Migration Stories: Explore the Paths
The first of our path pilots have stepped up to define the routes they would like to research for this project. Introducing our first batch of paths and the speakers for our launch event in September.
Migration stories seem to be a universal in human history. All of us have such stories somewhere in our history. Their impact can be felt for generations.
When I announced this new series last week, I invited community members to step up to āpilotā research collaborations into the migration paths that mattered in their family.
Our First Migration Paths
Iāve been astonished by the response. Within a week, Iāve had over twenty community members step up to express their interest. Nine of them are ready to share the migration paths theyāre researching and invite others to join them in the journey. Were you interested but didnāt see the sign-up button? No worries, Iāve made another one:
In this post, Iāll introduce you to our first path pilots and the projects theyāre working on through the short descriptions in post form. None of these is a simple or quick project. Theyāre the kind of research the path pilot and their collaborators will be coming back to over weeks and months.
To get us started, weāve planned a launch next month with Zoom events featuring four of our āPath Pilotsā sharing details of their first migration paths. Watch them in events timed for our Atlantic and Pacific coast regions. More about that below. First, here are the paths.
From Europe to the Pacific
Jennifer Jones of Tracking Down the Family brings us an exploration of forced migration as it impacted her family in Australia, including convict transports, programs related to the Irish famine, and Scottish Highland clearances.
Anne Young of Anneās Family History shares her extensive gold rush-era research in opening the migration path from Europe, China, and North America.
From Europe to North America
Lex Knowlton of Knex Gen Genealogy brings her considerable research skills to the challenge of the influx of Eastern and Central European immigrants seeking the American Dream.
Kevin Ferguson of The Centenarian Playbook takes us into the lives of the Gemello family of wine growers and bottlers in the late 19th and early 20th century. His story reflects an industry that had a huge impact on the region's history.
Lisa Maguire of Ancestory, whom you may know for her projects on Micro History, brings her academic chops and considerable research experience to the larger story of the paths French descendants blazed through North America.
From Britain to North America
Lisa Rex of Ancestor Audit has been deeply researching migrations for her publication for months and takes us with her on a journey from Sweden to the United States through points in Britain.
Mike Godown with a self-titled publication brings us along as DNA helps him unwind family migration paths from Flanders and London to America in the 1600s.
Jude Rhodes, with her professional genealogy practice at Yorkshire Family History, invites explorers along as she looks at workers leaving the Yorkshire Dales as coal mining opportunities faded in the late 1800.
Within North America
Kyla Bayang of RootSquadRoundup takes us on a perilous journey from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn that combines stories of the American West with California before the discovery of gold.
My own path for Projectkin, posted earlier this week, illustrates how these path descriptions would work. This one focuses on my Quaker ancestors and their migration path out of slaveholding states in the Southeast to Midwestern states of Ohio and Indiana.
If youāre interested in this kind of family history research, take a moment to review these descriptions and the linked stories. I anticipate some wonderful collaborations to come of all of this.
Special Events in September
Events give Projectkin community members an opportunity to come together and get to know each other. We figured that a live event with the openness of a Zoom meeting would be the best way to launch this series as our first Path Pilots step up to share what they have in mind for these migration paths.
Our first sessions will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 22nd and 23rd. The two sessions will be timed to the convenience of our Atlantic- and Pacific-region community members
Thank You
Finally, Iād like to take a moment to thank my advisory team on this project. Theyāve been piloting me through all of this since the first glimmers of an idea.
Lisa Maguire, a Ph.D. in European History, one of the first friendly faces to welcome me to Substack and whose academic background keeps me honest with unwavering joy and whimsical verve.
Jude Rhodes, a professional genealogist in Yorkshire, England, and an active member of the Society for One Place Studies, the British Association for Local History, and the Society of Genealogists. Her spirit pervades everything she does.
Jennifer Jones, my time-traveling genealogical partner in Speakersā Corner and whose perspective from Down Under keeps me on my toes.
What an incredible assortment of migration stories. Looking forward to it.
Fantastic!