him again.

Truth: Well, this one is kind of juicy, but I won't go into all the details on this post. My grandfather, Daniel W. Hill, did abandon my mom and their family before my mother turned four, but it turns out he rented a room in the boarding house next to theirs, at least for a while, because my mom's older brother recalled him sitting in an upstairs window "glaring" at them, all the time, and I have a 1937 document (SSA) giving that house as his address. However, he didn't stay there long. My mother lived her entire life believing that her father had just disappeared, never to be heard from, again. But the truth of the matter is that he got involved with another (also married) woman, impregnated her, and then died in June of 1940, one month before my mother's half-sister (who my mother never knew or knew about) was born. My mom was 6 years old at that time.

SS Application of my grandfather, Daniel Hill, showing him living next door to his family in 1937.

5. Oral history: This one is a little different, because the "family lore" actually evolves around the name my father's family has carried, since my great-grandfather, Calvin Yarborough, was emancipated in 1865. Whenever I questioned my late aunt, Susie Yarborough Hawkins, about our family history, she always told me that all she knew was that we "had some connection to the Neals" or that "we were supposed to be Neals." But that was all she would say. She couldn't explain the how or the why of it. 

The TRUTH, in this case, is that we were supposed to be (and are genetically) Neals.  My great-grandfather, Calvin, chose the surname of his last owner; but the rest of his family, from whom he'd been separated, took the name NEAL, which was the name of the family Calvin was born enslaved to
                    
If you have a Legacy Family Tree Webinars subscription, you can learn more about this here

Well, those are just a few examples of "family lore" that has been been shared with me and debunked, since I started doing this work. Remember that these stories will usually have some bit of truth in them, somewhere, but it's up to us - the researchers - to uncover the truth of each matter, as best we can, using all of the tools we have at our disposal to dig into the past. :)

Thanks for reading!

Renate


Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2024/01/happy-new-year-i-have-not-been-good.html



Sunday, January 22, 2023

Renate on the Web (and In Person!) - 2023 First-Half

 As in the past couple of years, I have several speaking engagements coming up, as we go into Black History Month and the Spring season. I've been pulling back a bit, though, so this year's list is not as busy as before. As you'll see, we are starting to get back to in person events, so my usual "Renate on Web" title for this post had to be edited! :)


Where's Renate?                                                                                                                Here's what I have going on for the first half of 2023. Where possible, I'll include a link where you can get more information and register for the events, if interested. All times given are in Eastern Time. I will also indicate with ($) at the end of each event that is not free. Here goes!

January 2023

28th - AAHGS-Greater Richmond Chapter, Monthly Meeting (Hybrid): Topic - "Researching Enslaved Ancestors" Click for more info and to register.   https://aahgsrichmondva.com/eventscalendar/

February 2023

4th - Stark Library, Canton, OH (Virtual): Topic - "From Yarborough to Neal: Reconstructing My Enslaved Family Using DNA" https://stark.libnet.info/event/7483558

10th-11th - North Carolina AAHGS Annual Black History Month Banquet and Conference: Opening Conference Speaker  https://tinyurl.com/ncaahgs2023 ($)

18th - Norfolk (VA) Public Library - Jordan-Newby Anchor Branch at Broad Creek, Norfolk, VA: Topic - "Researching Ancestors of Color" https://norfolkpubliclibrary-adultprograms.eventbrite.com

25th - Union County (NC) Library (Virtual): Topic - "Using Funeral Programs to Inform Genealogy Research"   (No registration. Click link at time of event (2/25/23 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern) This is a hybrid event.    https://www.unioncountync.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/1356/1040

March 2023

25th - North Carolina Genealogical Society, Virtual Conference: Topic - Records of the Freedmen's Bureau - There's Something for Everyone" https://www.ncgenealogy.org/event/ncgs-2023-virtual-conference-coming-soon/ ($)

April 2023

7th - (2:00 p.m.) Legacy Family Tree Webinars - "Tick Marks and Number Counts: Understanding and Using the Slave Schedules" - The live presentation is free and the replay is free for one week, but registration is required. Available to subscribing members after the first week. Register here: https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/tic-marks-and-number-counts-understanding-and-using-the-slave-schedules/                                                              Update: This lecture was recognized as the highest rated on Legacy Family Tree Webinars for the month of April! What an honor! I hope you'll check it out! :)

11th - (1:00 - 2:00) Wake Forest University: "Conducting Research on Enslaved Humans Owned by Wake Forest College" - Z. Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University. This is an in-person event sponsored by the Department of Sociology, RECAAL, and the Provost's Office. (Open to the public.)

13th - Virginia Beach (VA) Genealogy Society: Understanding and Using the Slave Schedules - This is a hybrid meeting. Email meetings@vbgsva.net to request the Zoom link. 

