About
Posted by Liv
Hello and welcome to Claiming Kin!
Liv
I’m Marlive Taylor-Harris (better known as Liv among family and personal friends) and I’ve been hooked on Genealogy ever since my son, who is married with children of his own, brought home an ancestral chart to complete for his “All About Me” project in third grade (1989). Completing that Ancestral Chart wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. But I must admit, it was exactly the motivation I needed to get to know my own family and learn more about our history to share with future generations.
My family research has been, and continues to be, a labor of love and well worth the trips to family birthplaces around my state of Texas and sneezing non-stop after spending a day, or two, in dark, damp, dusty courthouse basements. But despite some of the challenges with researching African /African-American Ancestry, my genealogical journey has been a rewarding one.
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It wasn’t until I read, CLAIMING KIN: CONFRONTING THE HISTORY OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY by Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003) during the holidays of 2010, was I inspired on New Year’s Day 2011 to launch my own family history blog of the same title and pick up where I left off with my family’s research on a more regular basis.
I’m importing all of my “hard file” family data since 1989 into Ancestry.com and blogging about my experiences and findings — first via my starter blog at claimingkin.livejournal.com, — and now here at my official place in cyberspace – ClaimingKin.com!
So I hope you enjoy your visit here; feel free to explore my site and check out the surnames that are apart of my family tree. And if by chance you have some of the same surnames in your family tree, let me hear from you because I’m . . . Claiming Kin!
Family Tree Magazine Podcasts
NBC's Season 1 – Who Do You Think You Are?
PBS: Faces of America
