In Black and White: Cross-Cultural Genealogy

Maria Williams-Cole, SAR Grave Memorial Service, 2014 In 2014 at the culmination of my research for the North Carolina Society Sons of the American Revolution (NCSSAR), I wrote a post entitled, Private John Carter: Revolutionary War Pension File (R1749)  He was honored on March 16th of that year at the Grave Memorial Ceremony at Harlowe Community Center in North Harlowe, North Carolina--in the community where my father-in-law, Chester Carter Sr., was born and raised.  Vetting Sources When I worked with the NCSSAR, I not only researched the list of Patriots names the group supplied me with, but I gave them my database of over 2,500 descendants of Paul and Hannah Carter and Peter and Joan George, the progenitors of the Carter and George families in North Harlowe, along with the intertwined branches of that tree, including the familiar surnames of those still living in the community: Anderson Andrews Bannister Battle Becton ...

Transcription 3749 Image 2 of 12 North Carolina Martin Black, Private, North Carolina line In the army of the United States during the Revolutionary War Inscribed on the Roll of North Carolina at the rate of Eight Dollars per month, to commence on  the 22nd of April 1818-- Certificate of Pension issued the 20th of October 1818 and Sent to John Lewis Tayler Esq. Judge Newbern Arrears of 4th of Sept 1818.....                                 35:47 Semi-anl. all'ce ending 4th March 1819.....     40:--                                                                                                  $...

Compiled Service Records The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) didn't begin its database of  Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) , beginning with Union Civil War veterans, until the 1890s. When I researched my husband's great-grandfather, Isaac Carter's United States Colored Troops (USCT) Civil War service, I ordered the file from NARA. All 175 pages of it.  And yes, there are way too many Isaacs in the family. But when the archives transcribed the Revolutionary War Service Records, the file contained the jacket and the muster roll card. It doesn't mean that other records don't exist out there. As researchers and authors, our job is to locate, compile, and analyze the extraneous pieces into a complete file. But how I wish for that one letter from the North Carolina Secretary of State authorizing our patriot's service found in other patriots' pension files. So from here on out, I will create the compiled service record of Private Isaac ...

Reckoning Dates  Library of Congress, Special Collections. Of all of Haun's North Carolina Army Accounts transcriptions discussed in Part 6 of this series, those from Volume II, Book 1 were the most helpful in establishing service dates. The other account ledgers prove that these men served, but not when because payment dates could be anytime after service--sometimes months or years later. So let's take a look at the language of these entries. In Vol. II, Book 1, Page 120 [545]: Allow'd William DOVE Soldier for pay and defy. of Cloathing [ sic ] of October 1780 Including Interest to August 1, 1783....127 pounds, 2 shillings, 0 pence. In Vol. II, Book 1, Page 124 [549]: Allowed Martin BLACK Soldier for pay and Defy. of Cloathing [ sic ] to 1st. June 1780 Including Interest to August 1st, 1783....119 pounds, 9 shillings, 5 pence. In Vol. II, Book 1, Page 124 [549]: Allowed Isaack PURKINS Soldier for pay & defy. of Cloathing [ sic ] to June 1780 Includg. Interest to Augus...