APG-L Archives

Archiver > APG > 2003-11 > 1068509692


From: "Mills" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Race and Blind Spots
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2003 18:15:37 -0600
References: <000001c3a662$8f188320$39b7590c@its-temp1.worldnet.att.net>


James wrote:
>I look at compiled genealogies
> for some of the families that I'm working on and no mention is made of the
> householder being a slave-owner even though the census clearly shows such
> ownership. Times have changed since those old genealogies were done. I'd
> like to know who the slaves were and what they thought of their former
> owners.

James, have you tried searching the WPA ex-slave narratives that are now
online at the Library of Congress? There are some wonderful -- and some
awful -- accounts there that do just that. It can also be a valuable
experience to track down descendants of a forebear's slaves, or descendants
of free people of color who lived next to our ancestral families. They may
have memories or mementos.

Years ago Gary and I sat in the kitchen of a little lady whose "Creole de
couleur" ancestors shared a stretch of Louisiana's Cane River (as well as
some surnames) with Gary's families. At one point, she hobbled into her
parlor, opened an old trunk, and came back with a photograph. "This was Papa
Jerome's house," she said proudly. "Just before it burned about 1900."

We were floored. We had already done enough research to know that in 1832
her g-gf, a free man of color from New Orleans named Jerome Sarpy, had
bought his up-state plantation lock, stock, and barrel -- and I mean, land,
pillared plantation house, furnishings, and slaves -- at the estate sale of
Gary's 4th-great-grandfather, Julien Rachal, who was plain ol' French.
Gary's family had preserved no memory of that house. Now, thanks to a family
who were once slaves themselves but did not happen to be kin in any way, we
have a photograph of the house Gary's Rachals lived in.

Elizabeth

---------
Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
Author, *Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian*
Editor/Author, *Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers,
Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians*


This thread: