A Long-Sought Photograph, Discovered, Stirs the Pot
The photograph of my second great-grandfather was in a book titled Black Confederates (Pelican Publishing 2001), which its editors and publisher tout as a compilation of historical accounts, photographs and documents relating to blacks who served with rebel forces in the Civil War. Lewis LeJay (1835-1921) is described in [...]
Continue reading about Black Confederates: Inconvenient Truth or Racist-inspired Revisionism?
It was an honor just to have been nominated! Really.
Family Tree Magazine has announced its list of Top 40 genealogy blogs. And a well-deserving lot they are! Most have been in my reader for a long time. But one thing striking about the list is that there are a number o f relatively new bloggers [...]
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There are some ancestors I have given up any hope of ever seeing in a photograph. So it was with my second great-grandfather, Lewis LeJay of De Soto Parish, Louisiana. He was the husband of Syntrilla Brayboy and they were the parents of Sylvia LeJay. Sylvia married Richard William Gines, and they became my mother’s [...]
The African-American History Month presentation of the California Genealogical Society and Library has just concluded minutes ago. The meeting itself was a history maker.
A morning session consisted of a panel of eminent experts from the African-American Genealogical Society of Northern California. These top researchers were Electra Price, Juliet Crutchfield and Jackie Stewart.
Then, in the afternoon, [...]
1. Joseph Perry Micheau and Edna Julia Lewis were married on 27 November 1913, at St. Francis Xavier Church, in Carbondale, Illinois. They were married for 62 years before Joe died in 1975. On their 50th wedding anniversary in 1963, they received a special telegram from Pope John XXIII.
2. She was, at the end of [...]
Continue reading about Love Letters from Prairie du Rocher: Epilogue
Joseph Perry Micheau (born 23 Feb 1888, Prairie du Rocher, Illinois; died 15 Nov 1975, St Louis, Missouri) was a descendant of the French Negroes of Illinois–originally slaves from Jamaica brought to Upper Louisiana by French entrepeneur Phillipe Renault in the 1720’s. The Micheau family represent well the social and cultural lives of the descendants [...]
Continue reading about Valentines Day: Love Letters from Prairie du Rocher
From Centennial History of Missouri, Vol. III (St Louis-Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1921)
Charles W. Steiner, president and treasurer of the Steiner Engraving & Badge Company, of St. Louis, was here born October 5, 1860, the son of Otto and Mrs. Katherine (Oehler) Steiner, who came from Germany to the new world in early childhood. [...]
Continue reading about St Louis History: Charles W. Steiner, 1860-1950
During November, which is Black Catholic History Month, I wrote about the Knights of Peter Claver. A few days ago, I came across this badge from St Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in St Louis. St Elizabeth’s was a parish established especially for black Catholics by Fr. John Markoe and his brother, Fr. William Markoe, both Jesuits, [...]
Sometime after their marriage in 1913, Joseph P. Micheau and his wife Edna Lewis moved their family from Prairie du Rocher, Illinois, to St. Louis, Missouri. According to Joseph’s 1917 draft card, they lived at 4210 Cote Brilliant and then apparently at 3128 Fair Avenue. The 1920 census places them on Fair Avenue. Later, however, [...]
Continue reading about Black History Month: A Strange Letter and an un-Fair Move?
MyHeritage.com has announced its acquisition of OSN, a network of 10 leading European family sites based in Hamburg, Germany.
In a press release distributed from London, Tel Aviv, and Hamburg, MyHeritage said that the OSN acquisition makes MyHeritage the largest international site on the Web dedicated to families. The acquisition includes Germany’s Verwandt.de, Moikrewni.pl of Poland, [...]
Continue reading about MyHeritage Acquires Major European Network of Sites, Adds Other New Features