26th-29th - Ohio Genealogical Society 2023 Conference, Kalahari Resort and Conference Center, Sandusky, OH; "What Brought Them Here 1803-2023" - I'll be giving four lectures. Click link for conference and registration information: https://www.ogs.org/2023-conference/ ($)

May 2023

2nd - Genealogy Quick Start, with host Shamele Jordan - "DNA Discovers Granddad's Dalliances" Tune in LIVE! https://www.youtube.com/@GenealogyQuickStart/featured

31st  - National Genealogical Society 2023 Family History Conference, Richmond, VA; "Virginia, the Deep Roots of a Nation" Pre-Conference Day

June 2023

June 1- 3 - National Genealogical Society 2023 Family History Conference, Richmond, VA; "Virginia, the Deep Roots of a Nation" - I'll be giving two lectures: F242- Enslaved Ancestral Research in Virginia and North Carolina and S352- "From This Day Forward" - Documenting Marital Unions of Enslaved and Emancipated Persons." Click link for conference and registration information: https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/ ($)

4th - Let's Talk North Carolina Genealogy! Season 3, Episode 11: "Researching the Wake Forest 16" - I will be sharing information about the descendant research I'm doing for Wake Forest University, regarding the 1860 sale of 16 enslaved individuals to create an endowment for the school. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/LTNCGS3E11

14th - Lemonade Insurance Employee Group - "Records of the Freedmen's Bureau: There's Something for Everyone!" (Private event)

17th - (1:00 p.m.) Historical Society of Washington County, VA, "Reclaiming Our History" Annual Conference (Virtual) "Researching Ancestors of Color" Register here.

It's good to see folks and to be seen!                                                                                        One of the best things about returning to in person is thinking about seeing gen-friends, old and new! I am looking forward to seeing and meeting as many of you, as possible, at these upcoming events!

     
Picture 1 - With genfriends, Shelley and Tim in Fluvanna, Virginia (unsure of year)
Picture 2 - With genfriends Amy and Peggy at OGS 2022
Picture 3 - With genfriends Shelly, Judy, Thom, and Gary at NGS 2017

Renate

P.S. This post will be updated as additional events are added. If you are interested in having me as a speaker for your organization, please email me at yarsan@aol.com to request my current list of topics. I'd love to hear from you!

Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2023/01/renate-on-web-and-in-person-2023.html

Monday, May 9, 2022

Memory Monday - Granger Court East

This morning, I got a nice little Facebook memory on my friends and family account. This photo, which I estimate to have been taken when I was about 14 or 15, shows me (back corner right) with just a few of my neighborhood buddies (and a couple of young'uns), standing in front of the McBride home, on Micott Drive in Hampton, Virginia. Our neighborhood, "Granger Court East," was built in the early 60's as an extension of the historic Aberdeen Gardens neighborhood. Granger Court was marketed to attract black military families - retired or active duty - to its middle class arrangement of a variety of 3 and 4 bedroom single family homes.

Part of the "GCG" sometime in the early 70s. 
(Rest in peace, Shirelle and Karen.)

To say that Granger Court was filled with kids would be an understatement! Every household had children; and we spanned all the age groups. We were an all-black neighborhood, with working parents (always dad - and probably about 75% mom, too) and plenty of room to run, play, and explore. We didn't have any type of recreation services - not even a playground. We made our own fun playing kickball/baseball/football/dodgeball in the cul-de-sacs, hanging out and playing in the woods and at the "Big Hills,"* climbing/scooting/balancing over fallen trees and sewer pipes in the woods - to get to an adjacent neighborhood, riding bikes, playing hide-and-seek, swinging on clotheslines - and just doing whatever else we could do (or get into) that would keep us outside with our friends -- but only until the streetlights came on! (Of course, that rule loosened when we became teenagers. We hung on the neighborhood corners well into the night, then!)

New Journal and Guide (1916-2003); Nov 2, 1963

Somewhere along the way, a group of us started referring to ourselves as the GCG, or "Granger Court Gang," for short. I know that I was the one who came up with this, and it only caught on with a small group of my friends, but I remember thinking it would be cool to refer to ourselves in this way, especially when we ventured as a group into other neighborhoods, such as "L.A." (Lower Aberdeen) or "P.C." (Pine Chapel). And, every time I see this "tough" looking photo of some of us, I feel as though it personifies that moniker quite perfectly - quite probably being one of the only times a group of kids from Granger Court ever looked the part of a "gang."

Somewhere, I have a photo that shows our whole house; but, for now, here are my siblings and me standing in front of the house, sometime in the 60s.
Did you grow up in a neighborhood like Granger Court? Please share your memories in the comment section, below! :)

Thanks for reading!                                                                                                                              Renate

* The "Big Hills" were two HUGE mountains of dirt that we could climb, ride our bikes down, or slide down on pieces of cardboard. They were located behind the Darby's and the McBride's homes, off of Micott Drive, right next to one of our entryways to the The Woods and The Creek. :) We didn't know it, then, but I now realize that those "mountains" were the mounds of dirt that had created when the land was cleared to make our beloved neighborhood. Later, the Big Hills were removed, and more houses were built on the land on which they used to stand.

Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2022/05/memory-monday-granger-court-east.html