In this issue: Visualizing Ancestors; Take a Moment to Browse; Book review: Black Lives in Alaska: A History of African Americans in the Far Northwest
Visualizing Ancestors
by Michelle Pichon
Are you a visual thinker? I am. When I am learning something new, it always helps me to see it. If I can’t physically see it, I usually create a picture in my mind to help me grasp understanding. When reading a book or hearing a story, pictures of characters and places spring up in my imagination. When doing genealogy, this is no different. I can picture my grandparents, and even some of my great grandparents, because I knew them or because I’ve seen pictures of them. But what about all those ancestors that I never knew or even heard of before discovering their name on a record or on a family tree? If having an idea of what your ancestors may have looked like is important to you, there are some ways to help you do that.
One way is to consider fashion. What our ancestors wore is a window into their lives revealing many things about them. “By studying ancestral clothing styles and fabrics, we get more than a picture of how they looked; we catch a glimpse of their lives, values, and surroundings.”
Things to consider:
What was their occupation? If you have found your ancestor in a census record, you may know what they did for work. This can tell you what they may have worn for work, but it can also give you an idea of their economic status – working class or white collar, farmer or business mogul, the clothes compliment the career.
What was their economic standing? City directories and tax records are also good indicators of economic status which says a lot about people’s fashion choices. It can determine what kinds of fabrics were used as well as the prints used. Also, the style of dress was very often an indication of that person’s status in society (do you remember Anne Shirley’s obsession with puffy sleeves in Anne of Green Gables?) Just as economic status may hint towards the style of clothing they wore, it also points to how they did their hair. Functional or fanciful, the hairdo has a lot to tell: “Their choices often revealed much about their personalities and offered insights into their politics.” Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles, 1840-1900 by Maureen A. Taylor (391.43 T244 USA).
Where did they live? Did they live in a city, or did they live in a rural location? Did they live where it was hot, or did they live in a colder climate? Ancestors in Brazil and Norway undoubtedly had vastly different ways of dressing that reflected their cultural associations.
What religion were they? You may have traced your ancestors’ religion, or religions, through various religious records like marriage, burial, baptismal, or even birth records. Maybe you discovered other religious clues like records of confirmation or bar and bat mitzvahs. Religion can be a heavy influence on fashion and appearance for men and women: hair/head coverings, hair styles, dress lengths, colors, fabrics used. All these details can shape the picture you create in your mind of the ancestor who you never knew.
Consider the time period. Having an idea of what the fashion trends were at certain times is helpful when visualizing your ancestors but so is knowing what was going on during that time. Was there a war going on? Was it a period of political change? Were they newly established in their location or had they been there for generations?
Photographs help even more:
While imagining your ancestors can be helpful, if you have photographs of your ancestors, what a gift! What an amazing thing to be able to know what they looked like, but a photograph can be so much more than a face. They can show us what life was like for people in different eras, from their clothes and latest fashions to how they lived and worked. By studying these old vintage photos and unlocking the clues within them, we can learn so much about the history of our modern world and the previous generations who lived through it. Photographs can offer glimpses of family traditions and economic conditions; they can reveal unspoken and secret stories (“I thought Great-Grandma had 5 siblings, but there are 6 kids in this picture. Who is that 6th kid?”). They can show us how they lived and how they celebrated. Unlocking the Secrets in Old Photographs by Karen Frisch-Ripley is an excellent resource for not only studying old photographs but offers many ways of locating photographs outside of your immediate family, such as passports, newspapers, yearbooks, obituaries, and historical societies.
Whether unlocking clues from photographs or from creating images based on known information, all these things can help you create a picture in your mind and bring your ancestors to life so that they are more than just names on a page. They become real people, embedded in your memory. What is important is the connection you have made with that person, further linking your heritage and spirit.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Doyle, Marian I (2003). An Illustrated History of Hairstyles 1830-1930. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 391.5 D574 USA.
