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Archiver > APG > 2003-11 > 1068173374


From: "James Brady" <>
Subject: RE: [APG] Blind Spots in Searching
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2003 21:51:25 -0500
In-Reply-To: <20031106232437.67152.qmail@web13402.mail.yahoo.com>


Ray said:
Recently, on this list, someone (I am not
mentioning any names, to avoid singling anyone
out) stated that they found the "Race" category
in census records useful for quickly eliminating
certain individuals. I am humiliated to have to
admit that I have caught myself thinking this way
as well on a few occasions.

Hi Ray,

Well, I'm the un-named person of the comment. I don't take offense as I
agree with your comments, but perhaps I came off too glibly at first, as is
sometimes wont in e-mails. Were I to rephrase my comment more expansively it
would be more along the lines of - having puzzled over why I don't recognize
someone with a treasured surname, that I should, in the census, I then
looked at the Race column and noticed a "B" when I'm expecting a "W". Okay,
I can rule them out. That's EASY. No wonder I don't recognize them. Having
said that, I may still collect the info anyway. Most of the families that I
research are early Dutch New Yorkers and I sometimes wonder if I could
properly research the black families later using the same Dutch surnames. I
assume that they are freed slaves who assumed their former master's name. If
I could I'd like to match them up.

I'm told that there are a lot of resources to use for tracing southern
slaves. Has anyone had any experience doing this in, say, New York?

Jim

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