juni 1, 2023 by Adrienne - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 4 Comments

Part 1: Navigating MyHeritage DNA Matches & Tools

This is Part 1 of a series about how to use MyHeritage DNA matches and tools. Read part two about the Theories of Family Relativity.

When it comes to DNA matches, there’s family–the people you’ve known and lived with and been around maybe your entire life or perhaps just a short period. Naturally, you know these people. Maybe you share some of the same physical features, such as the shape of your nose or your hair color. Indeed, you’ve laughed, cried, celebrated, grieved, and experienced a wide range of emotions together. They are more than just familiar to you, so you think.

But then there’s – family. This family is your genetic family. This is the family you thought you knew extremely well and the family you may not know well at all. When you take a DNA test at MyHeritage DNA, you’re probably going to find a little bit of both types of family members waiting to be discovered and re-discovered in your DNA results.

Luckily, MyHeritage DNA provides a wealth of tools to help us become highly familiar with all our family members – known and previously unknown!

MyHeritage DNA Results and Tools

To access your DNA Matches at MyHeritage DNA, click on DNA on the top of the page in the menu bar. When you click on DNA, you will be directed to an overview of your DNA results, including your Ethnicity Estimate and DNA Matches.

Continue to scroll down further, and you’ll also find locations and ethnicities of your DNA matches below your personal summarized ethnicity estimates and relationship information.

Locations and ethnicities are tools or filters which we will discuss as we explore how to familiarize ourselves with our genetic relatives!

Click on View DNA Matches to proceed to your genetic match lists, and let the research begin. Genetic relatives are typically broken up into three categories:

close family
extended family
distant relatives

Results will vary for each MyHeritage DNA test participant for each relationship. Most people will recognize DNA matches identified as close relatives. Close relatives are:

your parents
siblings
grandparents
aunt/uncles
nieces/nephews
first cousins

At a glance, you should immediately recognize and know who these relatives are.

Assuming you have several or even a handful of close relatives within your match list, you’re likely to be amazed by what you learn of your genetic familial relationship to them.

For instance, you may find that an aunt or uncle of yours shares an amount of DNA with you that is “genetically equivalent” to the amount of shared DNA expected between grandparents and their grandchildren as well as half-siblings. If you’re fortunate enough to have a variety of several close relatives who have tested, like multiple aunts or uncles or siblings or first cousins, you’ll be able to quickly and easily discover that you don’t all share the same exact ethnicities or amounts of DNA.

In other words, don’t be alarmed! You and your full sibling will share different amounts of DNA with your first cousins. In the MyHeritage DNA match list example, I share varying amounts of DNA with my two maternal aunts and maternal uncle, all within the range expected for a niece/nephew and aunt/uncle relationship.

What about all the newly discovered family in your DNA Matches you don’t already know?

MyHeritage DNA provides several tools to help understand how the DNA matches you aren’t familiar with relate to you. Many of these tools will become immediately available to you once you click on Review DNA Match.

Even if your mystery DNA match hasn’t provided family surnames and locations or linked their entire family tree to their MyHeritage DNA profile, you’ll still be provided with information such as their probable relationship to you and the DNA match quality with particulars such as the amount of shared DNA, shared segments and the largest segment shared between you and the match.

Keeping the concept of “genetically equivalent relationships” in mind, MyHeritage DNA takes the probable relationship initially provided further with their cM Explainer™ tool. The tool shows multiple relationship possibilities, the probability for each relationship, and who the most recent common ancestor(s) might be within your family tree.

Beyond the cM Explainer™ feature, you can better understand or at least filter your DNA match to a particular part of your maternal or paternal family by comparing your shared DNA matches. In this view, you can compare the amount of shared DNA you and a match each share with an in-common match.

The chromosome browser icon appears if the same segments of DNA are shared between all three of you.

Scroll further down, and you can also familiarize yourself with your known and unknown matches by exploring your shared ethnicities and genetic groups.

The chromosome browser is the final feature available to you and your shared DNA match without a family tree. Within the DNA matches view of you and your shared match, this only reveals the segments in common between you and the one match. For full access to the chromosome browser feature, click DNA Tools at the top menu bar.

