Busy, Busy ME!

I try to do a good job of posting my speaking engagements on my social media platforms, in the order they are upcoming, but the period between late April and mid-June is giving me a run for my money - especially when it comes to "self promotion," which I'm really not that good at. I post my appearances in support of the organizations that are hosting me, and because I want the public to know that great information and opportunities for learning are available. To that end, I've decided to do this quick blog to show what is coming - and a bit of what has already passed, in case you are interested in exploring video options with those organizations. :)

Me speaking at NGS 2023
(Photo compliments of Sheryl Sims)

This is easier than it looks, because I'd already made this list for myself, so it's just a matter of copy/paste and adding the links! I will still try to post, as I always have, but this gives me (and anyone interested) a one-stop reference point! :)

MAY

Sat. May 2 - Webinar - Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) -https://fgstampa.org/event/fgs-tampa-meeting-4/

Wed. May 6 - Live Webinar - North Carolina Genealogical Society -https://www.ncgenealogy.org/event/live-webinar-with-renate-yarborough-sanders-may-2026/

Wed. May 13 - Speaking Engagement - Landowner's Conference - Birmingham, AL (in person) - https://sflrconference2026.sched.com/

Tues. May 19 - Speaking Engagement - Conejo Valley Genealogical Society (CA) - https://conejovalleygenealogicalsociety.org/

Wed. May 27 - Sat. May 30 -  National Genealogical Society Conference - Fort Wayne Indiana (In person: Speaking on Friday and Saturday) - https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/

JUNE

Sat. June 6 - Prince William County Central Library (in person) - Manassas, VA  https://pwcgov.libnet.info/event/16244492

Tues. June 9 - Webinar - Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention Project - Roanoke Cooperative - https://www.roanokecooperative.com/calendar-events/webinar-tracing-your-roots-getting-started-with-genealogy-research/

Sat. June 13 - Clayton Library, Clayton, NC (in person) -https://townofclaytonnclibrary.libcal.com/event/16727535

Sun. June 14 - Speaking Engagement - St. Phillips Episcopal Church - Richmond, VA (in person - private event)

In between these speaking engagements, I have a ton of family events (grandchildren!), also involving travel, so this is a really busy/crazy time for me.  There is also the usual slate of meetings and medical appointments sprinkled into all this, so there's that, too. Oh, and I can't forget my coaching sessions and consultations. (Is this TMI?) 🤣 I'm excited about all of it, but just hoping my body can keep up! Anyway, I hope to see as many of you as possible, either virtually or in person, if I'm coming your way. Let me know if I should expect to see you!

Happy Spring and happy researching!

Renate

Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2026/05/busy-busy-me.html

Me on the Mic - Early 2025

Me speaking at the 2023 NGS Conference in Richmond
(Thanks, Sheryl Sims, for the photo!)

Well, this "Renate on the Mic" post, which I started doing a few years ago, started out as just a way of announcing my Black History Month presentations, but has evolved into a somewhat longer list, including speaking engagements that extend beyond that, into the first few months of the year. So, in keeping with this "new" tradition, here's what I have coming up (as of today) for the earliest months of 2025. Links are provided for events that are open to the public.

January

11th - Getting Started with Genealogy Research Workshop - First Baptist Church Denbigh, Newport News, Virginia (Canceled due to weather.)

11th - AAHGS Central Maryland Chapter - (Online. All are welcome.)  

February

1st - AAHGS NC Chapters - Annual Black History Month Conference

4th - Hampton University OSHER - Part 1 (Lecture) - Members only.

8th - International African American Museum - Black History Month Series

13th - Georgia Genealogical Society - Monthly Meeting

15th - Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.- Epsilon Kappa Zeta Chapter, with Amherst Glebe Arts Response, and Virginia Humanities - Tracing Our Roots 

23rd - Tyrrell County Genealogical and Historical Society Email tyrrellcogenealogy@gmail.com to request the link.

25th - Hampton University OSHER - Part 2 (Workshop) Members only.

March

1 - First Baptist Church Denbigh: Getting Started with Genealogy Workshop (rescheduled from 1/11)

6th-8th - RootsTech 

8th - California African American Genealogical Society - 18th African American Genealogy Seminar (Keynote) - https://aafhs.com/

16th - Newport News Public Library (Registration opens on 3/1/25)

That's where I'll stop for now. Events are added to my calendar each week, so if you're interested in knowing what I'm doing, the best thing to do is to follow me on Facebook, where I typically announce any public engagements.

Also, many thanks to those of you who follow me around and support my speaking engagements. It means the world to me to see you at my events, whether in-person or virtual, especially when I know some of you have heard me speak a million times. :) I just love the way we support each other in the genealogy community! We are all in this together!

