The international sources cited before can also help you with ethnic research within the United States and Canada for a well-documented ancestry. For some groups, however, the search is a little more complex.

Special Challenges

As I described in the Introduction, sometimes you need to search unexpected resources based on other genealogies, history, and, yes, the infamous “family legend.” None of these things alone will solve the challenges of ethnic research, but taken together, they might lead to that one document, vital record, or online resource that solves the puzzle. It worked for Bill Ammons, the success story in the Introduction, and it might work for you, too.

For example, African-American genealogy often presents special challenges. When researching the genealogy of a former slave, it’s necessary to know as much about the slave owner’s family as you do about the slave. Wills, deeds, and tax rolls can hold clues to ancestry, as do legal agreements to rent slaves. Tracking down all these items can be difficult. You need to know the history of the region and the repositories of the records, and you need to consider family legends to be clues, not answers.

As another example, Native American genealogies are also difficult, because in many cases, very little was written down about individuals in the tribes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A genealogist must contact the tribe involved and look at many different kinds of records.

Mixed ethnic heritages, such as Melungeon, are problematic to research because these mixed groups suffered from stigma for many years. If you are researching a Melungeon family line, the true genealogy may have been suppressed or even forgotten by your ancestors. These special cases have led to many online resources as genealogists have tried to solve the problems and shared their results.

The sites mentioned in this chapter provide good information on how to begin to search for specific genealogy information, as well as the history and culture of different groups. The challenges you will face can be discussed in the forums and mailing lists; you will often find tips on which records to seek and how to get them. Don’t forget, however, that new pages are being added to the Web all the time. Search for “genealogy” plus the name of whatever ethnic group you’re seeking on your favorite search engine about once a month to see if new information has become available.

And stay on the mailing lists and newsgroups for the ethnic groups; when you hit a brick wall, perhaps someone on the list can help. And when you break one down, you can share that!

African-American Genealogy

African-American genealogy presents some special challenges, but online genealogists are working hard to conquer them. Search for “African-American genealogy” in any search engine, and you’ll find many good resources. Also try these sites as starting places. To begin, the African-American Research Area (www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/) on the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) site provides a list of articles and other resources not to be missed.

AfriGeneas

AfriGeneas (see Figure 16-1), www.afrigeneas.com, is the major portal for African-American research. Transcribed records, discussion groups, monthly articles, and more will help you get started. The site has a searchable database of surnames (in addition to slave data) from descendants of slaveholding families, as well as from other sources, both public and private. Tips and topics to help people in their search for family history are distributed through mailing lists, chats, newsletters, and the Internet. Volunteers do all of this; they extract, compile, and publish all related public records with any genealogical value. The site also maintains an impressive set of links to other Internet resources to help African Americans in their research.

FIGURE 16-1. AfriGeneas has databases, forums, chats, and more.

The sections of this site are an important body of work. They include:

    • E-mail AfriGeneas has a page for you to create an e-mail account at so that your address is <yourname>@afrigeneas.com, through Google Mail. The advantage: You can use this address only for genealogy and not for other correspondence. That way, you don’t have so much worry about spam coming in with the stuff you really want to read.

    • Search The search page lets you search the mailing list, surnames, death records, and the entire site for your surnames or places of interest.

    • Records This drop-down menu can help you search the Census Records, Death Records Database, Library Archives, Marriage Records Database, Photos, Slave Data Collection, Surnames Database, State Websites, and World Websites of the AfriGeneas collection.

       Be sure to read the page, “African American Genealogy: An Online Interactive Guide for Beginners” by Dee Parmer Woodtor, author of Finding a Place Called Home: An African-American Guide to Genealogy and Historical Identity (Random House Reference, 1999). This step-by-step guide to genealogy in general, and African-ancestored genealogy in particular, is full of good advice.

    • Resources Under this heading on the navigation bar, you can find a site map, with every page on the site and a What’s New link. It also can take you to the Beginner’s Guide, a slideshow-like presentation that steps you through online genealogy. It’s a no-nonsense approach, showing what can and can’t be done online. It also includes some success stories. The Resources tab also has links to state resources, a clickable map with links to each state in the United States with history, links to state resources, and queries. The World Resources link does the same for other countries, such as the Bahamas. Volunteers are actively being sought for other countries. From the Resources tab, you also get to some important databases:

       • Forums This drop-down menu lists the major topic divisions from African-Native connections to surnames and family research, and the mailing lists. You can also choose to look at the most recent posts in all topics to quickly catch up on what’s going on in the different forums.

