African American Family History

African American Family Historya description of a trade in which they had
Tracing Your Rootsbecome proficient.
African American Family History can be the mostThe fact that there is no certainty of what name
difficult to trace. Due to incomplete and oftenyour ancestors chose to use makes research
nonexistent records tracing your Africandifficult. It becomes even more difficult when
American roots can be challenging. Similar to othercoupled with the fact that it was fairly common
areas of genealogy research there are certainfor biological family members to choose different
things you should become familiar with beforesurnames. This fact makes it important to not
starting your search.simply trace your ancestry using your family
- African American Roots in the U.S.surname alone, but to also make the effort to
There is no need to search out your Africanfind other family members who may have chosen
American Family History in the United States anyto use other surnames.
further back than the year 1619. It was at this- Do Not Be Easily Discouraged
time that the first African Americans were
brought to the U.S. as slaves by Dutch Traders.Researching your African American Family History
Unfortunately it is not a simple matter to tracecan be extremely difficult and challenging. If you
your ancestors back to this point.have never done any genealogy research it can
Due to the laws of the era that did not requireparticularly overwhelming to tackle a task with as
slave owners to record the names of their slavesmany different complications as this area of
many African Americans were recorded by theirresearch.
first name alone or simply as "black male" orIf you begin to feel overwhelmed, do not know
"black female." It is due to this fact that thewhere to start, or cannot overcome a particular
discovery of the last slave owner of yourobstacle in your research there are options you
ancestors is a very important step. Once the lastshould explore.
slave owner has been proven it is much easier toThere are many sites on the internet devoted
find other ancestors who were associated withentirely to African American Family History. In
that slave owner.addition to these sites there are professional
- The 1870 Federal Censusgenealogists who do this research for a living.
They know the obstacles you are facing and how
Censuses are a valuable asset in tracing ancestryto overcome them. They have services set up to
of any type, but the 1870 US Federal Census issearch out your entire family history, or to simply
probably the most important when trying to tracehelp you overcome a specific obstacle you are
African American Family History. It was in thisfacing.
census that African Americans were first listed byNo matter what route you choose to take in
name.researching your African American Family History
This census eases the burden or research, butit can be an incredibly rewarding experience.
brings with it a whole new challenge. While manyKent Fairbourn is the Great Grandson of John A.
African Americans chose to use their birth givenScorup (a member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame)
surname many others chose other routes. It isand a Client Account Specialist for 10x Marketing,
well known that many took upon themselves thean Internet marketing company. Go now to
surname of their previous slave owner, and yetHeirlines Family History and Genealogy for a Free
others who used a name such as Tailor/Taylor asProfessional Genealogy Consultation.