To Tell The Truth

Don't Always Follow The Crowd

In the process of my genealogy research, I have tried to perform a reasonable search of information that is available. That being said, I do not know all the information that is available about a family member or family.  My research is also a search. I am constantly looking for information. I try to record the source origin, correlate it with known facts and look for details. The internet is loaded with genealogy sites free and paid such as  Ancestry.com, Family Search, Newspaper.com, FindaGrave,  Genealogybank, Fold3 and  Heritage Quest to name only a few. These sites often has transcription errors of names, sex and possibly race.   

Some of the sites employ elements of crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is a technique in which an organization or individuals use many people or a crowd for pay or free to give information to solve a problem. Wikipedia is a prime example.  Anyone can edit and contribute to Wikipedia.  Ancestry.com family trees also uses crowdsourcing.   Is all the information true?    

The majority of people in my trees have been dead decades ago and I have met very few of their descendants. I am on a mission. I feel that my African family with disseminated trees with roots in America have a story that is worth telling. That is why I have this blog.   Through the years I have tried to educate myself by attending genealogy conferences and reading books.  I have visited the National Archives, Mississippi Archives, Tennessee Archives, Allen County Library, Family History Library and various other libraries. I am a member of the National Genealogy Society but not a certified genealogist.

  
 I also have attended family reunions and communicated with previously unknown cousins. I will be forever grateful for meeting my cousin the late Roger Dale Wilson.  He showed me the Caston and Brumfield connection through Liddie Brumfield Caston.    I would like to acknowledge my cousins who helped me along my mission Lexie Mae Bullock Johnson, Lexie Pearl Smith Elmore, Daisy Smith, Gerald Hollins, Manual Graves, Carletta Graves, Eddie Brumfield Jr., Kerry Shelton, Belinda Howard Cox and the late Eddie J. Brumfield Sr.  

Ancestry.com has used crowdsourcing on the family trees they have listed.  I have looked on Ancestry.com at other family trees listed and there are errors in the information.  There are also errors in the information that I have on my trees on Ancestry.com.  When I find the true information, I try to make corrections.

Most recently on my tree, I listed Annie Gatlin who married Thomas J. Brumfield as a child of Jack Gatlin Sr. and Alice Conerly. When I reviewed my sources, Annie Gatlin was never listed as a child of Jack Gatlin Sr. and Alice Conerly. I really don’t know where I got that information.  I did not record my source which is a newbie mistake. The information I recorded was wrong and three other people put the wrong information on their Ancestry.com trees.

My lesson is to check and record the source.  Don't always follow the crowd because the crowd could be wrong.

------The TreeGardener

Eddie J. Brumfield Sr Birthday

 Eddie J. Brumfield Sr.

On April 12, 2017,  Eddie J. Althea and Kim 

 I had an opportunity to visit with my cousins Eddie J. and two of his daughters Althea and Kim on April 12, 2017 at his home in New Orleans. He was sitting at a computer playing solitaire with a bright smile and sharp mind. We talked about family and laughed about the past. 

Eddie J. Brumfield Sr. April 12, 2017

Eddie J. was to celebrate his 100th birthday on May 6, 2017. A great celebration was planned by family and friends for a man who had an incredible life. He passed on Thursday evening May 4, 2017 two days before his birthday.   

I am grateful for knowing and having an opportunity to spend time with my cousin Eddie J. Brumfield Sr. May the love of GOD enfold the family and wonderful memories sustain during this time.  I know he is resting in the arms of GOD.

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens a time to be born and a time to die ...Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 NIV

-------The Tree Gardener

Genealogy Trip

RootsTech and Family History Library

I am presently on a genealogy research trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Family Search Library located in Salt Lake City is the largest genealogy library in the world. I will also be attending the RootsTech conference which is billed as the largest genealogy conference.   I have been preparing for this trip for years.  Years ago my level of genealogy knowledge was rudimentary. I would not have known where to start if I had made this trip when I first looked for my ancestors.  

Most of my research has centered on my maternal line in Mississippi and my paternal line in Georgia and Tennessee. The trees in my forest have also included my in- laws. From the great northern migration after World War Two described in the book Warmth of Another Sun by Isabel Wilkerson my search has spread to many other states. I have included New York, Illinois, Indiana Ohio and Pennsylvania. I have visited the Allen County and Newberry library, the National Archives, Mississippi and Tennessee state archives.   I have tried to collect known information from various sources. As I learn about my trees, I know that I probably have to visit the depositories again.  It is my hope that I can break down more brick walls beyond 1870. I hope to blog about more new discoveries.

---- The Tree Gardener

Eddie Brumfield Sr. Part 5 On Raising Children (and other family vices).

This is the last of the video series recorded  in 2013 of Eddie Brumfield Sr.  It is a continuation of his conversation about his family. 

Eddie Brumfield Sr. discuss how he wants to be remembered and how he provided for his family.  He tells several family stories about his brother Thad, wife, son and other family members. In these stories, he describes the hazards and perils of giving children too much.   Eddie Sr. explains how he is related to the Gatlin family. He also affirms that his paternal grandparents were not married. His paternal grandfather Tom Brumfield used his money and influence to help his cousin who committed a crime.   His father Willis Brumfield always had the protection of  the "white folks  and Mr. Henry"  in the community. Eddie Sr. characterize his mother as a hard worker.