Methodology Monday (NGSQ): Paul Graham reopens a chapter of African-American history in Georgia

There's a strange idea out there that "genealogy" is boring and technical, while "family history" is the fun story-telling stuff. If any article can refute this notion, it's Paul Graham's lead article in the December National Genealogical Society Quarterly, "A Love Story Proved: The Life and Family of Laura Lavinia (Kelly) Combs of Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia."

Graham, whose work is showing up everywhere these days, is one of the few who hold both the AG and CG credentials. This article, which won NGS's 2012 Family History Writing Contest, carefully marshals a variety of indirect evidence to clarify and confirm a long-standing story that Mary Combs, a free woman of color, sold her property in Atlanta in order to purchase the freedom of her enslaved husband -- a tale that had stumped previous writers and historians who tried to verify it.

This is a great article for those who are new to the specific challenges of African-American research, or who are beginning to suspect that there's a whole world of genealogy out there beyond just chasing names on Ancestry or looking them up in indexes.

Just to start, Graham had to get the name straight. No African-American Mary Combs appeared in local records, but Laura Combs did. No deed stating that she bought or sold the city lot exists. But a neighbor's 1854 deed identified her as its owner, and a tax list the following year showed that Laura Kelly, under the name of her legally required guardian -- that same neighbor -- paid taxes on property worth $1000. And the white Combs women who lived on the property in 1859 owned a slave named John.

Already a trail snaking through property records (but not "Mary's"), tax records (under another name altogether), and a city directory.

If you want to know how Graham figured out the rest, join the National Genealogical Society and read the article on line, or make your way to the nearest good genealogy library. We can't even begin to tell the story without having done the technical work.




Paul K. Graham, "A Love Story Proved: The Life and Family of Laura Lavinia (Kelly) Combs of Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 101 (December 2013): 245-66.

Harold Henderson, "Methdology Monday (NGSQ): Paul Graham reopens a chapter of African-American history in Georgia," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 17 February 2014 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]