Genealogy (FAMILY TREES) Encore with Stephen Hands

What It Covers

Genealogist Stephen Hands shares three decades of family history research, from 1989 microfiche drives to modern DNA testing. He traces his own ancestors from 1920s Kansas back to 1730s Virginia tobacco plantations, discovering connections between slavery, indentured servitude, and unexpected interracial family ties that challenge common assumptions about American genealogy and race.

Key Questions Answered

• •Starting genealogy research: Work backward from known to unknown information, beginning with census records released after the 70-year privacy restriction. Start by interviewing living relatives with pen and paper, documenting names, birth locations, death dates, marriage counties, and how ancestors met. Record interviews on audio to capture details you might miss while note-taking.
• •The 1870 census barrier: African American genealogy faces a critical challenge at 1870, the first census listing formerly enslaved people as regular citizens post-Civil War. Before 1860, researchers must use estate inventories and property records where enslaved people were listed as assets. The 1890 census burned in a 1921 fire, creating a permanent gap for all genealogists regardless of ancestry.
• •DNA test limitations by company: Different DNA testing companies maintain separate databases, meaning relatives who test with Ancestry won't appear if you use 23andMe. To maximize family connections, consider testing with multiple companies. Results continuously update as more people join databases, generating new relative matches over time. Women need male relatives to take Y-chromosome tests for paternal lineage research.
• •The neighbor proximity rule: When examining census records, always check households living next door or a few houses away from your ancestors. Families historically stayed geographically close, and missing relatives often appear in adjacent listings. This technique can solve research dead ends that consumed years of searching, revealing family members who were present in records all along.
• •Pre-slavery freedom period: From 1619 to 1705 in colonial Virginia, Africans arrived as indentured servants, not slaves, working set terms before gaining freedom like European indentured servants. Two to three generations of free African Americans bought land, served on juries, and intermarried with Irish, Scottish, German, and Native American families before hardened slavery laws passed in 1705.
• •Maiden name discovery methods: Tracing women's genealogy requires finding maiden names, typically through marriage certificates as the primary source or death certificates as backup. Census records sometimes show single women with children under different surnames, creating ambiguity about whether the listed name is married or maiden. This represents one of genealogy's persistent challenges across all ethnic backgrounds.