In Black and White: Cross-Cultural Genealogy

What we can learn from apprenticeship records Yesterday we looked at the 1860 Census for Isaac Carter and his siblings, who were apprentices in the household of William Temple, a 55 year old white farmer who lived nearby, and who owned a farm worth $1500 and personal property valued at $700. His wife, Rhoda, was a 47 year old woman who kept house. Their oldest child, Henry C., age 16, was a farm laborer; and their other son,William G., was 14 years old. The gap between 1850 and 1860 was more than just ten years in a family's lifetime. The parents died...family dispersed. So, the next set of documents to search for were the apprenticeship records. Today we'll examine the first record in the file: a letter from Isaac's grandfather, Kelsor Braddock. Following is a transcription of that letter. All spellings are as found in the original document. Doc 1: CCPL microfilm: MF G.028.2028002 To the cort of Please and quarter   sessions Greeting This is to certify that ...

What we can learn from the 1860 Census From this point on we will refer to the youngest Carter child as Zach in order to reconcile the 1850 enumeration of Zacchaeus and the 1860 enumeration of Zachariah. In 1860, census enmuerators were given fourteen questions to ask citizens, with the only addition being Question 9: Value of Personal Estate. This is the document which first started me wondering about the church’s influence on young Isaac Carter’s life. In the post entitled, Ministers andpreachers of Township 5: 1860: William Thomas, B.B. Culbreth & Pearce W.Gorell , I began to formulate questions for further church history research. Goodings, Craven, NC; Roll: M653_894; Page 10, Image 19. Goodings, Craven, NC; Roll: M653_894; Page 9, Image 18. 

What we can learn from the 1850 U.S. Federal Census In our case of Isaac Carter (the younger), we begin with the 1850 Census, the first census to enumerate each member of the household, not just the head of household. The 1850 Census asked thirteen questions: Dwelling-house numbered in order of visitation; Families numbered in the order of visitation; The name of every person whose usual place of abode on the first day of June, 1850, was in this family; Age; Sex; Color: White, black, or mulatto; Profession, Occupation, or Trade of each Male Person over 15 years of age; Value of Real Estate owned; Place of Birth, naming State, Territory, or Country; Married within the year; Attended school within the year; Persons over 20 years of age who cannot Read & Write; Whether deaf & dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict. 1850 U.S. Federal Census , Craven, North Carolina ; Roll:  M432_626 ; Pages:  317B and 318A ; Images:  ...

When I first started researching my family history, my mentor ( Elise Bernier-Feeley , local history and genealogy librarian at Forbes Library ), started me out with searching the Census records for my parents and working my way back generation by generation. Then we pulled out regional and world gazetters, books containing maps and descriptions of the cities and towns where our ancestors lived. It took me a while to assemble all these statistics. And then, I graduated to church records, city vital records and newspapers. From there I progressed to land deeds and wills. . . and then, military records, i.e. service records and pension files. Every now and then I re-approach an old "problem"...something I want to know more about that the dry facts available at the time cannot sufficiently answer. That's when I sit back and start brainstorming. I might read part of a novel or an historical memoir, perhaps watch part of an old film on TCM . I start to approach the ...

In the midst of rifling through papers, clicking back and forth between browser tabs, and making a list of all the documents I need to order from the New Bern-Craven County Public Library's Kellenberger Room and from the Craven County Register of Deeds , I received a message about  a special event... ...an event which commemorates another which occurred 150 years ago  between March 23 and April 26, 1862... ...one that made a lasting impact upon Isaac Carter's future... This morning I received a most welcome email from John F., who sends me the monthly Fort Macon Dispatch. This particular message, however, shared the links to two videos and a photo album of the special events which took place at the fort this past month, commemorating the 150th Anniversary of The Siege of Fort Macon. My husband and I had first visited Fort Macon  in the summer of 2007, and since that time I was able to order a copy of Isaac Carter's Civil War Pension File   (of ...