All Posts

“Some stories were never meant to be told.” It’s a phrase genealogists hear all too often when a discovery disrupts the delicate balance...

History often speaks in fragments. But in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, those fragments can form a powerful story when placed in...

This article offers a practical guide to overcoming record loss in postbellum African American research, using real-world examples from across South Carolina. In one case, a researcher was asked to identify the parents and siblings of a man born around 1870 in a rural Southern county. With no birth certificate, no death certificate, and no census record explicitly stating his parents, the task required deep contextual research.

This explains why genealogy is not a hobby, but instead of part of who I am.

At first glance, the 1882 map of Marion County looks like a simple record of property lines and place names. But look closer, and you'll see the shadows of the past, plantation boundaries, rivers once used to transport enslaved labor, and the lasting imprint of those who were left off the record entirely.