       • Chat The AfriGeneas Chat Center is open 24 hours and seven days a week for any AfriGeneas member who cares to use it, except during times set aside for regularly scheduled or special chats, and the menu will take you to a chart of when those are. Use is specifically restricted to discussion of African-American or African-ancestored genealogical or historical topics. If anyone abuses the privilege, off-hours access to the chat spaces will be curtailed by AfriGeneas.com. To reserve a room, host a chat, or make comments about or suggestions for future chats, you can contact the chat manager at [email protected].

       • Resources This menu has links to books, guides, directories of sites, links to genealogical and historical societies, humor, history, and the help desk, to name just a few. You could spend a week just exploring the items under this drop-down menu!

       • Stores Links you to both the onsite bookstore and Amazon.com.

       Among the most valuable resources on the site are:

    • Slave Data This area will help you find the last owned slave in your family. Records kept by the slave owner are frequently the only clue to African-American ancestors, particularly during the period 1619–1869. The site is also designed to help descendants of slaveholders and other researchers. Users share information they find containing any references to slaves, including wills, deeds, and other documents. This site also houses a search engine and a form for submitting any data you might have. To use the database, click the first letter of the surname you’re interested in. This takes you to a list of text files with surnames beginning with that letter. Now click a particular filename. The text file may be transcribed from a deed book, a will, or some other document. The name and e-mail address of the submitter will be included, so you can write to that person for more information, if necessary.

    • Census Records These are transcribed census records. As a file is submitted, it’s listed at the top of the What’s New list on this page. Not all states have volunteers transcribing right now, so you can only click those states that show up as a live link.

    • News Briefs & What’s New These headings on the home page keep you updated on the latest news and additions.

Africana Heritage

A project at the University of South Florida (USF), this site is at www.africanaheritage.com. The USF Africana Heritage Project is an all-volunteer research project and website sponsored by the Africana Studies department at the University of South Florida. The volunteers concentrate on recovering records that document the names and lives of slaves, freed persons, and their descendants and then share those records on the site. You are invited to share documents with the site, and material is there from readers, scholars, archives, universities, and historical societies. For more information, contact Toni Carrier, Founding Director, USF Africana Heritage Project, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, FAO 270, Tampa, FL 33620. Or you can e-mail [email protected].

More Good Resources

Other good African-American sites are in this list:

    • The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) is a group for the preservation of the history, genealogy, and culture of those with African heritage. The society’s main emphasis is in recording research (as in transcribing sources and so on) and sharing completed genealogies. You’ll find AAHGS at http://www.aahgs.org. They have an annual conference, local chapters, a journal, and newsletter.

    • Slaves and the Courts (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/sthtml) is an online collection of pamphlets and books at the Library of Congress about the experiences of African and African-American slaves in the United States and American colonies. It includes trial arguments, examinations of cases and decisions, and other materials concerning slavery and the slave trade. You can locate information by using the collection’s subject index, author index, or title index, or you can conduct your own search by keyword. You can look at the items as transcriptions or as images of the original pages. Knowing this sort of history can often give you a clue as to where to look for other records.

       Cases from America and Great Britain are included with arguments by many well-known abolitionists, presidents, politicians, slave owners, fugitive and free-territory slaves, lawyers and judges, and justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Significant names include John Q. Adams, Roger B. Taney, John C. Calhoun, Salmon P. Chase, Dred Scott, William H. Seward, Theodore Parker, Jonathan Walker, Daniel Drayton, Castner Hanway, Francis Scott Key, William L. Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Denmark Vesey, and John Brown.

    • African-American Griots (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~aagriots) discusses the storytellers, or griots. Their roles are hereditary, their surnames identify them as griots, and they sing and tell the histories of their tribes. This site provides a list of links to databases for individuals and records pertaining to groups of people, background on the history of the griots, and, of course, e-mail lists.

    • The Freedman’s Bureau Online (http://www.freedmensbureau.com) allows you to search many records. The Freedman’s Bureau took care of education, food, shelter, clothing, and medicine for refugees and freedmen. When Confederate land or property was confiscated, the Freedman’s Bureau took custody. Records include personnel records and reports from various states on programs and conditions.

