A maiden name is the difference between uncovering a new family line and being stopped indefinitely. My 2nd Great-grandma, Clifford Lawson’s maiden name had been buried. Although, I had identified her on the United States Federal Censuses from 1900 to 1940 none of them revealed it. Going through Ancestry.com and other sources, the feeling was…
“Grandma Grace is in the middle of my brother’s head,” Aunt Vicki texted then sent the photo. I immediately recognized Granddad Charles, a much younger and vibrant man than I had lived with. But this woman couldn’t be my Great-grandma Grace. She didn’t fit my imagination on the melanin spectrum. She wasn’t dark brown like…
“I was the darkest of my siblings,” Grandma said, “he reminded me everyday how he treated me.” Arlene Allen, is my paternal Grandma, the matriarch of the Allen family. But at this moment, she was the child her father hurt. I doubt I showed shock. My jaw didn’t drop. Nor did my eyes bulge. We…
“Your battery is low,” popped up on my laptop’s screen a moment after I discovered the marriage certificate information of my Great-Grandparents – Japheth Trumpet and Irene DePeiza on Ancestry.com. I raced through the living room and kitchen looking for the power cord as I thought this could be the breakthrough I needed. My information…
I’ve been curious about my family tree for sometime. I don’t know when it started. It could have been when my aunt Grace told a story about re-connecting with our family in Saint Vincent. Maybe it was the silence that swept my maternal Granddad’s face when I asked him about his father. Maybe it was…
Rashaunjallen 