Ask The Expert

Life is never dull for us as we daily provide Certified Family Trees ™ and professional solutions and answers on genealogy and family history for our US and International clientele. Today we helped a family find where their great- grandfather was buried in Martha’s Vineyard so they could decorate his grave for Memorial Day and share family stories with their children. Knowing where to look and how to read handwriting and interpret old records really helps on this kind of a job.

Then we delved into DNA testing for the heritage of an adopted child whose new parents generously wanted her to have all that they could provide about her ancestry. It was an open adoption, and after helping them identify and document the biological mother’s pedigree to her slave ancestors, we helped them with a DNA test that will become even more valuable over the years as the science and technologies of this industry grows and develops. Since Jim got his B.S. degree in Genealogy Technology in 1973, we have seen the family history world expand because of this scientific explosion. It isn’t your grandma’s genealogy anymore!

We next moved onto a family health history question for a man who had been abandoned as a baby by his father and never knew his grandparents or any paternal family member. Now that he had a son, he wanted to know any physical traits or health issues that his boy may inherit from these previously unknown ancestors. We found three generations including a military description of the great-great grandfather that mirrors his own physical likeness.

Intermittently throughout the day we worked on our upcoming research trip to Sullivan Co, NY for our New Archives African American Project. We are conducting historical research in antebellum records relating to early Black Slavery.  On February 22, 1788, the State of New York passed laws to assist slave owners in the process of freeing, or manumitting their slaves in the State and counties of New York.  On March 29, 1799, a law was passed for the gradual emancipation of slaves in New York by designating slaves born after March 29, 1799, as being eligible for freedom at the age of 25 years, and thereby requiring town clerks throughout every county to record the birth records of every slave child born in their towns after that date.  Almost every day for the past several months I have interacted with people from Sullivan as we look to uncover these historically obscure records that have been lost through historical amnesia. You really have to be open-minded when you get into this kind of research because it is a journey of discovery, with no known pathway. Oh are we having fun as professional genealogists!

We closed off the day with a value appraisal of a genealogy collection for charitable donation IRS tax write-off purposes. 43 years’ experience in genealogy records and resources was just what this project needed!

James W. Petty, AG, CG