Denise's Ancestor's page

Alafia, peace, and welcome

 

My name is Denise Roberts Oliver-Velez in case we haven't met,  and you dropped in from some place in cyber-space rather than through our Wemba domain.

 

Contents

 

My  History

 

For many years I've been researching my family history, collecting stories from living relatives, and gathering up old photos and news-clippings.  The search has been complicated by the fact that my family is multi-racial, and many of the different groups of my ancestors had no awareness of each other, and probably little desire to admit that there was a relationship at all if they knew of it. 

Thanks to a letter received from a member of the Bodine branch, and some old papers I found in a box inherited from my grandmother Mabel Bodine Oliver, I now have a  detailed list of my grandmother's (my father's mother) side of the family, that she was cut off from after she married an African-American man in 1913.

The search for the history of my African-American ancestors is complicated.  Some were free, and others were slaves.  My aunt Mildred Roberts Williams, and my cousin Bernice Baskerville Stone have supplied photographs, and family stories. My cousin Margo Williams has aided me in my research efforts and joined me on a research trip.

Thanks to the internet, there are now numerous sites where you can start to search for your family history.

These next few pages are a journal of my search, and a place to put some of the photographs that have as yet not been identified, to not only help me figure out who they were, but also to add pieces to the puzzle for others who are also searching.

If you have dropped in here to browse, take a look at the photos, and read some of my notes.  You might just find out that you and I are long lost cousins.

 

Me

If you are interested in researching your own family history and don't know where to start, I got a lot of help and information, free at RootsWeb.

If you are searching for African-American ancestors, there is a great site with a forum, research help and chat at  AfriGeneas.

I have received help researching my Virginia ancestors from the author of several books on Loudoun County Va., Patricia B. Duncan.  Her books,  and many other wonderful genealogy materials are available from Willow Bend Books.

For more resources and the locations of other family websites of interest go to my Ancestor Links page.

 

click the lamp to enter my ancestor pages: The Oliver's

 

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