February 2024 – post written by Chris Klukkert – Book Buy Chair
As I write this the rain has come. We need the rain, and maybe it is as good an excuse as we need to expand our genealogy research.
February is Black History Month, and coincidentally, I have been digging deeper into my southern plantation/slave-owning biological roots. Several DNA related black researchers have reached out to me and together we work to determine which slave owner we “share,” and also how to trace down descendants as yet unknown to us. It is a new area of research for me and so I have turned to (what else?!) our library collection (On first use, you will need to type in “SBCGS” in the upper box. No password is needed. ) to assist me in the how’s and even the where’s of that kind of research.
A very good resource for me has been Heather William’s Help me to find my people: The African American search for family lost in Slavery. She gives some very good practical advice on researching slave families, as well as resources for such a project.
A recent addition to our collection is the two-volume set of The Business of Slavery: evidence of control, power and wealth by Christine Mitchell. Although it concentrates on the South Carolina slave trade, it was illuminating in the type of paperwork and resources I should be looking for in my own State research.
As my southern historical family is large and many, I have also had the need to use our book, Index to Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations: Locations, Plantations and Collections by Jean l. Cooper. I have located several of my family’s plantations in this book, and found it especially helpful when I only have a surname or locale to start my search. It has also guided to me to collections of family records that I would not otherwise been aware of.
Most of my family was in either Virginia or North Carolina and the holdings we have at the Sahyun Library are abundant with great books that assist me in my research. Here are a few of my favorites: North Carolina Wills and Inventories by J. Bryan Grimes, Bertie County (NC) Heritage Book, 1792 – 2010 and William Byrd’s In Full Force & Virtue: North Carolina emancipation records, 1713-1860.
The list goes on and on, and I am always grateful for the gift of having our very own library of riches right here in Santa Barbara. Please come in and dig into YOUR area of research in our very own library stacks. We look forward to your visit, and also welcome your suggestions for other books for our collection.
If you’re out of the area and have a question please feel free to request Research Assistance
Here are the books from the New In The Library Shelf:
Early Charles County Maryl and Settlers 1658-1745
The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade:1440-1870
The Bebout Family: in Flanders and North America
Family Maps of Winnebago County, Illinois
The Passing of the Grand Army of the Republic
The History of the Town of Stoddard, New Hampshire
Jefferson County, Illinois Marriage Record Index 1819-1900
Please come in and have a look at our newly purchased books and all the other resources awaiting you at the Sahyun or if you aren’t in the area please check our catalog and our Research Assistance pages.
You may also want to support our library by being a Book Angel
Thank you for reading our Blog.
Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society
