African American Genealogy Conference in Harlem (DeseretNews - May 9, 2014) #Harlem Education News EXCERPT: “One effective way to retain [the] youth is to involve them in family history,” said Ahmad S. Corbitt, director of the Church’s New York Office of Public and International Affairs, in speaking at the African American Genealogy Conference on May 3, 2014. He saw in his own family this turning of the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers (Mal 4:6). Last year, Brother Corbitts 24-year-old daughter enthusiastically told him she had found her great-grandfather in a census. He said, It was as if she had met him herself. Brother Corbitt felt this experience also brought them closer as father and daughter. Drawing more than 200 participants, the conference was co-sponsored by the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society and the Church and was held at the Harlem meetinghouse. Sharon Wilkins, president of the New York chapter of the AAHGS, gave brief introductory remarks noting the “tremendous spirit, tremendous ingenuity and tremendous history” of the occasion. The session speakers included Dr. Marion T. Lane of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and Mary H. Slawson, of Provo, Utah. Although Dr. Lane’s father often told her she had ancestors who served in the Revolutionary and Civil wars, it wasnt until 2006 when she watched a PBS documentary African American Lives that she began to research her family roots. The show featured her family, the Browns of Charles City County, Virginia, as a free black family dating back to colonial times. Her curiosity was piqued. Through her research of wills, pension records, the Charles City County Register of Negroes and Mulattoes and Revolutionary War Roster, Dr. Marion discovered that her fourth great-grandfather, Isaac Brown, was a fourth-generation descendant of blacks who had been brought to the Virginia colonies as indentured servants, not slaves. Isaac enlisted in the Continental Army in 1777, serving as a sergeant under George Washington at Valley Forge and fighting in the battles of Guilford Courthouse, Siege of Fort Ninety-six and Eutaw Springs. Mrs. Marion feels great pride in her patriotic heritage and has shared Isaac’s story with family members and many others.
Posted on: Sun, 11 May 2014 01:41:28 +0000
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