Frisch-Ripley, Karen (1991). Unlocking the Secrets in Old Photographs. Ancestry. 770 F917 USA.
Genealogy Voyage. (2024, Nov. 24). Ancestral Fashion and Fabrics: What Clothing Styles Reveal About Your Ancestors’ Lives. https://genealogyvoyage.com/specialized-searches/ancestral-fashion-and-fabrics-what-clothing-styles-reveal-about-your-ancestors-lives/
Leisch, Juanita (1995). Who wore what?: women's wear, 1861-1865. Thomas Publications. 391.020973 L532 USA.
Severa, Joan (1995). Dressed for the photographer : ordinary Americans and fashion, 1840-1900. Kent State University Press. 391.00973 S498 USA.
Shrimpton, Jayne (2014). Tracing Your Ancestors through Family Photographs: A Complete Guide for Family and Local Historians. Pen & Sword. 770 S561 USA.
Taylor, Maureen A (2009). Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840–1900. Picture Perfect Press. 391.43 T244 USA.
Take a Moment to Browse
by Aimee Burr
When was the last time you wandered through Clayton Library, just browsing the shelves with no specific resource in mind? So often in genealogy we are focused in on one specific location, time, or just one specific ancestor. There are entire classes taught about how to focus your research with laser-like precision whenever you visit a library or archive. To be sure, there are circumstances when that tunnel vision is necessary. If you only have two hours to spend at a library or archive, focusing on only one research question is essential. But what about the visits where you aren’t as rushed for time? Are you still focused on just one area of research, or do you take a step back and look at a broader range of information?
When I first started working at Clayton Library, our now retired librarian Melissa Hayes gave me an amazing bit of advice. She told me to make sure to set aside a little time to just browse the shelves, especially in the regions, periods in time, and subjects outside of my personal research. It didn’t take me long to appreciate how insightful her advice was! By browsing the shelves, I have discovered new methodologies, new record sets, and new social history information that have improved my personal and professional genealogy research skills.
Here is a list of a few of my favorite finds this month, and a tidbit about what I found useful in each book:
1. He Loves a Good Deal of Rum… Military Desertions during the American Revolution.
The bounties (cash bonus for enlisting) were higher than a soldier’s standard wage, so a Revolutionary soldier may have enlisted in militias for multiple towns, multiple states, both the American and British armies, and in various mercenary troops, all within two years.
2. The Separating Sickness = Ma’I Ho’oka’awale.
Stories from the patients and families of exiled leprosy patients in Hawaii give great insight into common medical practices and how individual society treated patients and their families due to these practices. Entire families can be relocated due to one ill member.
3. The People of the Eye.
This book discusses the ancestry, social history, and ethnicity of both the deaf and Deaf communities. It’s a perfect example of how small communities have their own identity, even when imbedded within a larger community. This book is a great reminder to genealogists that just because a family member was “disabled” doesn’t mean they were locked away in an asylum and cut off from society.
4. Mutinous Women: how French convicts became founding mothers of the Gulf Coast.
Sixty-two wrongly convicted women were forcibly sent from France to the French colony of Louisiana, where they helped shape businesses, settlements, and cultures of their own across large regions of the territory. This book gives numerous possible record types to look for your female ancestors.
5. Coffee Made Her Insane and Other Nuggets From Old Minnesota Newspapers.
The things that previous generations put in print will never cease to amaze me. Newspapers are an underutilized source of genealogical information that cannot be found anywhere else. They never fail to both inform and entertain.
