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“White or Mexican(White)” is what I saw in a death record on Ancestry.com back in 2010 while researching my great grandmother Josephine Nelson, née St. Louis. This came as quite a surprise to me especially since I was new to genealogy and assumed that all of my ancestors were rich shade of brown like me and also from Louisiana, not Mexico! Needless to say, this label has left me and other family researchers perplexed. Based on the queries and information that I have seen, this label appears to have been given to deceased individuals throughout Louisiana regardless of their ethnicity or whether they identified as Creole or not. Their families were probably unaware of how they had been recorded in this index and in other government records that tracked race, including census records. What also confused me was that around the same time that I discovered this death index record,…

As with most young children, Christmas was the most wonderful and magical time of the year for me and my siblings. Whether the Christmas tree was the silver metallic one with the rotating color wheel , real, or artificial, we were mostly fixated on what would be under it come Christmas morning. Of course “Santa” was generous if we were “good” and I do not remember ever being disappointed. Christmas decorations and wonder aside, the best part of Christmas was the tradition of food , it’s preparation, and time spent with my family! Although I had started helping with meal preparation around the 3rd or 4th grade, It wasn’t until I was in the 5th grade did I really start to turn my attention away from toys to Christmas “traditions “. Actually, I think I morphed into a Keebler Elf. Perhaps it was the move from Texas to a house …

Tag: Creole

Race and Identity in The Louisiana Statewide Death Index

May 19, 2018May 31, 2018| Karen Galloway|9 Comments

Holiday Traditions | Mariah’s Christmas Gifts

December 24, 2017January 27, 2018| Karen Galloway|5 Comments