Monday, February 25, 2008

African American Lives on PBS

My family and I just watched the African American Lives 2 Segment - hosted by: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on PBS.

If you have access to this television channel, please watch this show. There were details of family lineage and their journey of the past. Some of the people featured were Chris Rock, Tom Joyner, Tina Turner and more. Mr. Gates presented each person with a portfolio of their family tree and the history of their family lineage.

As I've mentioned before, I am very interested in researching my father's side of the family to find out if I have any living relatives. I wrote this letter to him last year just to get out some of the emotions I've been feeling lately about missing him so much.

I know there are ways to research your genealogy tree and your family history, I just don't know where to start. Has anyone ever researched their family history? Have you been successful in your search? Where would you suggest I begin? Any help you provide would be greatly appreciated.

I have so many questions. So many ranges of emotions going through my soul when I think of my father and how I wonder so much about him.

Are there any living relatives (mother, father, sisters, brothers, did he have other children) on my father's side of the family?

Where are they?

How would I find out this information?

9 comments:

Adrienne said...

My hubby and I watched this and he got a BUNCH of info from his mom so he can get started.

Believer said...

I advise hiring a private detective to find out more about your father’s family.

Unknown said...

Hello???!!
Ask those Mormon bloggers - they are complete EXPERTS at family history. They will uncover things that you never thought you would find out about your family history. I found out that I'm more of a mutt than what I originally thought.

Aly Cat 121 said...

Start by asking the elders in the family and go from there. Get pictures too. You could also hire someone to do the work for you. They charge about $50 per hour. (my mom just hired her friend to do it, so that's how I know the price)

Babs said...

There was one non-star featured, Kathleen Henderson. She is a relative of mine. Like my grandmother's cousin. Pretty cool.

Shannan is right- mormon's have the records for everything. Especially slave records. They have a library that if you go to you would be shocked at how much stuff they have.

Diva's Thoughts said...

I have been wanting to trace my family for ages. I started a few years ago and kinda put it to the side but I have recently decided to pick that project up. It was exciting to find out all of the things I didn't know.

Teresa said...

Find your local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. It should have a family history center with people there to help you get hooked up. It's open to the public, but has certain hours that are usually posted outside the church doors. Or you could look up the phone number and just call the building. Good luck!

tisha paul said...

I watched it...I watched the 1st one last year too, I must say it was interesting...
Good luck in finding out all you can on your roots.

dawn224 said...

try ancestry.com first - but you'll only get a little bit of info before they want you to pay for it. If you find anything that looks right on but you'd have to pay, shoot me an email and I'll grab it for you.

familysearch.com is free, it's completely donated information though and it's not always accurate, but it's a start.

rootsweb.com is helpful if you know the counties your family was in at different times.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails