African American Lives 2 on PBS

One of the more fascinating and inspiring shows to appear during the Black History Month cycle on PBS is AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2, a show which focuses on African American Genealogy from the perpective of a dozen black celebrities. We saw an earlier version of this show in 2007 and were struck with how similar the stories are to those within our own family. Genealogy is not everyone's bag, but we highly recommend this show.

AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2, a new four-part PBS series, explores roots, race and identity through the ancestry of remarkable individuals. Premiering February 6th and 13th.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/aal2

Joining Professor Gates in the new broadcast are poet Maya Angelou, author Bliss Broyard, actor Don Cheadle, actor Morgan Freeman, theologian Peter Gomes, publisher Linda Johnson Rice, athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, radio personality Tom Joyner, comedian Chris Rock, rock 'n' roll legend Tina Turner and college administrator Kathleen Henderson, who was selected from more than 2,000 applicants to have her family history researched and DNA tested alongside the series' well-known guests.

Trim the Tree and Fill in the Family Tree

The Holidays are here and it is time to gather together sharing gifts and fellowship. It is also the perfect time to begin or add to the information on your family tree. Why? Because everyone is there-- usually several generations of family members are present at once and Christmas also puts many people in the mood to talk about memory and family members from "Christmas' Past." Take a digital recorder with you to your holiday gatherings and ask a few questions. You never know what clues you may discover, clues that may set the direction of your genealogy searches for the new year.

It's also a time when estranged family members think about reconnecting. How many times has that call come in from a distant cousin wishing "holiday cheer" or wanting to "get back in touch." These are perfect opportunities to get more information on a part of the family tree that hasn't been updated in ages. We had the web version of one of these "getting back in touch calls" happen just a week ago when a descendant of uncle Jerry Williams found us on the web and made contact through our family email list. Her letter to the egroup began:

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Hello All:

I am happy to say that I am truly in awe that I "stumbled" upon the
site which traces my family history. I want to tell everyone hello
and that I look forward to speaking to you all and keeping in touch as
our family should. I am Kimberly Claxton (32 years old), daughter of
Calvin Claxton Sr. (82 years old)-Memphis, TN.

---

The response was immediate as family members reached out to welcome her and to find out where she fell in the Descendants of Mandi Tree. Here's a sample:

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Hello Kimberly! Glad you connected! Keep in touch. SMILE!

Rachel D Washington

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This is so great...and demonstrates the improved power of modern technology to help us re-connect and stay connected. And to think, Kimberly's family is in/from Memphis - the geographic nucleus of the family and where I was born and raised. Until now, the only descendents of Uncle Jerry I knew were the Jones', from Memphis, too. This proof that we can no longer take for granted that traditional modes of communication are the best and most effective ways for us to keep in touch. We're too large a family for that.

Great to meet you Kimberly,

Your cousin Nicole

---

"Who is your fathers immediate descendant? I take it you didn't make it
to St. Louis for the famiy reunion this summer."

Donna Washington descending from Dennis Williams

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I asked cousin Kimberly to take a look at her family's branch of the tree and tell us if it needed updating. She said that it was very outdated, as her siblings now had children, meaning that there were probably a dozen or more family members missing from their part of the tree. She has promised to get all the details as her family gathers for Christmas this year. We will all look forward to the additions to the family tree.

I hope we all are able to have a wonderful Holiday and to gain more wonderful details about our family's rich heritage. Remember all the Descendants of Mandi in your Christmas prayers. Peace on Earth and to you all.

Thanksgiving: The perfect time to fill out your Family Tree

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. It's a holiday that's got a lot going for it. Not only is it a chance to spend time with loved ones and family, but it's got football, good food, and an opportunity for lots of good conversation. Because most families will have many different generations in one place on Thanksgiving Day, it's also the perfect opportunity to interview senior family members about your family's history. The oral history that is shared at holidays like this can be used to create or fill out your family tree.

Sharing Family stories is powerful for several reasons.

1) It begins the process of younger family members knowing where they came from.

2) It allows those of us who are genealogy buffs to uncover another story or two which may not have been mentioned at past gatherings, providing further clues in our search for family-related facts.

3) It is a chance to gather clues to lesser known but equally important side of family history: THE FAMILY MEDICAL HISTORY. As we talk about family members who have passed away, often we will get little bits of information which are valuable in predicting health challenges for our living family members.

For example: a few years ago, in my family, someone recalled that one of my grandmother's had a baby sister who had died very young. Upon further questioning we found that she'd died of pneumonia. At that same time, a cousin was going through a period of Illness with her young child, which was eventually diagnosed as cystic fibrosis-- a rare disease among African Americans. But piecing together, the story of my grandmother's sister caused someone else to remember another earlier ancestor who lost three children to pneumonia. We realized that the cystic fibrosis gene had been showing up in our family every generation or two for many, many generations--the way that many other African American Families have the Sickle Cell trait.

A friend and former co-worker of mine named Karen Pallarito wrote an article which was picked up by FORBES, among others, that suggests that we all add family health history questions to our after-dinner conversation at Thanksgiving. Pallarito suggests that important information can be gleaned on family tendencies toward high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer and heart attack as well as chronic childhood diseases and birth defects.

She pointed out that U.S. health officials are urging us to ask questions: not just about relationships and life stories, but about causes of death and major health challenges. It could have a direct impact on our own health. Everybody, should begin tracing their medical roots this holiday season. Asking relatives to help fill in the blanks of your family medical history could be one of the most important things you do to predict your risk for developing such chronic conditions as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer, as Pallarito reported.

This concept was covered a couple of years ago in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/ but it can never be repeated enough.

