4 Tips to Tracing Ships: Mail , Slave, or Immigrant Ships

Question: How do you determine where a  ship originated?  

The same basics apply on all ships:
mail ship: was your ancestor on a route
immigrant ship: the manifest proffers names. The names tells the story
indentured servant: where are the ship Captain's records. Newspapers offer quite a bit of background
slave ships: who paid passage and for what destination.

Remember the basics are the same. Let's use Anna's example of her ancestor on a slave ship. 

1. Analyze and take Inventory or Information from Document
   - Slave Manifest. Gather slave name and approximate age with description: Moses, 38 years old, 6 feet, copper skin.
   - Ship information. ship name: SS Louisian, ship captain, date of transport, shipper.
   
2. Research ship Capt. and and route
   
   W. H. Talbot, NOLA was a Captain of the SS Louisiana, a Texas U. S. Mail Line. Newspaper search will provide a lot of contemporary information on the Capt. and Steamship Louisiana. This Texas Mail line circled from Indianola Texas, to Galveston to New Orleans.
   Resource: Local Newspapers: Portal to Texas History
3. Research the Shipper
   Be sure to note all names on ship manifests, but be very deliberate with all information on the shipper. Who is the person named on ship manifest, from where (may not be the same as the ship).
   

   

   Obituaries and Local News
   

   Resources: Newspapers, genealogy databases, county histories
   
4. Understand the waterways. This will answer why this ship? Mississippi River from New Orleans to Louisiana, to the Pearl River of Mississippi.
   Resource: Take a tour to experience. Relavant to this Episode: consider the Pearl River Swamp Tour. Pearl River Swamp is not only known for runaway slaves, but you can learn how it impacted your confederate soldier.
   Operations of slave ship.

Keep in mind this article is written for Moses, the slave on the SS Louisiana. Therefore the resources provided are directly tied to Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen: Ep: 02 Manifest, Ships and Camels! Oh My!

Resource: Slave Ship Manifests filed at New Orleans, 1807 - 1860; Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels Filed at New Orleans, LA, 1807-1860. National Archives (NARA) archives.go

And the Camels?
(You have to listen to the Episode to understand this reference. Jump on board. I invite you!)

Remember Indianola TX. It was the on the stop between SS Louisiana mail route between New Orleans and Galveston. Well, did you know the U. S. Army transported camels through the port in Indianola, TX from 1856 to 1866. The US Army had a Camel Corps two shiploads of camels (total of camels landed at Indianola,Texas. The actual headquarters for the U.S. Army Camel Corps was in Camp Verde, AZ. Be sure to read: The sinister reason why camels were brought to the American West. National Geographic.

If you are interested in sharing your family brickwall with Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen (HTB) be sure to complete the submission form here.

Kathleen Brandt

Be Historically Correct
a3genealogy.com
Accurate Accessible Answers
a3genealogy@gmail.com

Follow Hittin' The Bricks with Kathleen

2023 Added / Updated Genealogy Presentations

For Your Conference

Yes, most are now finalizing their 2nd and 3rd quarter 2023 conference schedules. Here are a few new titles with or updated cases and resources. Of course, be sure to look at our 2022 Speaker Series and earlier listing also. Remember, each presentation is tailored to your conference to align with your theme, and your needs.  

We don't recycle,
unless, of course, you ask for it!. 

I also do presentations for corporations, university/colleges, and private associations. These presentations are part of our Marketing: You Are a Pioneer Series that includes integrating genealogy, DNA, forensic genealogy and health. That's why I am the expert at customizing presentations for you and your organization (or family). Our recent clients have been bankers, heirship specialists, attorneys and shhhh....our favorite Napa Valley vintner. 

If you haven't heard...

I can directly tie genealogy to 

every facet of life!

 Research Methodology

• The Changing Surname: How to Trace It
• The Midwest Gateway to Genealogical Resources
• 10 Tips to Crumble Brickwalls

 Why Did They Disappear

• The Orphan Trains
• The Orphanages, Insane Asylums, Mother Homes, and Poor Houses

 Immigrant Research

• Midwest Ethnic Settlements: Tracing Your Immigrant Ancestor To and Through the Midwest
• When They Came to America, Where Did they Go? The Midwest Migrants
• Tracing your Midwest Immigrant Ancestor: From Emigration to Immigration

Military

• Recreating Your Missing Military Files
• Revolutionary War
• War of 1812
• Civil War Research
• WWI and WWII
• The Forgotten Military Treasures

 NARA

• NARA and Our Ancestors (National Archives and Records Administration)

 Fun After Lunch

• All I Want is a Photo!
• All Newspapers Databases are NOT the Same: Get off newspapers.com

Let Kathleen and the a3Genealogy Team help you shape your conference. 

