Formerly, "Just Thinking", this blog presents the thoughts and experiences of a family historian working to demystify the past and uncover the stories of an elusive ancestry. NC surnames are YARBOROUGH, NEAL, GREEN, HAWKINS, DUNSTON, DAVIS, BROWN, ROSS, HILL, BRYANT, and DAVENPORT in Franklin, Warren, Halifax, and Tyrrell Counties.
With so much of my family's history shrouded in darkness, is my personal mission to uncover the hidden details of my ancestry and bring them INTO THE LIGHT.
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.
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
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 ($) at the end of each event that is not free. Here goes!
January 2023
28th - AAHGS-Greater Richmond Chapter, Monthly Meeting (Hybrid): Topic - "Researching Enslaved Ancestors" Click for more info and to register. https://aahgsrichmondva.com/eventscalendar/
February 2023
4th - Stark Library, Canton, OH (Virtual): Topic - "From Yarborough to Neal: Reconstructing My Enslaved Family Using DNA"https://stark.libnet.info/event/7483558
10th-11th - North Carolina AAHGS Annual Black History Month Banquet and Conference: Opening Conference Speaker https://tinyurl.com/ncaahgs2023 ($)
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.netto 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/ ($)
31st - National Genealogical Society 2023 Family History Conference, Richmond, VA; "Virginia, the Deep Roots of a Nation" Pre-Conference Day
June 2023
June 1- 3 - National Genealogical Society 2023 Family History Conference, Richmond, VA; "Virginia, the Deep Roots of a Nation" - I'll be giving two lectures: F242- Enslaved Ancestral Research in Virginia and North Carolina and S352- "From This Day Forward" - Documenting Marital Unions of Enslaved and Emancipated Persons." Click link for conference and registration information: https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/ ($)
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
I am a DUNSTON descendant. This is not a line I knew anything about, before I started my research in the 1990s. My grandmother, Anna Green, was the daughter of Susan Georgiana DUNSTON, who married John Wesley Green. That is where my Dunston line begins.
(As is the case with most of my lines, I have no photo to show of my great-grandmother, so I will just use this clipping from Ancestry to represent her.)
Researching the DUNSTONS
My Dunston line has been tricky to research, but I've done so with extreme care for over 20 years, now. What makes it trickiest is the fact that so many of the names are used over and over, sometimes within the same generation, and many of those names are common ones, like James, John, Anna/Annie and Laura. Because of this, I've been extremely careful about who actually gets a spot on the tree. I must be able to prove, with documents, that I have the right people in the right place - at least to the best of my ability. Anyone I'm unsure about either has a research note added to their profile on my tree, or they don't make it onto the tree, at all, but instead earn a place in my Ancestry "Shoebox," until such time that I can find definitive evidence that they actually belong to me.
Over the years, I've communicated with many Dunston descendants, all of whom have an ancestral connection to the area of North Carolina where my Dunstons are from: Franklin County. For some, the connection to this county is immediate, and for others it takes a few generations into their ancestry to get back there. Branches have conglomerated in nearby Wake (Raleigh) and Vance (Henderson) Counties, as well as a very large contingent, which migrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the early part of the 20th century. And, quite a few of the Dunstons remained in Franklin County, mostly in the town of Franklinton, but with a few families in the county seat, Louisburg. (The Pennsylvania group originated in Franklinton.)
Through my research and also as a result of interactions with others in the genealogy community, I've met numerous Dunston descendants, who hail from various of the above-mentioned locations. Most of us were told, once upon a time, that all of the Dunstons from Franklin County were related. But, proving that has been a challenge, as we've worked collegially to try to explore how we might be - must be connected. In some cases, we've been successful, but the MRCA (most recent common ancestor) is so many generations back that we are not sharing any DNA to prove it. Therefore, we must rely on our carefully constructed family trees for documentation of our connections. And, in a few cases, we are not seeing any matchups on our trees, so we continue to wait, hoping one day a relationship may show us to be connected, but, if it doesn't, we continue to support each other's research and say that we are "cousins" anyway. :)
My Dunston Line
My own DUNSTON line goes back 9 generations (yes, NINE!) to my sixth great-grandmother, Patience Dunston, who was born in 1734. I first learned of Patience through the work of Paul Heinegg, the award-winning author of Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware. My direct line (below) is well documented from Patience, all the way down to me. I continuously search for, find, and add additional sources that support my findings - or, if they don't, changes are made.
