Family Griot to appear on Research at the National Archives and Beyond! with Bernice Bennett

Press Release  20 May 2013

Summary: This is an announcement that Research at the National Archives and Beyond! will occur on Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 9:00pm to 10:00pm

Mississippi Genealogy Resources with Laura Lanier
Bernice Bennett host welcomes Laura Lanier for a discussion on the various record sets available for genealogical research in Mississippi.
Laura Lanier is a family researcher from New York with ancestral roots in Alabama and Mississippi. Laura has been actively researching her family roots in Adams County and Wilkinson County, Mississippi since 2008. She currently maintains a Facebook page, The Family Griot, in which she shares records and research about her extended family.

More Info: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bernicebennett/2013/05/24/mississippi-genealogy-resources-with-laura-lanier

Rounds (Glen Aubin) Plantation in Photos

Fully Restored Rounds Plantation 1985

Rounds Plantation 1983, Sibley, Mississippi

 One of the most difficult things for me to find was an image of the Rounds Family Plantation in Adams County, Mississippi. The best image that I'd had was a lopsided photo taken in the mid-1980's with a 110 film camera. (Remember those??) Needless to say the photo quality was not the greatest, even during that time. After searching the internet for photos of this place which is on the National Register of Historic Places and coming up empty, I was able to find photos of a pre-restored Rounds Plantation in the application for it to gain this status at MDAH (Mississippi Department of Archives and History). These are the first images of the inside of the home that I've ever seen. I can only imagine what it was like during the Antebellum and Reconstruction Era. It must've been beautiful!

Front entrance of the home

Inside of the home

Inside of the home

Family Reunion In More Ways Than One

The Thompson and Galmore Family of Adams County, Mississippi recently celebrated their bi-annual family reunion on July 6 – 8, 2012.  What a celebration it was! Several generations of the descendants of Calvin “ Papa Lovie” Thompson and Sarah “Mama Sarah” Galmore-Thompson from New York to Texas converged on Natchez and Sibley, MS to celebrate family connections and history.

The Family Griot with Abdul Muhammad at the homestead of Calvin and Sarah Thompson

One of the biggest surprises of the family reunion was the reconnection of a distant cousin, Abdul-Rahmaan Abd-Raheem Muhammad, who came to celebrate with us. Personally it was quite a surprise for me because I discovered that for 25 years he lived about 40 minutes from where I grew up, his daughter was a high school classmate of a cousin and he was friends with the family of the same cousin! Abdul (formerly Andrew S. Thomas), born in Hattiesburg, MS, is the son of George Thompson, grandson of Philip Thompson and great-grandson of Benjamin Thompson; attended his first Thompson-Galmore Family Reunion. After being separated from his extended Thompson family for several years, Abdul was returned to us and a branch of the family tree was restored. 

Abdul-Rahmaan Abd-Raheem Muhammad is a published author who wrote a book of poems inspired by his life experiences and spiritual journey, entitled "Words: Masterpieces of Limitation".