Voila! Finding Context for Your Research and Family History
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| Card catalog by Reeding Lessons. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) |
If you ever had to write a research paper in high school or college, step one was always the "literature survey" -- finding out what had been published about your topic. Remember when that meant asking the librarian to show you where in the card catalog to look, to begin that search?
Very often we skip that step now, especially when researching our own families, because we have our own personal knowledge as context. But do we really?
Why Do a Survey?
For our Black Heritage of Franklin project, I've been working on families in Chester, Randolph County, Illinois, where many of the families seem to have been free people of color. After reading part of a paper about Brushy Fork IL, I got curious and searched for a more general article about Blacks in early Illinois. I began with a Wikipedia article about Chester and Randolph County, including where it is located, which is in the south of the state, separated from Missouri by the Mississippi River, originally bordering Kentucky. Then I found African Americans in Illinois, full of so much useful information:
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In 1800 Illinois became part of the Indiana Territory, which was created from the old Northwest Territory. The territorial government enacted a “Black Code” that effectively barred slaves from gaining their freedom by permitting lengthy terms of “indentured servitude,” which bound workers to a particular person for a period of time in return for shelter and food. Indentured servitude allowed landowners to acquire cheap labor despite the prohibition of slavery in the Indiana Territory.
Perhaps one day, we'll find some evidence in Chester of the Underground Railroad? From the same article:
A complex system of routes and hiding places called the Underground Railroad helped an estimated 45,000 slaves achieve freedom. Known to have existed as early as 1786, the Underground Railroad was increasingly more active following the War of 1812. By the 1830s Illinois and other northern states had become a part of the network. Illinois had stops and hiding places in cities and towns such as Chicago, Quincy, Alton, and Chester.
This history helped me to understand why some men and their families were willing to go mine coal in Franklin, when their families had been free in Illinois for so many years. Washington State was seen as a fresh start, without the remains of the Black Codes and accompanying racist attitudes. Their move was an early part of the Great Migration of Black folk from the Old South to the north and west.
Striking Gold in California
Inspired by this good experience, I began looking for the history of Blacks who moved to Los Angeles early last century, when my son-in-law's family moved there from Colorado. Their migration post-Civil War went from Kentucky to Atchison, Kansas, the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), then Pueblo, Colorado and finally LA. I wanted to understand the social system awaiting them and found at first an unsatisfying article, but it mentioned that a Black-owned newspaper called the LA Sentinel still publishes, so I clicked to it and tried the search box, typing Sanford Jones, and voila! one of the hits was an article called Honoring Black Firefighters in Los Angeles. I used control-f to search for Sanford in the article, and found this wonderful photo:
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| Afr-Amer… – (L-to-R): Fireman Billl Cotterell, Capt. James Akers, Fireman Sanford Jones and Fireman Herb Spragin (Courtesy of AAFFM) |
If this photo was taken in the 20s, as it looks to me, the Sanford Jones pictured came to Los Angeles in 1919. By 1930 he was enumerated as a "laborer; city." However, if it was staged at the African American Firefighter Museum it could be his son Sanford Jones Jr., Jason's grandfather. I've written to the Museum to see if they have more information. Isn't this amazing?
A "literature survey" can be fantastically successful. In these two examples, the common thread of the Great Migration, that yearning for freedom and dignity becomes clear, and provides a firmer foundation for the research results.
Try it! I think you'll like the results you get. Tell us about your experience in the comments, please.
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| Valorie Zimmerman |
1. By Illinois_Locator_Map.PNG: US Census, Ruhrfischderivative work: Fishal (talk) - Illinois_Locator_Map.PNG, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10693838
Oh Valorie, you inspired me to browse. What a great payoff!
ReplyDeleteI had several Civil War ancestors' families near Muncie, Indiana. A few months ago I found an Indiana militia bounty check (like a signing bonus) from the county. It was endorsed by the first husband of my great-great-grandmother, Sarah Ann. I love his name: Fantley Hopkins Naylor. This was in the Archives and Special Collections of the Ball State University Library in Muncie.
Well, this week I did a location search for Delaware County, Indiana, on Family Search and it linked me back to Ball State. Their archives include 196 Civil War documents from Delaware County. OK, I thought, I'll browse a little. Well, it turns out not everything is indexed with names of individuals. Some were titled by the name of a whole group.
I already had his widow's pension application file. Fantley Naylor enlisted in Co. K of the 84th Indiana Infantry in August 1862.
But while browsing, I discovered a number of local militia groups formed under the Indiana Legion, “1st For the purpose of learning and improving ourselves in the Military tactics of the County, 2nd To offer our Company as a unit, at any time their Services are demanded by the Government, should the volunteer force of the State be insufficient." One had two versions, a week apart. I looked them up, and both were Saturdays. And they had great names--the Liberty Rangers, the Union Blues, the Noble Guard, the Bethel Home Guards, the Selma Legion.
The nearest post office to the Naylor farm was at Granville, IN. Lo and behold, up popped a roster of the Granville Sharp Shooters, signed 17 July, 1861. And there on the roster was Fantley H. Naylor! SO, the year before he went off with the 84th Regiment, Fantley was marching (?) around Granville with a lot of fellows from town every weekend or so. A similar group listed their ages. Though most were in their 20s and 30s, one was 15 and two were in their 80s!
I spent three days wading through these 196 various types of war-related records. I did find Sarah Ann's two brothers, one who survived the war and one who did not. Two years after Fantley died, Sarah Ann moved back near her childhood home in Ohio. There she married my great-great grandpa. But how did she survive in the meantime?
She had scant family left. Was she still tending chickens and pigs? Could she feed the cow for milk and butter for her three children? Both of her sisters had husbands off to war as well, and only one of them came back. Did these gals go hungry?
At last a clue. After scanning dozens of county auditor reports from "family relief" agents, I finally discovered one listing the deceased F.H. Naylor. It was a ledger showing Sarah Ann had been granted $1.50 per week for the quarter between June 11 and Sept. 3, 1866. I had read about fundraisers in Muncie, but this was an actual allowance from the state, administered by the county. As the locals had enticed their young men to go to war to avoid having a draft, so they also supported the families left behind.
Marcia Ford
https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/LSTACivWar/id/8806/rec/3496
Your reply, and Valorie's article, are so interesting! By the way, my maiden name is Naylor and that is the second time today that I ran across another Naylor mentioned. Mine are from West Yorkshire, England. I realize your Naylor isn't a biological relation, but it's fun to find the name as it isn't too common.
DeleteP.S. The firefighter photo is priceless!
ReplyDelete