Prince Rivers Accepts the Colors

Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Washington Course - Charleston

Photo available from The Charleston Preservation Society.

Slave Row - Port Royal Island

Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Pension Card File of Shedrick Manago

Photo Courtesy of The National Archives and Records Administration, Washington,D.C.

The Greaves Map of Mitchelville

Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Monday, May 28, 2012

Honoring the Civil War Service of Pvt. Shedrick Manego of The 34th Regiment United States Colored Troop Co. E

Gravestone of Shedrick Manigo, 34th Regiment, USCT Company E
Beaufort National Cemetery - Beaufort, SC


Pension Card File of Pvt. Shedrick Manego
34th Regiment, United States Colored Troop Company E
Courtesy of the National Archives 



Saturday, May 26, 2012

Gullah Festival kicks off

Friday, May 25, 2012

Site of the Day: 


GENEALOGY WISE is the Social Networking Solution for Hopelessly addicted genealogists.  Post a Profile, Join Groups, Chat, and Share Videos.  This site has it all for those that want to speak 24 hours on one thing..and that's genealogy.  I just happened upon this site but ohhhhh boy, I am making up for lost time.  I have yet to find anything I don't like about this site, but I must confess, I have not looked at all its features.  Unlike other sites it does allow me to speak to individuals who not only research genealogy but have been researching their genealogy for a really, really long time.  Some of the best leads I ever got were from talking to other genealogists who are obsessed with this hobby and now profession just as much as me.  I don't if you are familiar with the term "freak flag"  but genealogists you can wave yours here.  There is even a store dedicated to all that is the madness of family research.  I find myself so excited about using my latest Genie App almost like a kid in a candy store.

So Join, Genealogy Wise and when you do...add me as a friend. I blog on genealogy wise also.

Droid for GENEALOGISTS....

I'd just like to say on this blistery morning.  Thank God for my DROID and my Genealogy Apps...

Wednesday, May 23, 2012


Kick your weekend off with style and join up with some of the best Genealogy Bloggers and Researchers in the DC/MD/VA area.

The Jazz in the Garden Genealogy Social Club is holding its very first social event of the summer. We will be meeting at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden at 5:00pm on Friday June 8, 2012. The garden fills quickly, so if you can, get there early. For more information on the event, go to the Facebook Group of the same name at https://www.facebook.com/
groups/22673596606.
Can’t come? No problem tell a friend. Make sure you RSVP so that we know that you are coming. Unfamiliar with Jazz in the Garden? Go to:
 http://http://www.nga.gov/programs/jazz/.

About Us:


The Jazz in the Garden Genealogy Social Group is D.C.'s first and only Genealogy Happy Hour for the Tech savvy Family History Enthusiast. Started in May of 2012, The Jazz in the Garden Genealogy Social Club meets regularly to share funny stories, meet other local history fans, provide help sessions, support and assist other members, and sponsor long-term preservation projects.


So...



Chase down leads on your laptop and make friends with some of the most interesting characters in the business.

If you're new, don't get discouraged.  Still come!  You'll just get LOTS of attention.

For more information go to:  http://genealogysocialclubdc.eventbrite.com/


This is not your grandmother's Genealogy. It's Genealogy 2.0!

National Archives Opens Gates to Immigration Exhibition June 15, 2012

Press Release
May 3, 2012

National Archives Opens Gates to Immigration Exhibition June 15, 2012
"Attachments: Faces and Stories from America’s Gates"


Washington, DC…On Friday, June 15, 2012, the National Archives will unveil a new exhibition, “Attachments: Faces and Stories from America’s Gates”. Located in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, “Attachments” is free and open to the public, and runs through September 4, 2012.

“Attachments” tells the stories of 31 men, women, and children who found themselves at the gateways to America between 1880 and the end of World War II. Their stories are told through original documents and photographs that were “attached” to government forms, and draw from a few of the millions of immigration case files at the National Archives.

The exhibition explores both physical and emotional “attachments” -- the attachment of immigrants to family and community, and the attachment of Americans to their beliefs about immigrants and citizenship.

“Attachments” is divided into three sections: Entering, Leaving, and Staying.