    • The African-American Genealogical Society of Northern California is a local group, but its website has monthly articles, online genealogy charts, discussion groups, and more. It is worth a visit. Find it at http://www.aagsnc.org.

    • AAGENE-L is a moderated mailing list for African-American genealogy and history researchers. Subscribe to the list by sending a message to [email protected] with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Details can be found at htttp://ftp.cac.psu.edu/~saw/aagene-faq.html.

Arab Genealogy

    • Linkpedium (the best-kept secret of online genealogy) has a page of Arab genealogy links at http://www.linkpendium.com/. You can also use the search box.

    • GenForum has a discussion group on United Arab Emirates genealogy at http://www.genforum.genealogy.com/uae.

    • Check Cyndi’s List Middle East page (http://www.cyndislist.com/middle-east) for a list of sites dedicated to history, culture, and genealogy research on the Middle East.

Australian Aborigines

    • The Aboriginal Studies WWW Virtual Library (http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-Aboriginal.html) has links to resources and articles concerning Australian aborigines.

    • The New Zealand WorldGenWebPage (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlwgw/resources.html) has links to many resources about New Zealand genealogy.

    • The National Library of Australia has a page on genealogy, located at http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/genelist.html, that includes links to many specific ethnic and family sites.

    • The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) has a page just for family historians at http://www.aiatsis.gov.au.

Caribbean Genealogy

    • Caribbean Genealogy Resources, located at http://www.candoo.com/genresources, lists links to archives, museums, universities, and libraries with historical and genealogical information for countries in the Caribbean. Another page from this site is http://www.candoo.com/surnames, which is a list of Caribbean surnames. The text files list surnames, places, and dates, as well as e-mail contact information for researchers looking for them.

    • Caribbean WorldGenWeb (http://www.rootsweb.com/~caribgw). Search RootsWeb for mailing lists for related queries and discussions.

British Virgin Islands Genealogy

    • British Virgin Islands Caribbean GenWeb (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bviwgw) has general resources, online records, query boards, and a mailing list.

    • Caribbean Genealogy-Resources-Microfilm Indexes (http://www.candoo.com/genresources/microfilms.htm) is a list of surnames in the Caribbean listed by surname and researcher.

    • Genforum.genealogy.com (http://www.genforum.genealogy.com) features a forum finder, and you can search by surnames. It also offers information on general genealogy topics, such as immigration, emigration, migration, religions, and wars.

    • BVI Civil Registry (http://crisvi.gov.vg/netdata/db2www.pgm/c2_public.ndm/start2) provides information on the BVI records going back to 1859. This would be an offline research opportunity. If you make an appointment, you can do research there. The General Civil Registry Office holds records of births, marriages, deaths, and wills from 1859 to present. The Anglican and Methodist churches hold records of baptisms, marriages, and deaths as follows: Anglican Church: baptisms (1825–1861), marriages (1833–1946), and burials (1819–1867); Methodist Church: baptisms (1815–1895 and 1889), marriages (1877–1934), and burials (1845–1896).

    • The Inland Revenue Office records ownership of houses, land, and other property.

    • Tax lists containing pertinent information are published annually.

    • The Land Registry holds property identifiers, including indexes and maps from 1972, public library information (newspapers from 1959 and various name indexes), BVI history books, and, from the Survey Department, ordinance 1953 maps and boundary maps from 1975. You can write to them at The Archives Unit, Deputy Governor’s Office, Burhym Building, 49 deCasro Street, Road Town, Tortola. (284) 468-2365 (phone) and (284) 468-2582 (fax).

Creole/Cajun Genealogy

The Acadians/Cajuns were the French settlers ejected from Nova Scotia by the British in the mid-eighteenth century. Some went to Quebec, and some to Louisiana.

“Creole” means different things in different places. In Latin America, a Creole is someone of pure Spanish blood. In the Caribbean, it means a descendant of Europeans; in the Guineas, it means someone descended from slaves, whether African or native to the islands. In the southern United States, the term refers to aristocratic landowners and slaveholders before the Civil War, part of the overall French/Cajun culture of the Gulf Coast. For almost all Creole research, parish records are your best bet—those and mailing list discussions!

