Carolynn and Brian spend a significant amount of time discussing how Ancestry’s planned removal of DNA matches under 10cMs will negatively affect four distinct ancestral groups in Brian’s ancestry.

Respected genealogist and scientist Roberta Estes understands how damaging Ancestry DNA’s proposed changes to its matching threshold will negatively affect African American genealogists: “Let me add that if you are…

The case I am working on couldn’t be more different. It involves the multiple movements of enslaved people across the nascent United States. I thought I would do a write-up in the form of a case study for the work I have done to-date.

When it comes to researching enslaved people, finding the slavery-related documents they may appear in is a critical part of this type of research. That’s pretty self-apparent. What may not be so readily apparent is deciphering the information that is contained in these documents. An enslaver’s probate records – his or her last will and testament, codicils, and estate inventories – are pretty straightforward documents. If the genealogy gods are with us, these documents can also spell out family relationships among the enslaved people who are cited in probate records.

The case I am working on couldn’t be more different. It involves the multiple movements of enslaved people across the nascent United States. I thought I would do a write-up in the form of a case study for the work I have done to-date.

When it comes to researching enslaved people, finding the slavery-related documents they may appear in is a critical part of this type of research. That’s pretty self-apparent. What may not be so readily apparent is deciphering the information that is contained in these documents. An enslaver’s probate records – his or her last will and testament, codicils, and estate inventories – are pretty straightforward documents. If the genealogy gods are with us, these documents can also spell out family relationships among the enslaved people who are cited in probate records.