Troubled Waters
There is one line of my Dunston family that refuses to acknowledge their connection to me, simply because "they don't have those names." This is the branch that moved to Philadelphia, which is a line that descends from my third great-grandfather, Wilson Dunston (Sr.). This line, which descends from Wilson's son, James "Jim" Wilson Dunston, is documented on my tree and has come up as the connector between several of my DNA matches and me, as well as for people whose trees reflect that connection, just as mine does. There is just one problem though: it seems that the Philadelphia line, which boasts of having at least 3 family historians, has only been documented up to the generation that includes James "Jim" Dunston. Because they are unaware (apparently) of James' parentage or deeper ancestry, they choose to denounce it or to even acknowledge and/or learn about his familial origins. So... Houston, we have a problem.
This photo was shared with me by the one Philadelphia Dunston cousin who believed and allowed me to share my research findings - the late Karen Serene Dunston. May she rest in peace.
On the left is James Wilson Dunston, who was the son of my third great-grandfather, Wilson Dunston. He was the great-grandfather of the cousin denoted by the green dot, above.
On the right is his wife, Harriet Ellen Fields.
This chart, created using my tree on Ancestry dot com, shows the relationship of one of the Philadelphia-born Dunston cousins and myself. (Said cousin is represented by the green dot.) The relationship, based on the sourced and documented work I've done on my tree, is undeniable. However, because this family has never heard of our common ancestor, Wilson Dunston, he, to them, does not exist; and therefore, we are not related. This stance has been taken by three different members of this particular family, over the course of a few years. I'm not going into the particulars about the difficult attempts I've made to communicate with them - even, most recently, as a result of this cousin reaching out to me - not vice versa. I understand that not everyone understands this work that we're doing; but I'm not in this to be mistreated, talked down to, dismissed and/or disrespected. I simply want to find and learn about my Ancestors, and sometimes that means encountering people who are unexpectedly (and unabashedly) ____________. (You fill in the blank.)
Concluding with Gratitude
I'm very thankful that what I've experienced in dealing with this family line has not been the norm during my 23 years of formally researching my ancestry. I've met so many relatives, on several different lines, and these are the only ones that have behaved in this way and not wanted to know or discuss anything about our shared ancestry. This Dunston line, for whatever their reasons, chooses to stay in the dark about their own pedigree. That has nothing to do with me. I thank God for the Hills, the Rosses, Yarboroughs, Davenports, the Tredwell/Littlejohndescendants, and several other cousin connections I've made over the years - some due to the blessing of good solid traditional research, and others thanks to irrefutable DNA evidence (which doesn't lie).
I was told that this is my second great-grandmother, Laura Dunston, who was a Dunston already before she and Wilson "Wils" Dunston married. This is the only known photo I have of one of my direct Dunston ancestors.
Walk in the Light - Beautiful Light!
Today was a slap in the face; but it will take more than this to stop me from my quest to find my ancestors and to connect with those who share them. I started this journey to find out who I am and what I'm made of. Like Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate for President of the United States said in his nomination acceptance speech, as he quoted my (Ross descended) cousin, Ella Josephine Baker: "Give people light and they will find a way." And, like Joe, and like Ella, I choose to follow the light. Why? Because, just as Joe said, "Light is more powerful than darkness."
If any of my Philadelphia Dunstons happen to read this, know that I love you, because you are my family. If you want to reach out to me, I'll be ready to share and move forward; and, just as I've told the three that I've spoken to, if you have evidence that is contrary to what my research has shown, I am open and willing to hear and consider it.
I needed to vent.
Thanks for reading.
Renate
(I do not own the rights to this music.)
Permalink to this post: https://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2020/08/yes-philadelphia-dunstons-we-are-related.html
