The Forgotten Patriots Project at SOFAFEA.org

It's been years since I've written in this blog. So much in my life has changed since I researched for the North Carolina Society Sons of the American Revolution for the Forgotten Patriots Project. In the past, I wrote about

the Revolutionary War Pension Files,
the SAR Grave Memorial Ceremony honoring the fourteen free Patriots of Color from Harlowe, Craven County, North Carolina who fought in the American Revolution (March 16, 2014), and
the Chartering of the only SAR Chapter named for a Patriot of Color, the Patriot Isaac Carter Chapter, named for my late husband Cedric C. Carter 's 3rd great-grandfather (September 3, 2016).

Photo Courtesy of Regina Yvette Carter Garcia, 2016

In August 2023, my brother-in-law, H. David Carter emailed me about an opportunity to continue my work on the Harlowe Patriots. The Society of First African Families of English America took the mantle of the Forgotten Patriots Project and is applying a multi-faceted approach. Since September 2023, I've been actively researching and writing about the details of the Harlowe Patriots' service by focusing on their regiments' movements in a series of engagements through three theaters of war. This has proved to be an enlightening challenge!

We are discovering new things about the trials our ancestors endured as we focus our research on the commanding generals, colonels, and captains of the soldiers' regiments found in written accounts of the battle history. Our sources go beyond the Survivor and Widow's Pensions, service records, and muster rolls, now including letters, diaries, state records, and military and local histories. Some of the things we thought we knew already have been proven flawed and we are correcting that through a series of books we will be publishing.

I am honored to be collaborating with about fifty authors and scholars on this project and will use this blog to help sort out some of the research questions I address as I work toward our first big deadline of March 31, 2024.

Honoring our Ancestors: Free Black Patriots of the Revolutionary War

When I was first contacted last October to assist in some research for a member of the DAR who was looking for the burial ground of her ancestor, Isaac Carter, I had no idea it would lead to such a wonderful tribute--with full honors--to our free black ancestors of Craven County, North Carolina. Nor would I have guessed that I would be meeting together with Ms. Maria William Cole, National Vice Chairman Insignia, of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, and a host of other dignitaries, from the highest officials of the SAR to state and local political and community service leaders, to pay tribute to these patriots. The turnout exceeded my expectation when this event proceeded on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon, with close to a hundred and fifty people or more, seated on folding chairs under three canopy tents. The microphone cable lay along the wet grass and soon died out, and we, the speakers, were asked to use our "mother's voices" to make o...

How Family History Writing Forces Us to Dig DEEPER

February is Family History Writing Month During the month of February, I went on hiatus from the Civil War Pension File of Isaac Carter in order to participate in the Family History Writing Challenge. My goal was quite ambitious, but I did succeed in setting up the framework of the family history memoir, and wrote a rough draft of the opening scenes. The memoir focuses on a promise I had made to our Cousin Hattie Carter Becton in an interview, following the the 2009 George Family Reunion in North Harlowe, North Carolina. In case you missed the Challenge, you can find the posts here . The site was developed especially for writing challenges, beginning with this year's; so, you may want to go back to the first posts in the archive. March was memoir reading, research & development month Last month I continued working on the writing, but also began focusing on webinars and YouTube videos related to writing memoir. Two really great sites are National Association of Memoir Writ...

Those Places Thursday -- Robert Livingston House, Little River, SC

In July of 2008 we attended the Prince Livingston Family Reunion in Wampee, Horry County, South Carolina (my husband's maternal family). During our down time we decided to take a drive through Little River where the plantation owner, Robert Livingston, had once lived. We inquired at the Visitor Center, and learned that the Robert Livingston House had been preserved as an historical landmark. The brochure we received listed several different sites that interested us, but the Livingston House was our first destination. We drove along Highway 17S and drove past the turn off for Lakeside Drive. At the next light we turned around and headed back down the highway until we came to the street. About two-thirds of the way down the road we saw a sign along the roadside: 19th Century Victorian Home for Sale. Was that the house? The number on the mail box was 4441. That's it! We got out of the car and looked around only to find that the owner was at home, and he was in the process...

In Black and White: Cross-Cultural Genealogy

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