In Black and White: Cross-Cultural Genealogy

A little imagination goes a long way, but... when it's all said and done, documentation can leave big holes in your family time line! From the last known record of Isaac and Rhoda alive on October 8, 1850 to the day in September 1853 when the Justice of the Peace ordered the Sheriff to serve notice for Rhoda's parents to appear in Court with their grandchildren, there were one thousand seventy days... A lot can happen in the life of a family in two years, eleven months and four days... Unfortunately, none of the New Bern newspapers between those dates have survived. I suppose I could use a similar tactic in locating news reports from neighboring communities using a method valued in New England when tracking westward migration patterns...by drawing concentric circles, graduated in 25 mile increments...I will be able to more closely identify sources of regional news. Instead of using paper, pencil and a drafting compass, Google Earth works ideally for this purpo...

Mapping the trek from North Harlowe to New Bern, NC in 1853 In the past few weeks we've been examining types of documents which help us to piece together our ancestors' story. The starting point was the 1850 U.S. Federal Census where my husband's 2nd great grandparents, Isaac and Rhoda (Braddock) Carter,  lived with their children: Comfort, William, Mary Ann, Isaac, Nancy Matilda, Ananias and Zach. The next phase took me to the 1860 U.S. Federal Census where the children were living as apprentices in the household of William Temple. . . . and that led to the search for apprenticeship records  (1853). From the court order, another document was generated: the indenture . Following a re-examination of the 1860 Census, I was able to form an idea of how the William Temple household composition might have segregated the children from the main family with the presence of an older black house keeper and a mulatto boatman. In September 1853, the Justice of the Peace ordere...

Back to the 1860 Census... My husband recently purchased the DVD collection of Alex Haley's Roots and Roots the Next Generation for me. I remember viewing it the first time around on my parents' black and white television. But years later, as many Americans did, I revisited it on television re-runs . . . and then again when it was released on VHS. That time around I borrowed it from Forbes Public Library in Northampton, MA, and viewed it with our daughter. But this time, I took note of Haley's treatment of crossing into successive generations. Historical markers, such as the sharecropper houses on the former plantation, began to stir up imaginations within me about my husband's ancestors . . . especially in regards to young Isaac Carter and his apprenticed siblings. Looking back to the 1860 Census once again . . . I have looked at it many times, and each time I take note of various details. 1860 U.S. Federal Census ;  Goodings, Craven, North Carolina ; Roll:...

What we can learn from apprenticeship records Doc 2: CCPL Microfilm MF G.028.2028002 After several weeks of diversionary family research, which took the form of investigating those who lived closest to the Carter and Braddock families, I have assembled more material for later, and returned to the research at hand... apprenticeship . To the left is a photocopy from microfilm of the original instrument, the apprenticeship indenture, which I have transcribed below: [Transcription] STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA) CRAVEN COUNTY                   ) This Indenture, made the twelfth day of December  in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty three between the worshipful William J. Blackledge Esquire, Chairman and Presiding Justice of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of the county aforesaid, of the one part, and William Temple of the same county, of the other part, Witnesseth that the said Presiding Justice...