Thursday, November 20, 2008

Images of Bethlehem Steel


Photograph(s) copyright Shaun O'Boyle



Shaun O'Boyle poetically captures images of Bethlehem Steel, the site of death for my great-grandfather Walter PEELER (1879-1921.)

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Rosa PEELER (a.1885-1962)

However Rosa PEELER (c.1885-1962) of Washington County, GA continues to elude me.

Rosa was married to Walter PEELER in 1902 by Reverend James Veal, where she gives her maiden name to be DIXON. She then has four children: Izora, Isadore, Douglas (Bick/Walter) and Amos James (.A.J.) before her husband dies tragically in a Steele Mill accident in Dauphin County, PA 1921. Rosa moves to Atlanta with her youngest son A.J. before eventually moving with them north to Philadelphia and New Jersey. All of her sons went north, however her daughter Izora remained in Washington County and married Miles ASBERRY.

Rosa died in 1962, and was returned home to Sandersville. She was memorialized at Marshall Grove Baptist Church, C.J. Jordan officiating. Interment was in the church cemetery. The Sandersville Progress obituary reads that at that in addition to her children and their spouses, she left a brother and two sisters.

Additionally, my cousin Mae Bell Azberry had been told me that her Grandmother Rosa had a younger brother named Ralph, and possibly a sibling in Florida who sent oranges. Mae Bell passed away this September.

She was also said to be kin to the WALKERS and the ARMSTRONGS. One census record claims that she is cousin to Susan VEAL. And I have been told that she worked a boarding home while in Atlanta with a woman named Sue. Her children' Social Security applications however give her maiden name as HALL and BUCK.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

African American Genealogist for Hire

Working remotely from my home in Western PA, I offer genealogical services including court house look-ups, census, wills and deeds, veterans records review, etc.... I am able to get clients started on their hunt for their roots through their family trees. I am also available for cemetery services such as collecting rubbings and light grave up-keep.
Please comment if interested.

Autumn Redcross
professional genealogy services

Monday, November 10, 2008

Digital Library on American Slavery

Search the Petitions

The Digital Library on American Slavery, a cooperative effort of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is a searchable database of detailed personal information about slaves, slaveholders, and free people of color. Designed as a tool for genealogists and historians, the site provides access to data collected from legal petitions filed from 1777 to 1867 in all fifteen slaveholding states in the U.S. This information documents where, when, and by whom slaves were owned, and provides insight into where, when, and how free people of color lived.

Click Here for the Digital Library on American Slavery