Legacy Family Tree 5.0

Alameda County students learn about genealogy in Berkeley

Family tree projects on display during the "Who AM I? Family Journeys: Alameda County Youth Testimonials" program presented by Alameda County District 5 Supervisor Keith Carson, at Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday, June, 4, 2011. The group shared the experiences they had while researching their family trees. (Anda Chu/Staff)

BERKELEY -- Who are you? Who came before you? Are you sure?

More than 50 Alameda County students spent the past several months digging into their family histories and participated Saturday morning in a presentation on genealogies at the Malcolm X Elementary School called "Who Am I? Family Journeys."

The event's keynote speaker, retired San Francisco State University professor Wade Nobles, told several hundred people here that he considers himself to have been born in 1836.

That was the year "my great-great-great-grandfather was enslaved on a plantation in South Carolina," Nobles said. "My father's father was a slave."

"Who we are did not die in slavery. It did not die in poverty. It did not die in prison," said Nobles, who is African American and Director of the Institute for the Advance Studies of Black Families.

He urged people to look both to history and the future, to learn their genealogy as well as leave a legacy for those who follow them.

"My great-great-great-granddaughter is going to say, 'What did Wade Nobles, born in 1945, do in life?' "

Other speakers acknowledged that digging into a family's past can cause pain, but said it can be endured.

"Some students went home and asked questions and got cursed out," said Nicka Smith of the African American Genealogy Society of Northern California.

"Don't harbor the secrets," she said. "Share it. Don't horde it. Allow people in your family to know it. You have to go to your grandmother and say, 'What was your life like?' "

Dozens of genealogy projects were on display in the school gym.

The students, Smith said, learned to do research and organize their findings.

"This is going to help them in college," she said.

One of the event sponsors, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, said family histories can be challenging for people of all races.

He noted that people of Japanese ancestry could learn that their families had been placed in internment camps during World War II, or Mexicans might learn their forbears lost land and wealth when California became part of the United States.

Legacy News: "But I thought genealogy was boring..."

I hope every genealogist gets to experience what I did this week.

It all started two weeks ago when I located Albert Brown's death information in an online death index. I then asked my sister if she would obtain a copy of the certificate from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Her answer was no. I guess I shouldn't have asked her then because we were leaving for our family reunion in Yellowstone National Park the next day. So I had to wait until our reunion was over. I guess it would be good to spend time with my living chair which I think surprised him a bit. With Legacy open we navigated to Albert Brown where I showed my son how they were both related. I opened up Legacy Charting to help him visualize it better. Then, with Legacy open on my left monitor (28" wide-screen - everyone should have one...or two) and the death certificate image open on my right monitor, I taught Evan how to type in the new information. Of course I showed him how to use the source clipboard, for there is no truth without proof

very cool! I remember when my toddler grandson realized how his mother and I were related. He was so small, he still called me Bramma as he had trouble saying Gramma and he was hanging onto his mother's legs as I was saying goodbye after a visit. My daughter and I hugged and said our goodbyes and my daughter said "love you mom, drive careful".

Carter's jaw dropped as he started figuring things out and he said to his mom while pointing at me "that's you mama!" He was so excited and you could just see the gears turning in his little head. Was funny and sweet at the same time. Made me smile almost the whole 7 hour drive home.

My 20 year old son isn't particularly interested in genealogy but he is interested in HO model trains. Even the old railroad documentation. Recently he told me he pulled some records from an old RR building but most were a frozen mess on the floor (winter) and the building was destroyed just after. When I mentioned how genealogists would appreciate the docs especially listing the people he got it. That is because it is genealogy that relates to his hobby of trains. It gives me hope.

Youngest Granddaughter was about 6 when she became enmeshed in "Little House on the Prairie" series and Laura Ingalls Wilder. I told her she had Ingalls ancestors. We took my copy of the Ingalls genealogy and figured out that Laura was my mothers 7th cousin, and that made her my grand-daughter's 7th cousin 4 times removed. She even took the paper outline I did to school to prove it to her friends.