DNA matches with family trees may include all the previous features within the profile of your DNA match in addition to a Theory of Family Relativity™, shared ancestral surnames, shared ancestral places, and a pedigree chart of their family tree. Including a family tree with your DNA match profile is advantageous for everyone to maximize the features built into the website.

DNA filters can be utilized to quickly gain insight into the individuals within your match lists. The six filter menus are:

Tree details
Relationships
Locations
Ethnicities
Genetic Groups
Labels.

They can be accessed by clicking the Filters icon shown here.

Most menu selections are self-explanatory apart from Theory of Family Relativity™ and Smart Matches™ in the Tree details filters. The Theory of Family Relativity™ is discussed in this article further below.

For the locations filter, keep in mind this is the location your match has entered as their current or home location and may not reflect their genetic heritage. For instance, if I’m currently based in Japan, I may select that as my location, yet I may not have any Japanese ancestors. The ethnicities feature can be used to better assist with finding matches who share or don’t share ethnicities in common but are of interest for many possible family research questions.

In the finale of our conversation on filters, the labels filter may assist with grouping your matches once you’ve figured out where they fit in your family tree or even if you haven’t. Use as many or as few labels as suits your individual research needs.

Continue reading Part Two: MyHeritage DNA Theories of Family Relativity here.

If you’d like to work with our team of professional genetic genealogists to help you with some of your DNA family history questions, you can fill out a form here to get things rolling!

august 20, 2022 by Adrienne - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 1 Comment

African American Women in Research

Legacy Tree Genealogists’ Adrienne Abiodun provides resources and tips on how to overcome the challenges within African American genealogy research and especially to help with identifying African American women.

There are certain challenges that come with researching specific groups of people across the world, for example – women. In a previous blog post, Legacy Tree Genealogists’ researcher, Jessica Howe provided numerous tips to assist in the identification of women in historical records. If your ancestor was an African American woman, many of those tips such as consideration of nicknames, regional accents, and phonetic spelling are applicable for researching ancestors who were Black American women of African ancestry. The difficulties in researching distant African American ancestors who were women can be lessened with a general understanding of American cultural norms in addition to some history of African Americans in the United States.

Marriage

Up until modern times, African American women married in what’s considered American tradition, typically taking the surname of her husband as her own. The inheritance of a husband’s surname has been common practice in African American unions for hundreds of years. Naturally, any time a woman assumes the surname of her spouse it can be particularly difficult to uncover what her maiden name previously was. Like any other person, marriage certificates or licenses for African American couples can be easily located at court houses, state vital record departments, and archives. If the groom’s name is known, then the bride’s maiden name should be provided on the record as well. In other words, the methodology and research for African American women are just about the same as anyone else. That is until the timeframe of institutionalized slavery within the United States of America.

Prior to 18 December 1865, when the 13^th Amendment was adopted into the United States Constitution which finally abolished slavery, a majority of African American people across the southern United States, as well as parts of the North, could be enslaved for the whole of their lifetimes. Although enslavers were often individuals of European ancestry, other free Black Americans could also enslave women, men, and children. Indigenous Americans participated in the institution of human slavery too. Enslaved people existing as members within a society which restricted every civil and social freedom were not permitted to formally marry, own land, or move freely around the country.

As it relates to African American women marrying during this time frame, marriage records that could provide their maiden names are sometimes harder to locate if one exists at all. Families who kept Bibles may have recorded births, marriages, and deaths in the Bible, yet locating family Bibles from the mid-1800s is not easily accomplished by any family researcher nowadays. Two of the largest family Bible indexes include the Daughters of the American Revolution online index to their collection of more than 84,000 Bible records, and the Yancey Family Genealogy Bible index which includes 60,000 surnames. Other family Bibles may be located in local libraries and archives in your area of research, or with a member of the extended family.

Two great resources for locating the maiden name of an African American woman during the early to mid-1800s are military pension records if her husband, relative, or other remember of her community served in the military during the Civil War. Another resource to research is marriage records generated through the Freedmen’s Bureau. Maiden names may also have been provided on Freedmen’s Bureau bank records. However, locating African American women in these documents requires a good understanding of who the men in her life were, husband, father, brothers, and so forth.