Entering examines the exciting, strange, and frightening experience of entering a new country. For most immigrants to the United States, the actual entry processes at immigration arrival points lasted only a few hours or days. Still, the stakes were high. For those escaping religious or political persecution, the outcome of their immigration application could mean life or death. Some individuals took desperate measures including forging visas; others created false families or crossed borders illegally. Many appealed detention or fought deportation in the courts.

Leaving shares the stories of immigrants who - willingly and unwillingly- left the United States. While some immigrants came for only a short time and left by choice; others wanted to enter, but were turned away. For some immigrants who successfully entered, the ultimate punishment for a criminal past -- which may have included financial trouble, a disability, or “moral turpitude” -- was deportation.

The final section, Staying, examines what it meant to leave behind the familiar and stay in America. While not all immigrants chose to stay, for those who did, making a life in a new land presented both opportunities and challenges. Feelings of loss and nostalgia over “the old country” balanced the thrill of greater freedom and the chance to begin again. American ideals of inclusion, democracy, and individual rights faced off against the reality of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping. For many, these struggles were resolved, in part, by taking the steps to become a U.S. citizen. For others, it was enough to live as an alien in America for the rest of their lives.

In “Attachments,” visitors will discover dramatic tales of joy and disappointment, opportunity and discrimination, deceit and honesty. They will learn about these stories through original documents and images, and will have the opportunity to look into the eyes of the immigrants through large photomural portraits. Entering the gallery, they will pass by a large (8 x 26 feet) panoramic photograph of Angel Island, the immigration station in San Francisco Bay which was sometimes called “The Ellis Island of the West.”

People you will meet in “Attachments” include:

A woman from Michigan, married to a Chinese man, who learns upon trying to leave the country that under U.S. law at the time, when she married her husband, she lost her U.S. citizenship and “became Chinese” for immigration purposes.

A Hawaiian boy taken by his parents to Japan who returns years later wanting to work in California. However, U.S. immigration officers doubt his story and detain him at Angel Island, despite his Hawaiian birth certificate.

A Chinese woman who sails for the U.S. in 1927 with her new husband. The couple devises strategies that allow them to successfully negotiate prejudices about Chinese women trying to enter the country for immoral purposes. Seventy years later, their granddaughter discovers their wedding photograph in her grandmother’s immigration file.

A young Polish child - whose parents are murdered by the Nazis - hides for two years in the Polish forests with an uncle and cousin. The boy survives the war but then spends six years in four refugee camps. Finally, in 1951, he is able to leave Germany and comes with his cousin to the U.S. He ends up in Cleveland, Ohio, where he is placed in a foster family, and becomes a U.S. citizen.
The Archives Shop will also feature an exhibition catalog and new Genealogy Tool kit in conjunction with “Attachments: Faces and Stories from America’s Gates.” All Archives Shop proceeds support the National Archives Experience and educational programming at the National Archives.

The National Archives is located on the National Mall on Constitution Avenue at 9th Street, NW. Spring/summer hours are 10 AM – 7 PM (March 15-Labor Day).

# # #

For more information on or to obtain images of items included in the exhibition, call the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.

Monday, May 21, 2012

African American Genealogy in Rural Southern Areas

We have now started to book a series of workshops in rural southern areas in order to collect and then preserve the stories of African Americans living in these most remote regions of our country.  Our first workshop grant is with the Lobeco Branch Library in Beaufort County, SC. 

The Senior populations in many of these Southern Areas are very isolated and the seniors living there do not speak easily with outsiders and so getting their family stories for local district and state collections is darn near impossible.  We hope with our project to inspire other groups of professional genealogists to donate their time researching genealogies within populations that otherwise would not be able to afford.  Our 8 Workshop Series starting in August will educate and inform Library patrons on local, state and federal records research.  For more information on the Lobeco Library Branch Workshop contact Gina Molter at 843-255-6475 or send an email to gmolter@bcgov.net.

For additional info on African American Genealogy with Fallon Green speaking dates go to http://www.speakermix.com/fallongreen


The 8th Annual National Archives Genealogy Fair 

Washington, DC