If the genealogy bug has caught you, Chatham County Public Libraries can help! In addition to offering access to Ancestry Library Edition in the library and to HeritageQuest from anywhere, the library offers access to African American Heritage in our branches and off site with a password.
This resource provides genealogical and historical records useful for exploring the lives of African American ancestors, a process complicated by the disruptions of slavery and the dearth of centrally-accessible records. African American Heritage helps family history researchers by bringing together some of the scattered records and by offering expert guides through references and social networking possibilities.
Starting at the library’s home page, www.chathamlibraries.org, click on Online Resources, then the link for Genealogy, followed by the icon for African American Heritage. Outside of the library, you’ll need a password which staff at the Reference Desk will be happy to share with you.
You’ll find census, Freedman’s Bank, and slave records; birth, marriage, death and North Carolina cohabitation records; church, military, court, and legal records; as well as genealogies and family histories. In addition, you’ll have access to guides for locating resources in all fifty states, Canada, and the West Indies.
From the home page, you can search and browse the collections, search and browse how-to and reference books, and link to AfriGeneas (a partner site), where you can interact with a community of interested and experienced researchers. During your research sessions, it’s possible to track your search history and to save your discoveries to a notebook for later printing, emailing, and downloading.
Call 919-545-8086 for African American Heritage login information or to discuss this and other tools for genealogy research. Happy searching!