    • Acadian-Cajun Genealogy and History (http://www.acadian-cajun.com) publishes records, how-to articles, history, mailing lists, maps, genealogies, and more.

    • The Encyclopedia of Cajun Culture (http://www.cajunculture.com) will give you good background information.

    • Acadian Genealogy Homepage (http://www.acadian.org) has census records, books, maps, and more.

    • The Cajun and Zydeco Radio Guide also has a list of family histories that have been posted to the Web at http://www.cajunradio.org/genealogy.html.

    • Canadian GenWeb is at http://acadian-genweb.acadian-home.org/Links.html. Here you will find links to surname forums, several personal websites, some census records and DNA studies.

    • The Louisiana Creole Heritage Center is located on the campus of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and on the Web at http://creole.nsula.edu. The Facebook page is http://facebook.com/creoleheritagecenter.

    • The Confederation of Associations of Families Acadian (http://www.cafa.org) promotes the culture and genealogy of Acadian families in America.

    • Search the RootsWeb mailing lists; there are several for Acadian/Cajun research and data in Louisiana and Canada.

Cuban Genealogy

    • The Cuban GenWeb (http://www.cubagenweb.org) has good pointers, tips, and exchanges on Cuban genealogy.

    • The Cuban Digital Library page (in Spanish—remember, the Chrome browser will translate for you) is at http://www.bibliotecadigitalcubana.blogspot.com/. This page has some digitized scholarly manuscripts much like Google Books. See Figure 16-2.

FIGURE 16-2. The Cuban Digital Library has digital books you can search.

    • Search Google Books for “Cuba” and “genealogy” or “history” for some good hits.

    • The Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami has a good website at http://www.cubangenclub.org/. Begun in 2001, the club works for the preservation of shared memories and experiences. The club also fosters an interest in the preservation of records and testimonies that document Cuban family history.

    • Florida International University, University of Florida, and other Florida colleges have good special collections with Cuban and Caribbean heritage items. For example, at FIU, check out the article “FIU Library Holds Unexpected Treasures” http://news.fiu.edu/2013/05/fiu-library-holds-unexpected-treasures/62827.

Doukhobors Genealogy

The history of this small sect of Russian pacifist dissenters is outlined in an article at http://rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cansk/Saskatchewan/ethnic/doukhobor-saskatchewan.html. The RootsWeb message boards at Ancestry.com have several topics on this group as well.

Gypsy, Romani, Romany, and Travellers Genealogy

    • The Gypsy Lore Society maintains a list of links on Gypsy history, genealogy, and images at http://www.gypsyloresociety.org/.

    • Romani culture and history are covered at http://www.romanygenes.com.

    • Learn about the Irish Travellers at these sites:

       • Irish Traveller (http://irishtraveller.org.uk/find-out-about-irish-travellers/history-and-culture/)

       • Romani & Traveller Family History Society (http://rtfhs.org.uk)

    • From the Surrey County Council site page at http://new.surreycc.gov.uk, click Heritage, Culture, And Recreation; then Archive And History; and then Diverse Cultures.

Hmong Genealogy

    • The Hmong people came to the United States from Laos at the end of the Vietnam War. The Hmong home page (http://www.hmongnet.org) has culture, news, events, and general information.

    • The Hmong Genealogy page (http://www.hmonggenealogy.com) has information as well.

Quaker and Huguenot Genealogy

    • My Quaker Roots (http://robt.shepherd.tripod.com/quaker1.html) is a site covering New England families of Maris, Palmerton, Jenkins, Smith, Nichols, Newlin, Rogers, Kinsey, Sherman, Palmer, Pugh, Fawkes, Mendenhall, and other Quakers.

    • The Quaker Collection (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jrichmon/qkrcoll/qkrcoll.htm) offers a collection of Family Group Sheets on the founders of certain larger Quaker families.

    • The Quaker Corner (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~quakers/) has many resources for Quaker genealogical research.

    • The Huguenot Society of America has a website and an e-mail newsletter at http://www.huguenotsocietyofamerica.org/.

    • The Genealogy Forum: Huguenot Genealogy Resources: Huguenot Timeline (http://www.genealogyforum.com/gfaol/resource/Huguenot/hug0006.htm) is a good overview of the movement.

