Welcome back to the African Roots Podcast. You can always reach me HERE.

I hope you are all having a good spring. We have hints of spring here in the mid-Atlantic area with warm days then cool days, then warm again. But this is a time that garderner are planting seeds and looking towards the growing season as well. And like gardeners, we as genealogists allow seeds to germinate from those old family stories, and we nurture them, and turn them into narratives that we can pass on and share.

And we have seen such activity in the genealogy community, including new publications by people whom we all know. I have been so impressed with my colleagues in the genea-community as they have emerged as authors of new works that will provide some interesting reading in addition to providing inspiration for more of us to write and share what we find.

In recent weeks three new titles emerge, by Kathy Lynne Marshall, James Morgan III, and Bernice Alexander Bennett! All are avid researchers and all three authors have put their energy into turning their research into published works. Two of them are part memoir and one will be a useful resource and reference book for scholars as well.

All three authors have one thing in common—they know not to ignore critical resources as they emerge. Some call it making the search an “exhaustive” one. I simply urge researcher to leave no stones unturned. And these three authors have turned over every stone that was in their path to document their stories.

The first piece in Finding Otho. This particular book focuses on the journey undertaken by Kathy Lynne Marshall as she takes the reader on her journey to find her Williams ancestry.

But there is more to the text than a simple memoir. She includes guidelines for researchers, and even a section to solve a mystery. This is a second genealogical book for Ms. Marshall, and she adds this title to also some biographies that she has written about her ancestors.

The book can be purchased from Amazon and at the link HERE.

 

 

 

 

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For those with ties to masonic orders, this book will be of interest. James Morgan took his knowledge of masonic history, and resources and set out to tell the story of W.D. Matthews and the many things that he did in states west of the Mississippi.

 

Much of the work focuses on Kansas, but it can also be a good resource for researchers from Arkansas, Missouri and even states farther back east such as Delaware. James matched his ability to tell a story with his skills as a researcher, and has compiled a 400 page text that will be an excellent reference for many.

The work is a good example of how one took a passion for history and combined it with the skills of a researcher and managed to tell numerous stories that will captivate the reader. The book can be purchased HERE.

 

 

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It is said that a genealogists’s best friend is another genealogist. Well, nothing is more enjoyable than listening to a research share his/her research journey with you. And listening to them as they present problems they encountered and the places they visited to obtain information. Well, Tracing their Steps by Benice Alexander Bennett is a delightful read where you will feel yourself listening to the words of a friend sharing their steps.

In this work, Ms. Bennett left no stoned unturned as she set out to follow a clue given to her by her grandmother Ma Becky. Her grandmother spoke lovingly about her own grandfather Peter Clark who owned a lot of land. His ownership of the land captured her attention. In this work she takes the reader on the journey to find the land in Marepas Louisiana. From courthouse to courthouse, the reader feels her excitement as she found document after document. Some documents were related to land and others took her on unexpected side trails, eventually leading her to know that her ancestor was a homesteader. This piece is a fun read, and one feels that they were sitting down with a genea-buddy with a cup of tea, listening to her journey to trace their steps. You can purchase her book HERE.

Well that wraps it up for another episode. I hope that you will obtain these books for your library, and will also be inspired to tell your own story as well.

Thanks for listening and remember to keep researching, keep documenting and keep sharing what you find.