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| Britten Family Collection Louisiana State Archives Photo Credit: Dr. Antoinette Harrell |
There are many unidentified photographs in the Britten Family collection at the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. If you are a Britten or have an older family member in the Britten family that can help identified the photographs. Please email Dr. Antoinette Harrell at nurturingourroots@gmail.com.
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| Unidentified Photograph Source: Louisiana State Archives Britten Collection |
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| Unidentified Source: Louisiana State Archives |
I was delighted to see the beautiful unidentified photographs. I did recognize an original postcard of the Tangipahoa Parish Training School for the Colored in Kentwood, Louisiana. I took photographs of some of the pictures to share on my social media sites. I decided to Live-Stream a special video on my Facebook page asking anyone who knows the Britten family to contact me concerning this collection.
Bill said that someone dropped them off at the archives. At least the family didn't throw them away. That evening, Eric Williams and Ann Hurst reached out to the Britten family to see if the Britten's they know could help us identify anyone in the photographs.
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| Unidentified Source: Louisiana State Archives |
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| Unidentified Source: Louisiana State Archives |
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| Eric Williams Louisiana State Archives Research Photo Credit: Antoinette Harrell |
Our trip to the Louisiana State Archives was very successful and rewarding for both Eric and me. We both were very pleased with our accomplishments that day. On the way home, we discuss how essential death records are to genealogy research.
We didn't have enough time to do all that we wanted to do. We didn't have enough time to do all we wanted to do on this five-day research trip. Eric will return back to Louisiana to research at the St. Helena Parish Courthouse and Pike County Courthouse. He was researching the Walls, Tobias, Williams, Burton, Strickland, and Bated family surnames.
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| Eric Williams Photo Credit: Antoinette Harrell |
Mainly for African-Americans whose ancestors were enslaved in the United States. Most who are researching their enslaved ancestors say they hit a brick wall before 1870. Eric Williams has genealogical ties to Amite County, Mississippi, Tangipahoa, and St. Helena Louisiana Parishes.
I received a phone call from Eric Williams about our DNA connections. After we spent hours upon hours talking by phone, we decided to schedule a trip to the Amite Courthouse to research slavery inventory. It was Eric's first time researching in the Amite Courthouse for slavery records. We spent the day looking at Probate records, marriage records, wills, and other records in the courthouse.
Eric found his ancestors who were enslaved in the inventory of the person who owned them. Eric's emotions were written all over his face. I know that feeling because I experienced it when I started researching my family history. Afterward, we went to the local library to finish our genealogy research for the day.
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| Photo Courtesy Rosalind McKay-Batiste Facebook Page |
When you shake that family tree, you never know what surname can fall off the tree. Several months ago, I had a conversation with Ponchatoula, Louisiana Councilwoman Rosalind McKay Batiste about her McKay surname. She informed me that she descends through the Thomas McKay branch. After researching the McKay line, I found that Thomas and my Monroe were brothers. Their parents were Charles and Rinner McKay. I can't wait to tell her that we are related. The fantastic thing is when I first met her, we bond instantly. Well, that explains it.