    • Huguenot Ancestry by Noel Currer-Briggs and Royston Gambier (Phillimore & Co., Ltd., 1985) is available on Google Books.

    • A very good roundup of information is at http://www.familytreemaker.com/glc/links/c/c-people,ethnic-religious-groups.html.

    • The National Huguenot Association (http://www.huguenot.netnation.com). Here they have background information, links to records and databases, and more.

Jewish Genealogy

    • The first site to visit for Jewish genealogy is JewishGen.org (http://www.jewishgen.org). Mailing lists, transcribed records, GEDCOMs, and more are at the site. You can also find links to special-interest groups, such as geographic emphasis or genetics.

    • Your next stop should be The Israel GenWeb Project website (http://www.israelgenealogy.com), which serves as a resource for those researching their family history in Israel.

    • Sephardic Genealogy (http://www.sephardicgen.com) has links to articles and historical documents, as does Sephardim.com (http://www.sephardim.com), which has an article on Jamaican-Jewish history.

    • Canadian-Jewish genealogists should begin at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal (http://www.jgs-montreal.org), which contains a history of the first Jewish settlers there.

Native American Genealogy

    • Indians/Native Americans on NARA is a reference page with links to various government records resources. It can be found at http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/native-americans.html.

    • A good source on culture/heritage is a search engine called Native Languages of America, located at http://www.native-languages.org/.

    • The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples is a site that presents categorized links to Canadian aboriginal, Native American, and international indigenous sites on the Web. The genealogy page is at http://www.abo-peoples.org.

    • The African-Native American History & Genealogy webpage, located at http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/, is mostly concerned with the history of Oklahoma and surrounding areas.

    • Access Genealogy’s Native American Genealogy page, located at http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native, has transcribed records and a state-by-state list of online sites.

    • The All Things Cherokee genealogy page is at http://www.allthingscherokee.com/genealogy.html.

    • The Potowami has a site at http://www.potawatomi.org, with a history of the tribe.

    • Many other tribes also have sites. Simply use any search engine for the tribe name, plus the word “genealogy,” and you’ll likely get a hit.

Metis Genealogy

Metis is a name for those of Native American heritage, but mixed tribes. A good place to start researching this is at http://metisnationdatabase.ualberta.ca/MNC/ which is the link for The Metis Nation Database.

Melungeon Genealogy

The origins of the people, and even the name, are controversial, but the Appalachian ethnic group called Melungeon seems to be of European, African, Mediterranean, and Native American descent. One legend is that Sir Francis Drake marooned Portuguese, Turkish, and Moorish prisoners on the North Carolina shore in the 1560s, who then married the Native Americans.

Melungeons are documented as far back as the eighteenth century in the Appalachian wilderness. They are found in the Cumberland Plateau area of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, and, some argue, North Alabama. Melungeon genealogy took on new and exciting relevance with the publication of The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People by Dr. N. Brent Kennedy (Mercer University Press, 1997). One interesting theory in the book is that Abraham Lincoln bears the Melugeon characteristics of his mother, Nancy Hanks.

    • Melungeons and Other Mestee Groups (http://www.melungeonmestee.webs.com) by Mike Nassau is an online book on the subject that you can download.

    • One of the best places to start besides those listed here is the Melungeon Heritage Association, at http://www.melungeon.org.

    • An informational page called “Avoiding Pitfalls in Melungeon Research” is at http://www.melungeonstudies.blogspot.com/2009/08/avoiding-pitfalls-in-melungeon-research.html. This is the text of a talk presented by Pat Spurlock Elder at “Second Union, a Melungeon Gathering” held in Wise, Virginia, in July 1998.

    • The Melungeon Resource page includes a FAQ file, located at http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mtnties/melungeon.html.

    • The Appalachian Mountain Families page includes information on Melungeons and is found at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~appalachian.

    • Some rare diseases are characteristic of Melungeons. The Melungeon Health Education and Support Network, at http://www.melungeonhealth.org, describes some of these diseases and has links to resources about them.

Wrapping Up

    • Many ethnic groups have started mailing lists, newsgroups, and history sites.

    • Once a month, use your favorite search engine to find new sites by searching for the ethnic term and “genealogy.”

    • Stay on mailing lists to discuss your ethnic “brick walls” and share your breakthroughs.