What is your toughest brick wall currently?
In my research I found the names of 68 people who had been enslaved by the extended Lee families of Boyle and Lincoln Counties, Kentucky, and a few in Virginia from 1790 to 1865.
I was able to trace 15 people across the 1865 brick wall. There are about 13 that I think it may be possible to do so, but it’s going to take a bit of work for each one. Eventually I’ll make profiles for all 67 of the people, just in case someone else can shake their stories loose, but even if not, they deserve to be named, even if it is only scant information. I’m sure more records will come online and be indexed and more and more will be known.
What brought you to WikiTree and why did you start getting involved?
I started on Ancestry, but I was intensely frustrated by the lack of a respectful way to associate an enslaved person with their enslaver. On ancestry, I had to state the relationship first as “child of” or “spouse of” (gross) and then switch it to “unknown” (not true) but it would still show up on the tree as a family relationship (not true).
I found out about the US Black Heritage project on WikiTree, which has created a respectful system of being able to show these relationships, with making the relationship clear and making it possible for African American descendants to learn the life histories of their ancestors. The use of categories makes pages like “Slaves of Boyle County” and “Slaveholders of Boyle County” making it easier still for descendants to find the information they are looking for. I found my home with the project, and got trained on how to do the work.
What do you spend the most time doing on WikiTree?
I spend the most time down rabbit holes. Occasionally I find something good down there, and I try to come up for air now and then. I do it because I can’t help myself.
Which project are you most involved in?
I belong to the US Black Heritage Project, which aims to create the largest online public database of connected African-American families.
I love the collaborative nature, the team goals, the team leadership is awesome - Emma MacBeath, Denise Jarret, and Elaine Marzen keep the project moving forward and growing.
I love the fact that though I may only build a few hundred profiles this year, the team has already built 303,789 profiles in the past few years, and is well on its way to 400,000 by the end of this year.
I can count on team members to help me out when I’m stumped, cheer me on when I get something challenging done.
I kind of stuck my neck out and became a state team leader for Kentucky. I’m hoping that the Kentucky team can grow and make progress on the quarter of a million people enslaved in Kentucky in 1860.
How can others help the US Black Heritage Project?
The US Black Heritages welcomes volunteers. If you have interest in working on African American Genealogy, this is the team to join. If you are interested in Kentucky ancestry, I’d love to have you on the Kentucky team, but there are many other teams and sub-teams — for certain states, for notables, for cemeteries, connection work, enslaved ancestors, profile improvement. Basically pick an area of work that you enjoy doing. It’s all helpful.
What inspires you to contribute so much of yourself to WikiTree's mission?
I’ve been a hard worker all my life and I love to get stuff done. Being less physically able these days, WikiTree is a great place for me to hang out and do useful work.
What is your favorite feature or function on WikiTree?
I have to say I love the one tree concept, and the use of sourced footnotes. It tends to weed out the junk genealogy which tends to proliferate on other platforms.
Wiki Sourcer makes my work so much easier and prettier.
What feature or function would you most like to see added or improved?
There is so much on WikiTree, I wish there was a universal index. I try to bookmark anything I may want to come back to. The search engine is good, but doesn't work “intuitively” for me. Other people figure out clever searches and I simply save their searches as a bookmark and go back and adapt it to what I want and need. Otherwise I’m lost.