Just ask for your topic.  This is not a complete list, but our 2023 "New and Updated" list. 

Be Historically Correct

(Follow the Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen Podcast)

Kathleen Brandt

a3genealogy.com
Accurate Accessible Answers
a3genealogy@gmail.com

Listen to Podcast Ep:01 The Mystery of Cornelia Grey

When a Missouri Rhineland Folklore Stumps You

Join Kathleen with Angela Rodesky, from Delaware for Podcast Episode: 01 The Mystery of Cornelia Grey. 

Cornelia is from one of the eleven counties of the  Rhineland (German) region of Missouri: Cape Girardeau.  Listen here to the Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen podcast Ep:01 and learn about the Missouri Rhineland region below. 

Counties of the Rhineland Region of Missouri

Plus, it's time to prove the family folklore, or bring down that brickwall! Yes, family folklore is just an ancestral distraction that our ancestors have perfected. 

 

Resources: 

Links Mentioned in this episode:

• The State Historical Society of Missouri - Cape Girardeau, https://shsmo.org/visit/cape-girardeau
• Missouri Historical Society, St Louis, https://mohistory.org/society
• Cape Girardeau County Archives, https://www.capecounty.us/archive-center/
• Cape Girardeau Genealogical Society, https://www.capegenealogy.org/

And don't forget: 

• 8 Tips - Researching Midwest German Ancestors

Be Historically Correct

(Follow the Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen Podcast)

Kathleen Brandt

a3genealogy.com
Accurate Accessible Answers
a3genealogy@gmail.com  

Congress.Gov, The Forgotten Resource

Historical Context of Family History Month

As researchers we often reference contemporary newspapers to understand our ancestors' social history. We see phrases like "October, Family History Month," and we ignore the implications. Who declared it? What was the Need? When did it happen? Where (to include which citizens) is the impact of this law? How is it to be impact my family in the future? 

Most have never visited the congress.gov website, but its contents impacted our ancestors choices and struggles and successes.  Our ancestors migrated, settled and resettled as they fought for and voted for representatives to create laws that reflected their values and could determine their family's fate. So when October was dedicated to Family History Month we turned to the 107th Congress, congress.gov to understand how Family History Month became an October reality.

Purpose for this blogpost?

Our goal here is twofold:

1. Encourage historical researchers, to include family historians, to peruse the congress.gov website to put laws and our ancestors into perspective. 
2. To celebrate October as Family History Month 

Why use Congress.gov website?

The a3genealogy love for early territorial records led us to the congress.gov website as we researched the 1800, 6th Congress act for granting land to the inhabitants and settlers at Vincennes and the Illinois country, in the Territory North-West of the Ohio, and for conforming them in their possessions.''  Our brickwall was destroyed by understanding the law, beginning with 1800. Our client was looking for a full land trace a particular ancestor that led us directly to Vincennes. The ancestor died in 1837.

Of course, this was the same 6th Congress that established the system of Bankruptcy throughout the United States. Understanding this bill and its implementation and impact to our early Broome County, NY timber/lumber Dutch family, helped explained the descendants move to Portland, OR area.  

“trouble with lumber,” and greed from the Broome County Bank and their lawyers. “They sued me and father Vosbury, and Levi , and all my in dorsers [endorsers], and made costs upon costs till they broke me all up.”

But our first hurdle was to understand the impact of the law on these early Dutch settlers.

Congress.gov allows the family researcher to peruse all of the Bills, Acts & Laws from 1799 -present day. So when requested to provide historical research  on Family History Month celebrated in October, again we turned to congess.gov: S.Res.160 - A resolution designating the month of October 2001, as "Family History Month".  This historical research for the publication of an academic article.

There are other government records for researchers to analyze. At a3Genealogy, we often turn to the Legislation & Records of the US Senate. 

What a wonder treasure trove these records are when working on our ancestors and understanding the national (and regional) influences of their choices. Plus, for us, in more cases than one, this understanding has led us to bringing down brickwalls. 

The 46 volumes of Congressional Globe contains the congressional debates of the 23rd through 42nd Congresses (1833-1873). 

Be Historically Correct

Kathleen Brandt
a3genealogy.com
Accurate Accessible Answers
a3genealogy@gmail.com