Finding Names During and After Enslavement

Not all African American women were enslaved members of society prior to the 13^th Amendment. Those who weren’t may be found on census records in the 1860s and 1850s and even earlier. This was not the case for those who had not been legally emancipated prior to the end of institutionalized slavery. The challenges of finding ancestors who were black women or men during this time are increasingly difficult. Surnames used by African American women and men were usually the surnames of their enslavers past or present. Thus, their surnames have no long-running connection to their biological ancestry. During this period, if an enslaver died prior to the end of the Civil War, the names of his enslaved “chattel property” may have been recorded in the probate record of his estate or within his last will and testament. Newspapers are also a good resource for locating African American women and men during this time frame if their enslaver died prior to 1865. However, the surnames of African American women or men may or may not have been included in those records either.

Because the origins of the names of many African American people were the family names of their enslavers, some families changed their names post-enslavement to mark the beginning of their new lives as free people rather than the life they once held as someone else’s property. While this was certainly beautiful and freeing for the individuals involved, it creates another consideration for locating one’s ancestors just after the Civil War. Without oral or written history describing a name change occurrence, how can one be sure the name of their ancestor is that of their ancestor’s former enslaver or a name their ancestor may have chosen post-emancipation?

Developing Research Leads using DNA

Overcoming research barriers created from this dark period in American history is not impossible, nor is it an easy feat. For this reason, today’s genealogists of African American families should consider the incorporation of DNA testing to move beyond research hurdles in African American genealogies across the United States. DNA results provide access to genetic cousins or match lists whose family trees may go beyond your own family tree. These match lists are great for developing research leads. Further, genetic inheritance of mtDNA and X DNA can also provide a way forward in identifying our direct maternal ancestors as well as collateral women relatives in our family trees.

Today’s consumer DNA testing products permit women and men to test and essentially learn something about both sides of their families. Targeted research strategies and inviting other relatives to test will help take the family lineage even further. When an individual tests and matches with others or a cluster from one family set, those individual matches or that entire family set becomes our compass to guide us to the African American men and women who have yet to be discovered within the family trees of people of African descent. This is one of the most powerful resources today’s genealogists can use to overcome the challenges within African American genealogies and especially to help with identifying African American women.

If you have African American ancestry and need help locating information on your ancestors, we can help. We have researchers that specialize in evaluating clues to overcome brick walls to extend your family history. Contact us today for a free quote!

august 27, 2021 by Adrienne - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 5 Comments

Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861–1865

Legacy Tree Genealogists’ Adrienne Abiodun provides information about the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865, and offers some tips on how to become a member. She uses her own personal experience to explain how joining a lineage society can be a rewarding way to honor one’s ancestors.

Between 1861–1865, the War Between the States, more commonly known as the Civil War, was the longest, bloodiest, and costliest conflict that divided the United States of America. An estimated two million-plus men served in the Union, and another one million-plus men fought on behalf of the Confederate States.[1] The number of casualties experienced by both sides was devastating to those who fought so passionately for their cause on the battlefield and their loved ones awaiting their return home. Since then, families of the men who lost their lives in battle or to disease were prisoners of war or were never heard from again have passed down stories of these individuals for future generations to reconcile and remember.

What is the DUVCW?

Beginning in 1885, a small group of women who were descendants of Union veterans organized the first meeting of what would later become known as the lineage society, Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861–1865 (DUVCW).

The society’s mission is as follows:

“The Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861–1865 is a not-for-profit organization formed to unite the daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters, and all female direct lineal descendants of honorable discharged Union veterans of the Civil War in promoting our principle mission which is to perpetuate the memories of our ancestral fathers who served in the Civil War, to honor their loyalty and their unselfish sacrifices to preserve the Union, and to keep alive the history of those who participated in that heroic struggle for the maintenance of our free government.”[2]

Joining the Lineage Society

I began the application process for DUVCW membership in early 2017 as a way to personally honor the memory of my own Civil War ancestor, my third great-grandfather, Alexander Branch. He served as a Private in Company B of the 4th Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry.

Alexander Branch was born 14 December 1838 in Port Hudson, Louisiana, and was the son of Phillip and Emily Branch. He and his entire family were enslaved by John Whitaker in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. When the opportunity arose for enslaved males to join the military through the U.S.C.T. and to fight in the Civil War, my ancestor did his part. Understanding not all men in the community opted to serve in the military, I felt a sense of honor and respect toward my third great-grandfather. Becoming a member of the DUVCW appeared to be the perfect opportunity for me to personally cement my sentiment towards my ancestor’s Civil War service. I was successfully approved as a member of the society in April 2017 after only a couple of months of gathering the appropriate documents.

