Jimmy an Me

About 10 years ago I met Jimmy. Jimmy was at a workshop I attended, and I invited him to the Family History Center. He came the very next week, thus beginning our friendship. During the course of our research we discovered Dr Dave working on the same family line. One problem though, Dr Dave was white, and Jimmy was mixed race. I contacted Dr Dave, which again became an admirable acquaintance (he is really smart)! Since 2012 Dr Dave, Jimmy, and myself have worked on this family line. I provided all of the research from NC, Jimmy and his family provided family stories and DNA, and Dr Dave put it all together with a professional geneticist.

Over the past couple of years Jimmy has been stricken with Alzheimers, his daughter who was part of our research team has passed away, and research has slowed to a crawl. Until last night!

I received an email from Dr Dave to inform me that he would be presenting our research at the Southern California Genealogical Society’s Annual Conference in June, and invited me and Jimmy to attend.

Day and Date                 Thursday, June 8, 2017

Time                               2:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Presentation Title           Was Henderson Dowell's Father of African or European Descent? 

Presentation Description At Emancipation Henderson Dowell of Wilkes County, North Carolina, was 20 years old and enslaved by Pricilla Dowell. His living descendants are mixed African-American and European-American. Did his paternal ancestors come to America from Europe or from Africa? 

I know I won't be able to go, but I know it will be recorded. Helping someone else sometimes ends to be very rewarding.