In Conclusion:
I encourage everyone to take a few minutes the next time you visit Clayton and just browse the shelves. There are currently more than 140,000 volumes on the shelves, and in them is information that even the most experienced genealogists may not know. If you take the time to browse even a small section of Clayton’s collection you could find a new resource that will help expand the research of your family history.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boyle, Joseph Lee. (2009) He Loves a Good Deal of Rum…military desertions during the American Revolution, 1775-1783. Clearfield Company. 973.78 B792 USA
DeJean, Joan. (2022). Mutinous Women: how French convicts became founding mothers of the Gulf Coast. Basic Books. 976 D326 USA
Gugelyk, Ted. (1979). The Separating Sickness Ma’I Ho’oka’awale. University of Hawaii. G492 KALAW HAWAII
Lane, Harlan. (2011). The People of the Eye: Deaf ethnicity and ancestry. Oxford University Press. 305.8 L265 USA
Meier, Peg. (1988) Coffee Made Her Insane & Other Nuggets From Old Minnesota Newspapers. Neighbors Publishing. M511 MINN
Book review: Black Lives in Alaska: A History of African Americans in the Far Northwest
by Rodney Sam
When one thinks of the 49th state, few imagine the presence of African Americans. The stories told of African American migration in the United States usually center around the “Great Migration” in the mid-20th century of African Americans from the deep south into the urban cities of the North, Midwest, and West coast. The lesser-known story of African Americans in Alaska is a rich one that began when it was still a part of the Russian Empire in the 19th century and continues today. African Americans make up 2.8% of the Alaska state population according to the 2020 U.S census. Some of those 2.8% include cousins of my mother who decided to settle in Anchorage, Alaska after leaving the military. In exploring your family history, you may uncover family members and ancestors who went on the unbeaten path to explore and settle in the far northwest.
Hartman and Reamer’s book begins with the earliest mentions of African Americans and people of African descent in what is now known as Alaska. They describe that most were free persons of color from New England, the Caribbean, and from places as far away as Cape Verde (an island country off the coast of West Africa), who sought opportunities for employment sailing on whaling ships that sailed the Pacific Ocean to the Arctic regions. Some of these men were also fugitive slaves who sought the freedom and anonymity provided to them by whaling ships. Like African American migrants from the south in the 20th century, 19th century African Americans drawn to the sea wanted to escape the ills of discrimination and racism and find ways to make a good living. Whaling was a dangerous profession because of the high risk of shark and whale attacks, treacherous weather, and the ever-present specter of diseases and injuries common to men employed on sailing ships. When whaling ships docked off the coast of Alaska, some of these sailors deserted and made a life for themselves in the cold, harsh, frontier settlements of Alaska. After Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, some African Americans migrated into the area as miners looking to strike it rich during the gold rush. Others opened saloons, bars, and restaurants to serve other travelers. If you had ancestors who were in the Civil War and remained in the military after, you may find evidence of their infantry unit stationed in Alaska. Many African American soldiers, who were veterans of the Civil War, were stationed at military posts there.
The book mentions places, names, and biographical details of some of these early African American pioneers in Alaska that provide genealogical clues for any curious researcher to pursue. Black Lives in Alaska: A History of African Americans in the Far Northwest adds nuance to the history of African Americans in the United States and reveals the unique individual journey of the people we often discover in genealogical research. The Family History Research Center at the Clayton Library Campus has a growing collection of genealogy books relating to Alaska. We strive to expand our coverage to include those diverse places where the ancestors of a curious visitor to our library lived.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alaska State Library. Paul Sincic. Photographs, ca. 1898-1915. ASL-PCA-75. Company L, 24th Infantry, Skagway, July 4, 1899. https://vilda.alaska.edu/digital/collection/cdmg21/id/2312/
Anchorage Museum. (2025, Aug 29). Black lives in Alaska: journey justice joy. https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/exhibits/black-lives-in-alaska-journey-justice-joy/
Hartman, Ian C. (2022). Black Lives in Alaska: A History of African Americans in the Far Northwest. University of Washington Press. R288 ALASKA
National Park Service. (2025, Aug 29). Black History in the Last Frontier. https://www.nps.gov/articles/black-history-in-the-last-frontier.htm
University of Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Pacific University, Consortium Library. (2025, Aug 29). African American history in Alaska archival collections. https://libguides.consortiumlibrary.org/ASCAfricanAmericanHistory