On Tuesday, Pam Smith of Chicago will present “Tracing Slavery and Slaveholding on the Kentucky Frontier” in Smithland. This program, sponsored by the Livingston County Historical and Genealogical Society, will begin at noon. The program is free and everyone is invited to attend.Smith will tell how she became interested in genealogy through her grandmother, Ione Holland, and the discovery of Professor Ann Neel, a white descendant of the family that owned her second great-grandfather, Baltimore Robinson, during slavery. Smith will discuss her African-American family research with a focus on Kentucky, including her Livingston County ancestors — the Lewis and Threlkeld families. Her family line connects with Thomas Jefferson’s sister, Lucy Jefferson Lewis of Livingston County.
She will share stories about finding Kentucky descendants of the people who enslaved her ancestors. Smith will tell her story through pictures, oral histories, census and probate records, information from research trips and results from DNA testing. The event will conclude with a question and answer period.
Tuesday’s program will be at Livingston County Historical & Genealogical Society located at 117 State St. in Smithland. For questions or additional information, contact the society at 928-4656 or LivingstonHistorical@windstream.net.
Smith will conduct a similar program next Thursday in Marion detailing her ancestry in Crittenden County. That event will begin at 6:30 p.m., at Crittenden County Public Library. It is also free to attend. For further information, contact Brenda Underdown, call 704-6402 or e-mail TheCrittendenPress@att.net.
