“I am the hopes and
dreams of my ancestors.”
Embarking on my ancestral journey through genealogical research, kitchen conversations, many hours of connections, meeting my maternal enslaver’s descendants, and enhancing my knowledge of my paternal ancestry has been profound, emotional, and exciting. Uncovering these stories, struggles, and triumphs of those ancestors, some known and unknown has been my passion. This journey connects my past to the present, weaving together a narrative of discovery that honors the legacy of my ancestors and enriches our family's understanding of who we are today. Through each revelation, I gain a deeper appreciation for the paths my forebears forged, leading me to a greater sense of identity, belonging, and knowing.
A Journey of Discovery
Dr. Carolyn Haliburton Carter first became interested in genealogy when she was young. She was intrigued by her great-grandmother’s history, the youngest of 20 siblings, but she only knew 13 of them. After twenty years of occasional forays into documents and archives, she learned she had a lot to learn. Carolyn’s mission to learn to do it right began in 1985 when she interviewed her grandmother and great-grandmother and vowed to find her siblings. She went to be with her ancestors in 1993 at 110. Carolyn has since connected with the Currie slave-owning descendants and visited the plantation where her ancestors lived, worked, and died.
Carolyn has a Master’s Degree in History with a special concentration in Public History and a doctoral degree from Kansas State University in Educational Leadership. She previously taught Beginning Genealogy at Wayne County Community College District for over ten years and was the faculty leader for the student genealogy club.
Carolyn has researched records at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT; the Library Congress and National Archives in Washington, DC; Tennessee State Archives; Ohio State Archives; Lansing State Archives, Caswell County, North Carolina Archives; Allen County, Indiana, and Kentucky repositories for genealogical records. She has previously attended the National Council on Public History conferences as well. She uses a variety of databases, resources, and tools; she says, “There is no one resource with all the answers.” Carolyn is a member of the Historic Designation Advisory Council for the City of Detroit and a member of the Advisory Committee for the 20th Century African American Civil Rights Sites project. She is also a Civil Rights Historian for the National Parks Service. She is an experienced Underground Railroad (UGRR) researcher and historian and has secured a local historic UGRR designation in the City of Detroit. She also completed two accepted and designated National Park Service Network to Freedom Underground Railroad Historic Designation applications for areas along the Detroit River.
Carolyn creates a family history book every five years for her family and archives it at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, a free resource. She traced her paternal and maternal lineage back to the late 1700s. She has published articles about genealogy in the Michigan Chronicle and Michigan Citizen newspapers and is a contributor to BLAC Magazine.
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Currie/Curry, Kirby, Taylor, Straus, Whiteside, New, Haliburton, and Stansfield Descendant