Thanks,                                                                                                                                    Renate

Permalink: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2025/01/me-on-mic-2025.html

A New Marriage for Grandpa Daniel Hill

Well, blow-me-down! Will wonders never cease?

I was just sitting here minding my own business, kinda bored... I opened an ancestry tab on my computer and saw that it was on the profile of my maternal grandfather, Daniel Webster Hill. Just for the heck of it, I decided to do a search to see if there might be anything new on him. I scrolled down the list of results, seeing all the old familiar ones that I've long since vetted, when one "newbie" caught my eye. Hmm... a marriage of a Daniel Hill to a Lizzie Campbell, in 1918, in Newport News, VA.

NEWPORT NEWS, VA? That's where I live! 

I could see from the preview that this Daniel's birthyear closely matched my grandfather's. I also saw that his parents were Henry and Pinkie - too much of a coincidence to ignore... so I decided to check out the document. 

Virginia, Marriage Registers, 1853–1935. Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Now, I like to show the whole document, for viewer context, but here are the focal points:

The very first entry on the document shows the marriage of Daniel Hill and Lizzie Campbell, recorded as having taken place on April 21, 1918, in Newport News. Daniel's age is given as 38, which coincides perfectly with his birth year of 1879. His bride, Lizzie, was 32. Daniel is noted to be "single," but Lizzie is widowed, suggesting that Campbell may not be her maiden name. Daniel's birthplace is given as Norfolk, which is not correct; however, he did live in Norfolk, prior to this, so I see this as just a form error.

This is the right-hand side of the form. It's showing that both Daniel and Lizzie lived in Newport News. What??? My grandfather lived here in my city??? I've got some digging to do! But, the real clincher for this - the reason I'm sure this is my grandfather - is the "names of their parents." The husband's parents' names are stated to be Henry & Pinkey Hill. Well, those are Daniel's parents, and I just don't think it's likely that, with all the other facts matching, there would be a "Pinkey" for the mother, whose husband just happened to be named Henry, and it not be my Daniel. Also, as suspected, the wife's parents' surname is Christian, not Campbell. This suggests that Lizzie's maiden name was most likely Christian, and that Campbell was the surname of her late, previous husband.

So many questions!

Well, I've got some work to do! Daniel's occupation is noted to be "Laborer," which could be anything. However, with so many people coming to Newport News, during that time, to work at the shipyard, my first thought is to see if he may have been working there. I'll also have to research the clergyman, W.J. Brown, to see what church he may have been affiliated with, which might lead to more information. And, of course, I'll need to try to obtain a copy of the actual marriage certificate, which as of this writing, I haven't found. However, in seeking the marriage certificate, I did find that Grandpa Daniel's first bride, Lizzie, died just four years after they were married, in 1922, which explains why Daniel was eligible to marry my grandmother, in 1926. Interestingly, Lizzie's surname on the death certificate is given as "Camble" (Campbell), not Hill. The parents of the deceased, Warren and Mary Christian, are the same as on the marriage record for Lizzie and Daniel, so I'm sure this is her. This just fits the pattern of craziness that has been par for the course in researching my elusive grandfather, Daniel Webster Hill.

Death Certificate for Lizzie Camble
Virginia, Deaths, 1912–2014. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.

More to come...

Renate

Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-new-marriage-for-daniel-hill.html

Update to Funeral Programs Database

It's been a while since I posted the link to my (Mostly) African American Funeral Programs Database. This seems like a good time to share it, since I've just added two more programs, one of which is for a public figure - who was also a dear friend.

Calvin W. Pearson, Sr.

Front cover of Calvin Pearson's funeral program

Calvin was a noted historian and researcher, who was known, first and foremost, as the founder and president of Project 1619, a nonprofit that has played a crucial role in teaching and correcting the narrative about the arrival of enslaved Africans in English-speaking North America, for over 20 years. We became friends through our involvement with the Hampton Roads Chapter of the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS); and, we subsequently discovered, through DNA testing, that we were also family - although we hadn't yet discovered who our common ancestors were.

Calvin's final arrangements were entrusted to Perkins Funeral Home, in Hampton, Virginia. To sign his guestbook and/or to view his obituary, click here. If you are interested in his funeral program, please visit my database and contact me via the link provided there. 