The application process was straightforward and simple from a genealogical research standpoint. First, one must determine whether she is eligible for membership within the society. Considering the Civil War ended just over 150 years ago (not too long ago) you may have heard stories in your family about an ancestor who fought. Or maybe you’ve not gotten that far back in your family research but suspect you may have an ancestor who participated in the war. Complete eligibility and application notes are described in detail on the application instructions found here.

To summarize:

An applicant must be the descendant of a soldier or sailor of the U.S. Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, and Revenue Cutter Service who served between 12 April 1861 and 9 April 1865.
The applicant must be a direct lineal descendant of the ancestor they are seeking membership under.
If the prospective applicant has been dishonorably discharged from any branch of the United States Armed Forces, they will not be eligible for membership in Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861–1865.
An applicant must be at least eight years of age.

Next, prospective members will need to know how the society is organized. Understanding this will help determine which of the two application forms should be submitted to avoid unnecessary delays. Individuals joining as a Member-At-Large will have a different application than applicants applying under a Tent or Detached Tent.

Tents are local groups within the National Organization. When there are less than three Tents in a state, the Tents are called Detached Tents. If an applicant is applying for membership through a Tent or Detached Tent, they will have likely been in touch with the registrar for that Tent or Detached Tent. As with most lineage societies, the registrar will more than likely be happy to help an applicant through the application process. Even with the assistance of a registrar, the applicant is not relieved of doing her part to compile the required proofs for each generation back to the Civil War ancestor.

Examples of acceptable documentation are as follows:

Birth certificates
Baptismal records
Death certificates/records
Certified copies of church or governmental records
Marriage records
Obituaries
Census records,
Wills/pension records
Probate records
Bible records
Muster Rolls
Discharge papers
Adjutant General Reports
States Adjutant Reports
State Militia Records
Court Records

The complete application guidelines detail what information should be found on these record examples for them to be deemed acceptable for submission with the application. Furthermore, the application must be printed on a specific type of paper and if completed by hand, it should be filled out using black ink. All this may sound like a laborious undertaking to visibly and publicly honor the legacy of a Union veteran ancestor, yet it is very little work considering their sacrifice to save the Union.

Membership is What you Make it

As is true of other lineage societies, membership in the DUVCW is whatever the member decides to make it. Some successful applicants will quietly obtain their membership certificate bearing their name and the name of their ancestor, perhaps frame it and participate very little in meetings, volunteer, or remembrance events. Others will enjoy the camaraderie of being with other women who share a common thread in American history.

I am in the latter group. When possible, I opt to attend meetings and visit with members of my Detached Tent to learn about them, their ancestors, and even unique research challenges they may have faced on their journey into the organization whether it was recent or long ago. The opportunities to continue acquiring knowledge and reflect upon the many descendant perspectives are fascinating and highly educational. I certainly like to think it makes me a better family historian and that all my Union veteran ancestors are honored that I’ve honored them through membership.

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Union States during the Civil War? Do you want to join the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861–1865 as well? The researchers at Legacy Tree Genealogists are happy to assist you with difficult research areas. Contact us for a free estimate on research. Are you already a member of the organization? Sound off and tell us about your Union veteran ancestor in the comments!

[1] “Civil War Facts,” American Battlefield Trust, https://battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-facts, accessed August 2021.

[2] “Our Mission,” Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865, https://duvcw.org/images/pdf/MissionStatement2019.pdf, accessed August 2021.

juli 15, 2021 by Adrienne - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 23 Comments

Solved! When Your Relative Does Not Appear as a DNA Match

Genealogy can be fun and rewarding, but it can also be frustrating when you encounter problems that don’t seem to make sense. What do you do if your family member’s DNA doesn’t seem to match your own? Legacy Tree Genealogists’ Adrienne Abiodun explains how you can solve this all-too-common problem.

The Problem

Relatives — Why would relatives not be a DNA match?

