Genealogical Gems

Did you know today - 1 February - is National Freedom Day? I had no idea, to be honest, until I was searching for an article for Black History Month (which is February by the way). It was on 1 February 1865 that President Abraham Lincoln signed the joint resolution - the 13th Amendment - abolishing slavery. How did National Freedom Day come about then? According to the Weekly Review, in Birmingham, Alabama, from 31 July 1948, Major R. R. Wright, Sr. organized the National Freedom Day Association in 1941. The purpose of the association was to establish a national Freedom Day. Wright was born a slave in 1853 in Georgia to Richard Wright and Harriet Lynch. The 1880 Census shows a R.R. Wright living in Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia. He was 27 at the time and an editor. He lived with his 23 year old wife and two children. According to the census, both his parents had been born in South Carolina. Other sources confirm his name is Richard Robert Wright and his wife's is L...

1968 MS State University Robert P Still I found a Baseball Questionnaire today on Ancestry.com. I got excited because there is a family story that involves a local baseball team but this questionnaire was for the professional teams. So naturally I played with family names. I got a hit, even though I doubt he is of the same line. Robert Philip Still was born 24 April 1949 in Georgia to Clinton H Still and Louise Cowan Still. In May 1972, Robert Philip STILL filled out a questionnaire. He played for the Oneonta Yankees, a minor league team of the New York-Penn League.He played Third Base for the Oneonta Tigers. Still was born in 1949 and lived down Decatur, Georgia. He graduated from DeKalb HS in Decatur in 1967. That same year then, in 1967, he was drafted out of high school by the Cleveland Indians in the 27th round of the 1967 MLB June Amateur Draft, according to Baseball Reference . Three years later, the Baltimore Orioles drafted him in the 10th round of the 197...

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded in 1866 as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee . At about the same time our nation was undergoing a Reconstruction period as we attempted to heal from the Civil War. What began as a social club for mostly Confederate veterans, quickly turned into a political organization and soon devolved into a vehicle of hatred, racism and prejudice.    The Banks County ( Georgia ) KKK trial began on 23 October 1883 in Atlanta , GA. The trial made news across the country and On This Day in 1883 the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer reported on the trial.   Warren Bryson testified he was called from his house and beaten by a crowd of masked men. Calvin Bush testified that a mob pulled him out from bed, striped him and gave him over a hundred lashes. Elisha Brooks told the court he was whipped by the crowd and that he recognized Jasper Yarbrough in the crowd. Ben Sanders told the court he had been shot three times and left for dead by a mob. ...

The first Union prisoners arrive at the infamous Confederate prison at Andersonville , Georgia On This Day in 1864. The prison only existed for 14 months, just a little over a year. In that time, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were held there. Today Andersonville is preserved as a National Historic Site .     On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.                  © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Financial strains have hit everyone - including the government of Georgia it seems. In a statement released Thursday from Georgia's Office of the Secretary of State, it was announced that in order to cut the budget, Georgia will be closing its public archives. The close is scheduled for 1 November. The statement reads: "To meet the required cuts ... effective November 1, 2012, the Georgia State Archives located in Morrow, GA will be closed to the public.  ... Georgia will be the only state in the country that will not have a central location in which the public can visit to research and review the historical records of their government and state.  ... After November 1st, the public will only be allowed to access the building by appointment; however, the number of appointments could be limited based on the schedule of the remaining employees." The Georgia Archives are physically located at 5800 Jonesboro Road Morrow, GA . They can also be...