"Finding Your Roots" Genealogy J-Term 2022

Isabelle Saxon January 18th, 2022 Wrapping Up the Course         I think that it is human nature to want to know where we came from, to want to hear about those who came before us. To know where in the world our ancestors settled, what ethnicities have mixed and molded us into the way we are. Going into the course I knew quite a bit about my mother’s mother’s side of the family stories, names, and traditions were passed down to me. However I had only ever heard vague stories for the other sides of my family and I wanted to know more. I wanted an answer to how I got here, and what genetics came to make me the way I am. I think I underestimated how much information ancestry and the internet really has. I was able to find out a lot and I answered the questions I wanted answered. My Grandfather Charlie, My dad Charles, and My Uncle Jim I found where in Hungary my dad's family came from, and I managed to even see records of my 2nd great grandfather growing up in Swe...

Excerpt from Booker T. Washington's Book  Today we started the morning by watching two episodes of Finding Your Roots. The first episode we watched featured the comedians Jimmy Kimmel, Norman Lear, and Bill Hader. Henry Louis Gates Jr. took each one of the guests on a journey to learn about their European ancestors and their achievements. The second episode featured the stars Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari, and Maya Rudolph. In this episode, the guests learned about the hardships their ancestors had to face growing up. This episode also ended with a surprising plot twist when Amy Schumer found out that she shared DNA with Henry Louis Gates Jr. Along with watching two episodes of Finding Your Roots we continued to do some historical context research about the people we chose to highlight in our Books of Life. While I was doing this research I discovered two interesting things. The first thing I found was that my fourth great uncle was talked about in a book by Booker T. Washington. The ot...

 This morning we went over how to find stories within our own family trees and how to conduct historical research, and what we needed to complete our books of life. First, we had to finalize our family trees, next we had to gather images to add to our books of life, and the last step was to make a google doc and add all the information about the person/persons that we would like to highlight in our books of life. My first task of the day was to gather images for my Book of life. I found a couple of good photos and even letters that I found in my house between my great uncle and his sister who was my great grandmother. My next step this morning was to write down all the information that I wanted to include in my book of life. I was able to write down about half of the information I wanted to add to my book of life by lunch. After lunch, we watched an episode of finding your roots that focused on Latino heritage. after the Ancestry episode we continued to do our historical research. ...

  We began our morning at school, completing our gathering of questions and people to research at the Clayton Library. Once the group and our research questions were assembled we made our way through the Museum District to the library to begin our deep research! Upon arrival we got right to work, most went to the second floor for international research, however, I and a few others remained downstairs to research further into the U.S. I wanted to find some answers to my questions about my Native American heritage. I knew that my great-grandfather is a part of a smaller tribe in Maine, however, he lived with the Cherokee of North Carolina. Thanks to the assistance of the librarians at the Clayton Library and some long reading I was able to find some family names in a Cherokee census, leading me to believe my great-grandfather lived with family within the tribe!  After a long morning of research, we set off for the McGovern Centennial Gardens. Ms. Harrison filled us in, upon our ...

     Today, in preparation for our Clayton Library visit tomorrow, we worked relatively individually to specify which members of our families we wanted to focus on for our Book of Life. For the better part of the morning, we looked towards our dead-ends and then branched off from there, developing questions about what we want to know. In sharp contrast to the past week or so, we were instructed to not do further family research and instead just dive deep into the people who we wanted to include and highlight in our book. We were given flashcards and were then told to write our questions on these pieces of paper and take them to the Clayton library, as it is far easier than luging around our laptops while trying to research beyond the digital sources available to us on Ancestry.com. I surprisingly found a lot of information this morning on my paternal grandparents side and traced back his mom's family tree all the way to the late 17th century in Portugal. The Delaforce fam...

     Day 4 - Ending of the first week Morning     On the morning of the halfway mark for J-term, we start by sharing new discoveries from yesterday's class on our family trees. After discussion, we dove right into working on our family trees once again. Students who did not get the chance to meet with Ms. Harrison the previous day would now get the chance to. While all the students worked on their family trees some students met one on one with Ms. Harrison to get some help on roadblocks or stumps they may have come across during their time building their family tree. Students are making new discoveries every day and grow ever more excited about learning new things about their families. Near the end of the morning, I was able to sit with Ms. Harrison and talk with her about a serious roadblock I had faced while building my family tree. When sitting down with Ms. Harrison we were able to find some records for my mom's side of the family which I was struggling with...

 Day 3 - Continued Research                                                                                                    Morning     We began our morning by furthering our research into our ancestors. We looked through further documents, resources, and other primary sources. To keep us on track, each student met with Ms. Harrison to discuss their findings and how they can further enhance their studies. I found that much of my family's history is not located on Ancestry.com and I had to use different sources to track my family's background. Websites such as Family History, Findagrave, Familysearch, and many more are other sources I can use to track the origins of my family....

      On Wednesday morning, we dove into research on Ancestry.com and discussed different types of sources and the reliability of each.  Primary sources - questions to consider           Ancestry.com is full of primary documents that may or may not belong to the person we are researching. Ms. Harrison made a list of questions for us to ask about the primary sources. By questioning the author, intended audience, purpose, and historical context of the source, we can determine whether or not it is reliable information written by or about our ancestor(s). We also were encouraged to ask our parents and/or grandparents about the legitimateness of information we found about them or their relatives.  For example, I found my grandfather's naturalization appeal from 1971, but before adding it to my family tree, I sent a picture to my dad. Sure enough, he recognized my grandfather's signature! Screenshot; verifying a primary sou...

 Today students began their genealogy journey by walking to the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, a top-10 family research center in the United States. The library opened an hour early for us so that we could meet with librarians, Susan Kaufman and Melissa Hayes, and learn about the resources available at the library. We began with a presentation from Ms. Kaufman, the Director of Education for the Texas State Genealogy Society and the Senior Manager of the library. She shared her family research journey, including her first pedigree chart from when she began family research many years ago.       Presentation from Ms. Kaufman at the Clayton Library for Genealogical Research After the presentation, aided by Ms. Kaufman and Ms. Hayes, students began to look through some of the resources the library houses for preliminary information about their families. Some students were able to find information and some were not at this time. We began the conversatio...