Most of us who have taken a DNA test have experienced the startling discovery of NOT having a biological relative, close or distant, known to be related to show up as a genetic match. While jumping to conclusions and thinking the absolute worst is a natural reaction, taking a step back to assess the data or lack thereof may save you unnecessary confusion and heartache in the end. Siblings, half-siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, first cousins, second cousins, and other immediate relatives should always share enough DNA to appear in genetic match lists across all major DNA testing sites. However, third cousins, first cousins, and second cousins that are two or three times removed may not always show up as a match.

For simplicity’s sake, let’s consider an example of third cousins. On average third cousins will share approximately 0.98 percent of their DNA, which is about 73 centiMorgans (cM) of DNA. Their shared DNA is inherited most recently from a great-great-grandparent or pair of second great-grandparents. From an individual standpoint, the amount of DNA one could have likely inherited from a great-great-grandparent is 6.25 percent, which is approximately 425 cM of DNA. Each ancestor generation backward, the amount of DNA inherited is reduced along with the potential of sharing DNA with known third, fourth, and more distant cousins.

On a recent complex client project, a non-match between two individuals who were supposed to be third cousins raised suspicions about their proposed common great-great-grandparents. If they did not share DNA, were they full third cousins, or could they be half third cousins? Were they even genetic relatives at all? A further investigation ruled out this last possibility but was insufficient to differentiate between the first two possibilities. Though they did not match one another, they both shared DNA because both matched with another relative from a third child of their most recent common ancestral couple.

Using the illustration below for reference, one can see a great-great-grandchild number one and great-great-grandchild number two were not genetic matches to one another. However, they are known proposed paper-trail third cousins to each other. Both matched grandchild number three and great-grandchild number three from the same common ancestor and shared an appropriate amount of DNA with those matches for their relationship types as first cousins twice removed and second cousins once removed, respectively. The most recent common ancestor pair would involve a marriage record that has yet to be found, a move from Finland to the United States of America where some children were born in Finland and some in the United States. The situation raises questions about whether child number one and child number two were half-siblings rather than full siblings.

In a situation like this, targeted DNA testing strategies were suggested and applied. A great-grandchild of child number two was invited to participate in DNA testing to determine how they would compare to genetic descendants of both child number one and child number three. Their DNA results were added to the analysis, resolving concerns regarding the genetic evidence. All three children of the most recent common ancestor(s) were, in fact, full siblings to one another. It also reinforced how third cousin matches may or may not share DNA. The relationship between the great-grandchild of child number two and great-great-grandchild number one is the second cousin once removed. The average amount of shared DNA for this relationship type is 1.64 percent or 122 cM of DNA. They shared 113 cM, which was very close to these observed averages.

In similar scenarios like this one, targeted DNA testing of additional individuals understood to be related to both DNA tested subjects in question is always encouraged when possible. But what if targeted DNA testing isn’t available? Here are some other strategies to consider for understanding your genetic non-match to your relative.

The Solution

Remain calm and attempt to refrain from jumping to negative conclusions.
Determine whether you have calculated your relationship with one another appropriately. We will often hear two cousins refer to themselves as second cousins to one another when they are second cousins once removed, third cousins, or something entirely different from a second cousin. While it may all seem the same, in the game of DNA matching, precise relationships matter. Chart yourself and your cousin’s connection to one another and use relationship tools on sites like DNA Painter to understand removed relationships.
If no test candidates are interested or available to pursue targeted DNA testing around the two individuals in question, sharing DNA match lists with your non-match to compare matches in common may also be sufficient. When sharing lists, observe whether you both have matches from your most recent common ancestor(s) and matches coming from both sides of your most recent common ancestors’ families. Evaluate whether the amounts of shared DNA with your in common matches is appropriate for their relationships to you and the distance between them and your most recent common ancestor.

In summary, it is essential to remember precise relationships matter when we incorporate genetic genealogy into our traditional genealogy research. More times than not, collaboration among your matches and non-matches is the key to successfully comprehending the data you do and the data you do not see.

DNA research can be difficult to understand, even with the right tools and resources. If you run into a problem you can’t solve, our genealogists will work with you to find the solution. Contact us today for a free quote!

Resources

The Shared cM Project 4.0 tool v4,” https://dnapainter.com, accessed June 2021.
Autosomal DNA statistics,” International Society of Genetic Genealogy Wiki, https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics, accessed June 2021.

oktober 9, 2020 by Adrienne - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 3 Comments

Honoring and Proving Formerly Enslaved Ancestors Through Lineage Society Membership

Being the descendent of enslaved ancestors, there awaits a unique opportunity to join a specifically interesting lineage society. Here is an insight into what you would need to prove your family history, and where you would be able to provide these valuable records.