So after dinner find out how your great-grand father died ...and while you are at it, be sure to get another civil rights story from your aunt, and another good war story from your favorite uncle.

See the entire story at the link below:

http://news.healingwell.com/index.php?p=news1&id=522236

Reply from the Short Austin Family Tree

In just a few hours I got a reply...from Lamont Beauregard, Short / Austin Family tree.

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Hi Eric,

You've made my day! Our ancestors in heaven must be smiling down at us.
I was as much pleased as surprised to hear from you. Prior to your e-mail the only information available to me on the Short/Williams side of our family was very limited. Now, thanks to you, I can add a lot of missing information.

I've just spent the past hour viewing your web site (with a deep sense of pride) and I must say, maybe even a little bit of jealousy. I must admit that my skills at web design, (I'm self taught), are quite limited and hopefully I can learn some pointers from you.

At the moment I'm somewhat at a lost words, or perhaps I should say in a "state of shock" so I'll make this brief, but I'm hoping we can combine our resources and tell all of our family's generations, present and future who we are.

Your Cuz,

Lamont


Short/Austin Family Tree
www.shortausatinfamilytree.com

Short/Austin Family Reunion 2005
http://www.shortaustinfamilytree.com/reunionflier.html

Making contact with distant cousins

While I was creating the Descendants of Mandi Genealogy Website, I did some searching on the Web based on key family names. One day as I entered some family names and browsed the results, I was stunned to find an exact match on what appeared to be someone else's family tree site. I made a mental note that as soon as I got our site up and running, I would contact the other site's webmaster and let him know that there was family on the Web.

Today, three days after lauching the new website, I kept my promise to myself. I sent the following note to Lamont Beauregard of the Short/Austin Family Tree Website-- Subject Line: My Website, Your Website, Our Family:

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Hello cousin Lamont!

Your website-- http://www.shortaustinfamilytree.com/The Short Austin
Family Treeis fantastic!!! ...and I am your distant cousin. Our Common relative is Silla Short.

My name is Eric J Williams and I live in Chicago IL. I came upon your
website a while back, and realized that our families overlap to a
considerable degree. I am the great-grandson of Luella Short and the
great-great-great-grandson of Silla Short.

I also have a family tree website charting the Williams and Rivers
Family of Haywood County Tennessee. Our website
( http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/ ) is very new...just
launched last week...though I have been building the Gedcom files for
several weeks from paper charts the family has done for family reunion
booklets and conversations with family members. I would love to hear
what you think about our new website.

If you click the link below, you can see and trace my relationship to
the Shorts who appear in your Short/Ausitin website.

http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/Records/INDIs/II0965.html

My grandfather, Lemuel Williams was the son of Luella Short. I was
very happy to find your webite as I was in the process of launching
our Williams-Rivers Family Tree website-- called Descendants of Mandi.
Your site will allow me to fill in many blanks about my
great-grandmother's family.

In the spirit of your message on the Short Austin website, I've
included a few notes which point out some missing or inaccurate spots
in your family tree--specifically charting our branch the Henry Short
family.

Here is a family record for Luella Short and Dennis Williams--my
great-grandmother and great-grandfather... notice the third child (my
uncle Donald), who your family tree identifies as Darner...which was
his nickname, click Donald's link for the note on his nickname).

http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/Records/FAMs/FF010.html

your page is:

http://www.shortaustinfamilytree.com/lueellashortpage.html

Here is a family record for Alversa Williams and Robert Edward Lee
(you'll find there are two missing children for them in your page for
Aunt Alversa). Click the link and you will find them here---Sandra
Faye and Lewis Edward) the correct place for these two is between
Wesley Gene and Brenda Aleece.

http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/Records/FAMs/FF279.html

your page is:

http://www.shortaustinfamilytree.com/alversawilliamepage.html

You'll also find that our new site contains considerable additional
info on offspring for the children of Dennis Williams and Luella
Short...enough to keep you busy for quite some time.

I would, however, be open to sending you a gedcom file which you could
merg into your existing file to pick up the additonal info...but we
can talk about that later. I will be picking up considerable info from
your site as well. Maybe we could swap files at some point and save
each other considerable typing.

Anyway, Lamont, I was glad to find you, and I hope to meet at some
point in the future.

Sincerely

Eric J. Williams
http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/
ericjw33@gmail.com

Getting this thing up and running

The Descendants of Mandi website is a labor of love to say the least. The site was just created on May 13 2005, but in fact it represents the genealogical efforts of dozens of people over the past 28 years. Printed family trees which were used as the basis for the genealogical links in this site, were first published as inserts in the keepsake booklets from the Williams-Rivers Family Reunions (1978-2004). This site is an outgrowth of the Williams-Rivers Family Website created in July 2004 for the 2004 Williams-Rivers Family Reunion.

I built the Gedcom files in late April and early May 2005, and went live with the website on May 13. There's always a bit of trepidation when going live with a site as large, involved and detailed as this one will one day be. The problem is that you have to start somewhere, and our booklet inserts, while great for showing the basic relationships between individuals, only gives spouse information for the first few generations. After that only descendants are shown, making it difficult to track changing famiy names for female membes of the family and their offspring.

I intend to correct these shortcoming in future editions through family interveiws and continued genealogical research. I am indebted to the following individuals for the basic knowledge and research that made this site possible: Alversa Williams Lee, Elaine Lee Turner, Susan Lee Adekpuitor, Eloise Williams Tolbert, and others too numerous to mention.

For now, I hope you enjoy the site for what it is-- a work in progress-- and please feel free to contact me with corrections, changes, and updates.

COTACT ME: Eric J. Williams

GENEALOGY HOME: http://www.descendantsofmandi.com/
FAMILY SITE: http://www.williams-riversfamily.org/