Here is the permalink to my database: https://tinyurl.com/SandersFuneralPrograms

Frances Lee Alton Hill

Front cover of Frances Hill's funeral program

I mentioned that I've just added two funeral programs to my database: the second was for my beloved Aunt Frances, wife of my mother's late brother, Howell Webster Hill, Sr. My aunt was a very special person, who God blessed to see almost 93 years, here on Earth. She had a quiet spirit (but she loved to talk!) and she loved and was loyal to all of her family and friends. I will likely write more about her on my family-focused blog, Into the LIGHT, so I won't say much more here. Her services were handled by Riddick Funeral Service, of Norfolk, Virginia. You can visit her memorial page, here; and, if you're interested in her funeral program, please reach out to me via my database, which (again) you can access by clicking on this link: https://tinyurl.com/SandersFuneralPrograms

Screenshot of a snippet of my database

As a reminder, my (Mostly) African American Funeral Programs Database is just that - a database. When you visit the link, you will find an excel spreadsheet that gives vital information about persons for whom I hold a physical (hard copy) of their funeral program. The information in the database will include names, birth/death dates and locations, names of spouses, and sometimes additional information such as nicknames or titles. When you see information for a person of interest, simply email me at yarsan@aol.com, to request a scan of the actual funeral program, which I will send to your email address. In some cases, if I have multiple copies of the program, I will gladly send a hard copy via U.S. mail. Also, if you have funeral programs that you would like to contribute or add to the database, please reach out to me at the same email - yarsan@aol.com. Those contributed to me are added to my page of the database; however, you will see that I allow others to add theirs, just as my friend, Adrienne Johnson, has done on Sheet 2 of the database, where she has added 198 (to date) additional programs! Be sure to check hers out, also!

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to check out the database!

Renate

Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2024/09/update-to-funeral-programs-database.html

Happy Juneteenth: Calling My Ancestors' Names

Do you (or did you) know your great-grandparents? We each have 8 biological great-grandparents; they are our parents' grandparents, and they existed whether we knew them or not. I never had the pleasure of meeting any of mine, but thanks to 31 years of genealogical research, I at least know and can call all of their names - and I can tell you a little something about each of them and their families of origin. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of any of my formerly enslaved ancestors, so I must only imagine what they looked like. However, my research has led me to many documents that allow me to tell parts of my ancestors' stories. This Cohabitation Record for my great-grandparents, Calvin and Precilla Yarborough, was one of the first I found that confirmed their status as persons who had been formerly enslaved.

On this special day - this JUNETEENTH* holiday - I pause to call the names of my known formerly enslaved direct ancestors who were alive to see freedom, in 1865. Three of those were my parents' grandparents, but they were deceased before my parents were born, so they never met them, either. ALL of these Ancestors were of an age to have known their status as enslaved and to have been already providing unpaid labor to their enslavers at the time of Emancipation. Many, as you'll see below, had lived long lives as chattel, and were blessed to live out their final years as free people. Again, these are only my direct ancestors, but of course they had siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins who shared their status as enslaved, and who may have been able to join the jubilee shout - "We'z FREE now!"

Great-Grandparents:

Calvin Yarborough - 25 years enslaved

Precilla (Shaw) Yarborough - 23 years enslaved

Pinky Tredwell- King Howell - 9 years enslaved

Great-Great-Grandparents:

Louis Neal - 50 years enslaved

Mary Neal - 55 years enslaved

Mack Tredwell - 52 years enslaved

Amy Littlejohn - 50 years enslaved

Lewis Davis -16 years enslaved

Dolly Ann Crutchfield -10 years enslaved

Asa (Asy) Brown - 22 years enslaved

Louvenia Ross Brown -10 years enslaved

Third-Great-Grandparents:

Elsy Littlejohn - 69 years enslaved

Everett Ross - 35 years enslaved

Minervia Dobbins - 35 years enslaved

Fourth-Great-Grandparents:

Essex Ross - 69 years enslaved

Chaney Ross Thornton - 70 years enslaved

------------------------------

 And, these are the known names of my direct ancestors, who were enslaved, but either didn't live to see "freedom" or whose death date is currently unknown. They are all my third-great-grandparents.

Peter Littlejohn (1782-1855) - husband of Elsy

Lewis - father of Lewis Davis

Lavinia - mother of Lewis Davis

It has become my life's work to research my ancestry and to share what I've learned with my family and with the larger community. I pay homage, every day, to my ancestors - those who were "free" before 1865 and those who were enslaved. Let no one tell you that you can't find your ancestors before 1865 - or before 1870, when formerly enslaved persons appear, by name, on Federal Census records. That's a LIE; and, every name you see above is proof of it! I knew nothing about my ancestry, before I started asking questions and doing the work, in 1993. If you're reading this, and you want to explore your own family history, let this post be incentive to you. There are more resources available to you than ever before, and you can get started with this research right from the comfort of your own home. YOU CAN DO IT! By Juneteenth 2025, you can be calling your own ancestors' names!

Thanks for reading - and happy Juneteenth!                                                                                        Renate

* "Juneteenth," officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's name is a portmanteau of the words "June" and "nineteenth," as it was on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Grandger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, in Galveston, TX, following the end of the Civil War. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth)

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

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

                                            

#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

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

#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

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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!

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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

Lies! Lies! Lies!

This is a quick one, but I just let out the loudest laugh and I want SOMEONE to know why!