African Americans with an invested interest in their heritage and deep roots within the United States of America are all too familiar with the legacy and impact of America’s slave era. Reflecting upon that time can be a source of great pain and anguish, while others may find themselves embracing and sharing stories of survival and perseverance with audiences well beyond their own homes. Should you see yourself in the latter group there is a lineage society for you.

enslaved ancestors Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP) is a lineage-based service membership organization dedicated to remembering freed and formerly enslaved ancestors. The organization operates as a non-profit, charitable 501(c)3 organization with objectives outlined as historical, educational, memorial, and patriotic.

Membership requirements

“Any person who is not less than eighteen years of age, and can prove direct lineal descent from a man, woman, or child who was of African descent and was forced into slavery in the United States of America, including its colonial days, prior to the end of slavery as marked by the 13^th Amendment to the United States Constitution, effective December 1865, is eligible for membership.”

As a charter member of the organization, I personally remember my initial excitement when presented with the opportunity to join. I had already successfully joined other lineage societies dedicated to the memory of my Civil War and Revolutionary War patriot ancestors, yet there seemed to be no place I could honor the contributions made by those forced into a system of chattel slavery. Here was my opportunity! My excitement took a momentary dip when it dawned on me that I would have to prove my ancestors were enslaved. Herein lies the challenge. As with any lineage organization there must be sufficient documentation proving your claim of your ancestor’s enslavement.

Regrettably, the 1870 brick wall encountered by many African American researchers and others is not considered sufficient evidence. Inability to go beyond the 1870 census where formerly enslaved ancestors were now included on records by name does not automatically relegate them into a system of forced servitude. So how might you prove those oral histories passed from generation to generation as fact for the purpose of membership to collectively honor enslaved ancestors? What types of record collections should you search and where do you find them? Assuming you have made it as far as 1870 and you cannot locate your African American ancestor in 1860, you will want to consider these research avenues.

Wills, Probate, and Estate Records

When my ancestor’s enslaver died in 1857, probate of his estate was recorded which included the names and values of all his human chattel property. My fourth great-grandfather, Phillip Branch and his son, Alexander Branch and forty-five others were named.

Newspapers

Historical newspapers can reveal all sorts of detail about slave-era society and often name individuals well before 1870. Ads for runaways, trustee’s sales and more can easily provide the needed evidence of an ancestor’s enslavement.

enslaved ancestors — The Port Gibson Herald and Correspondent (Port Gibson, Mississippi), 13 October 1848, Friday, page 4.

Military Records and Pension Files

If your ancestor served during the Civil War or any previous conflict during America’s slave era, military records and pension files can reveal a wealth of information regarding their place of residence as well as information on prior enslavers.

Freedmen’s Bureau Records

The Freedmen’s Bureau was responsible for managing matters related to freedman, refugees and lands seized or abandoned during the Civil War. This record collection includes numerous labor contracts, hospital records, bank records, complaints, and letters as well as reports of abandoned land and more.

The four suggestions above are important starting points, but certainly not the only areas you will want to pursue. Some of these additional collection types will vary widely from state-to-state:

Slave Certificates
Slave Narratives
Slave Manifests
Slave Voyage Databases
Emancipation Records
Insurance Policy Records

Many of these varied records are digitized and even indexed and searchable online at major genealogy websites and elsewhere. Others, however, are still held only in their original formats at libraries, state archives, university special collections, local historical societies, and in the private hands of descendants. Those in this latter group can sometimes take more effort to access.

Then there is the hard truth. Many records were destroyed from war-era conflict and courthouse fires—along with the records you needed in them. If you are passionate about restoring dignity and humanity to your enslaved ancestors and honoring their legacy, do not lose hope. Many record sets have yet to be digitized and transcribed, so if you check today and are unable to find them, look again tomorrow.

For additional details on the Sons and Daughters of the U.S. Middle Passage, see https://sdusmp.org/.

If you need help finding or discovering your family history, or would like help extending your family lines, let Legacy Tree Genealogists provide the research. Contact us today for a free quote.