Combining research services with community education to bring the stories of Beaufort's Influential Black Past to Life.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
A biographical sketch is a brief account of an individual's life, often used by genealogists in the effort to compile and publish a detailed family history.
Black Cemeteries Online is a fully-searchable database of African American burial data containing over 14,485 obituaries and over 26,951 death notices. The database is free of charge and includes a mailing list. As of 2009, the site has been under new ownership and has documented over 90,000 African American family histories and burials. Updated daily, the website's genealogical content contains a notable connection to African American genealogy records in Georgia and Alabama.
BLACK GENEALOGY SEARCH GROUP
The Black Genealogy Search Group was founded by a group of individuals seeking to share large amounts of information with other large and small African American genealogy networks online. Its members and administrators gather and share genealogical sources, tidbits and anecdotals about the everyday lives of African American ancestors. The group maintains a mailing list, meets regularly and publishes a quarterly newsletter called "Black Tracks."
BLACK ROOTS: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO TRACING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY TREE
A leading African American genealogist, Tony Burroughs’s Black Roots: A Beginner’s Guide to tracing the African American Family Tree highlights the special problems that may confront the average African American genealogy researcher. A fun and easy –to- use guide, it relies on solid genealogical principles to answer the questions of both the novice and the veteran genealogist. A great book to add to your personal library, it explains all you will need to know to get started. Mr. Burroughs’s book teaches you how to manage your resources successfully while at the same time, keeping your search as affordable as possible and close to home. Its real case histories combined with numerous experiential accounts help the African American researcher pursue a search that is both personal and rewarding.
BOARD CERTIFICATION OF GENEALOGISTS (BCG)
The Board Certification of Genealogists is an independent organization not affiliated with or part of any group. A certifying body, it is internationally recognized and located in Washington, DC. The Board promotes standards in genealogical research through the recognition of certified persons and it maintains a listing of the names and addresses of certified associates. The roster, published electronically, can be accessed by the public on the Board’s “Find a Genealogist page.” Comprised of a panel of forty-five judges, the Board publishes regularly, an educational newsletter by the name of "On Board."
THE BOOK OF NEGROES
Nova Scotia
The Book of Negroes is a hand-written list of Black passengers leaving New York on British ships in 1783. It gives a name, age, physical description, and status (slave or free) for each passenger, and often an owner's name and place of residence. Compiled by British and American inspectors, researchers can read through Black Loyalist surnames recovered by the researchers during their 1998-'99 research project. Muster roll names have an asterisk * after the name. (The muster rolls were lists of people given provisions by the government.) In some cases, but not in all, Black Loyalists used an owner's surname. All names appear alphabetically, written exactly as they appear in the Book of Negroes and the muster rolls.
Three copies of the Book of Negroes exist: one in England, at the Public Records Office in Kew; one in the United States at the National Archives in Washington, DC; and one in Canada, at the Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax.
All research of the Black Loyalists begins with this list! They are all the surnames recorded in the Book of Negroes in 1783, with some additions from the 1784 Nova Scotia muster rolls.
Born in Slavery contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 photographs of former slaves. The narratives were compiled by employees of the Federal Writer’s Project. Held inside a total of seventeen volumes, the information is online and available by searchable database. Organized by staff and partners at the Library of Congress researchers can search by keyword, narrator, volume, subject and state.
BOUNTY AND DONATION LAND GRANTS IN BRITISH COLONIAL AMERICA
By Lloyd DeWitt Bostruck
Published in 2007, Lloyd DeWitt Bostruck’s, Bounty and Donation Land Grants in Colonial America provides researchers with pre-revolutionary war militia information like a soldier's date and place of enlistment, date and place of discharge, rank, assignments of title, military service, relatives and friends. Historically, land grants were issued after a soldier completes his duty in order to reward military service but donation land grants were land grants issued upon enlistment. These grants were usually given to create buffers in sparsely occupied areas where there existed close boundaries between settlers and Indians. Bostruck's book helps researchers track ancestor migrations through the examination of title transfers during this often tricky period. In the end it will give you a vast number of collateral relatives and lots of contextual leads.
BRIEF SKETCHES OF THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 1888-1895
Available through the website Access Genealogy, the source Brief Sketches of the American Missionary Society, 1888-1895 provides researchers with web-based religious content on Indian missions, School Farms, Mentions of Indigent cases, Records on 18th century immigrant outreach and more. Of most value to the African American is the information on the society’s work among new emancipated slave populations and evangelical missions in Indian Territory.