I just returned to the recently publicized New York City Historical Vital Records Project, to look for the marriage record of one of my said-to-be-passing, relatives, Ruby Green. I knew that she'd married a man by the surname of SEABROOK, and that he was a doctor, but I hadn't known anything else about him or their marriage.

I easily retrieved the digital record by searching for it by the certificate number, which I already had from an index. I searched first for the marriage in Manhattan, but another couple came up. I changed the search to Kings County, which is Brooklyn, and there there were!

There were a few pieces of information provided on this document that were unknown to me. Some are "a-ha's" and others are just interesting. To maintain the quality of the document, I've cropped the first page (of four) to just show the relevant parts.

Partial clipping of Marriage Record of Ruby Green and Dr. William Seabrook

The A-Ha's

Ruby Green was one of the three people in my Green family who had moved to New York, and were said to be there "passing as white." (The three were Ruby, her sister, Bettie, and their uncle, William A. Green.) I'd been told by relatives who knew her that she was a seamstress on Broadway, who worked for all the "rich and famous movie stars." When I saw on this document that her occupation was "Dressmaking" and that she lived on Broadway, I felt that there may have likely been some truth in the oral history that had been shared with me. (However - and it's a long story - it's said that after William's wife found out that he was black, she outted them all and both Betsie (who was supposedly Doris Duke's hairdresser), and Ruby lost their jobs.

Helpful tidbits to update my tree and help in my research:

1. Ruby's husband's name was William Henry Seabrook. He was a doctor, but I don't think anyone realized he was a veterinarian. The additional information about him and his origins is great.

2. Ruby's middle name was Gordon (if this is real). I hadn't known her to have any middle name, and hadn't seen it on previous records. I thought maybe it was indicative of a previous marriage, but the document states that this is her first. I don't know of any family connection to the name Gordon. Perhaps it has something to do with her (white) father's family. I'll have to check into his family tree. 

3. October 14, 1944 - Learning that Ruby didn't marry until 4 years after the death of her uncle, William Adam Green, was helpful to certain aspects of my research. Ruby was the informant on William's death certificate, and I'd wondered why her surname was still Green(e), at that time, because I'd thought by the age Ruby was at that time, she'd have already married. As it is, Ruby was 40 years old when she married William Seabrook.

4. Race - Both Ruby and her husband are noted with "C" for race, indicating that they were colored, or black. According to my now deceased relatives who knew the couple, Dr. Seabrook was dark - or at least brown skinned. He was unmistakably black. New York didn't have any anti-miscegenation laws in place, so if Ruby were passing as white, it wouldn't have been illegal for her to marry a black man; but, being that William Seabrook was from Brooklyn, and likely had family there and was also likely a member of the black elite in the community, it would have been more favorable for Ruby to embrace and enjoy the perks of her blackness in that situation. (It's also likely that the rumors weren't even true. Ruby looked white; she didn't have to try to pass. More likely, she had to work hard to convince people that she was black!)

So, you're probably thinking... "So what was it that had you laughing out loud?"

Well, it was this part of the application. 

This part of the document revealed to me that Ruby had, obviously, learned some of the tricky tricks of the passing trade from her Uncle William, before he died. William had a habit of making up names and places, always using a bit of the truth and mixing it with a little flavor to distract anyone from finding out who he really was. That's exactly what Ruby has done here. 

Ruby names her father as "John Geene." (That should be Greene.) Well, first of all, the family name was spelled "GREEN," however, Ruby seems to have added the e to the end, as her  very accomplished cousin, William Lawrence Greene, had done. That's fine and good. However, John Green, was my great-grandfather, Ruby's uncle - her mother's (and her Uncle William's) oldest sibling. He was not Ruby's father. She is just using his name. From what I've been told, all of Annie Green's (Ruby's mother) children were fathered by Samuel Cannady VANN, a wealthy mill owner, from Franklinton, Franklin County, North Carolina.

Samuel Cannady Vann

(1852-1924)

Next, Ruby takes the liberty of giving her mother, Annie, the surname HAWKINS. This was the last name of Annie's father, Nathaniel, however, he and Annie's mother, Anna, who were my second-great-grandparents, never married. They couldn't have, in North Carolina, even if they'd wanted to. Anna was a mulatto woman and Nathaniel was a white man, from a prominent family in the area. All six of the children they had together carried the surname, GREEN.

So, just to set the record straight for those who are reading this: Ruby's parents were Annie Green and (according to family lore) Samuel C. Vann.

Annie Green (far left) with family members. The two young ladies closest to her are
her daughters. One is Ruby, but I don't know which one.

Okay, that wasn't as quick as I thought it would be; but, thanks for reading and allowing me to share this lil chuckle with you. 

Renate

Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2022/04/lies-lies-lies.html