Nancy Maliwesky

Retired genealogist (as if!); past Chair of the New York State Family History Conference; Singer-Songwriter and Happy Delaware transplant. I started my journey in African American genealogy while helping a friend fill in her family tree. What a revelation! This is hard work. I also started to use DNA matches as a way to connect with other family members in order to bring the lines back.

I had done my DNA years back and really had not spent much time reviewing it, so I thought, with what I had learned from my friend’s research, perhaps I should look at my DNA matches again. What I found would change my life, and the trajectory of my future research. DNA matches identified that my paternal grandfather was not the person on my dad’s birth certificate, nor was he of Irish descent. My paternal grandfather came from a land and slave owning family in Albemarle County, Virginia, and I also have several African American cousins. There was no denying that my ancestors were part of this ugly part of our American History, which reverberations still affect African Americans today. I decided then and there, that while I cannot change the past, I can sure as heck shine a light on it, and that is what I have been doing with my Delaware research.

I recently “discovered” FamilySearch’s full text search feature and decided to look again at my Albemarle County, Virginia family, which includes white and African American relatives, Using the text search I started to find a slew of records relating to the African American experience in Albemarle County during slavery and have decided to expand my research project to include a separate clearinghouse for Albemarle County African American research.

As a songwriter, I often process my feelings and emotions through song, and I have been writing Freedom Songs based on the research I have done and the manumissions and court records I have found. To hear these songs, please visit my website at https://www.reverbnation.com/control_room/artist/1526150/songs