About

Almost Disappeared

Almost Disappeared: Unearthing My Family History is a blog that will primarily share the genealogical resources I have found over the last 20 years while tracing my family history.  All the branches of my family, uprooted from Africa to the United States, converged in one place – Woodville, Wilkinson County, Mississippi.  These families were then scattered throughout Louisiana, and with the onset of the Civil War, ran away or migrated to Chicago and other places.

I am proud to add my voice to those who feel they have been chosen to call the names of their ancestors and tell their stories.  I hope this blog will provide ideas and resources to others, especially those whose families may have been enslaved on the same plantations, so that our ancestors will always be remembered.

Alvin Blakes

Alvin Blakes is a lifelong organizer and community worker who has been researching African history since he was a teenager, and has traveled to Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and all over the United States to pursue his studies. He has researched his family’s history from Woodville, Mississippi back to the late 1700s in the Eastern US.

Alvin is a member of the Dallas Genealogical Society’s African American Genealogy Interest Group, Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago (AAGHSC), National Society of the Sons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP), and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS).  He contributed two homesteader stories to the recent publication of Black Homesteaders of The South (2022). He has been a guest on Research at the National Archives and Beyond BlogTalk radio, Genealogy Quick Start TV, Nurturing Our Roots Genealogy Discussions, and has presented topics at the Sons and Daughters of the US Middle Passage Conference, the African American Civil War Museum & Memorial and the African American Genealogical Interest Group of Dallas, Texas.

He graduated with a Bachelors and Masters of Mechanical Engineering degree from Howard University’s School of Engineering and has enjoyed a lifelong career as a Mechanical Design Engineering Manager.

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