✦ · Roots & Branches · ✦

Your Story Didn’t
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Trace your family history across generations — from slavery and separation to survival and legacy. Built for those whose stories were hardest to preserve, and open to all who seek their roots.

Faulkner/Falkner/Falconer Nevills/Nevels/Nevils/Nevells Archie/Archery Smith Ross Gates Harris Pinkston Taylor Hillard
229Ancestors Documented
8Family Archives
9Research Resources
10Public Documents
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Research Resources

Research guides, lineage reports, and historical documents for African American genealogy. Free and open to everyone.

📚 Research Guide
Researching Enslaved People & Their Owners
Every major free database, archive, and record collection for tracing enslaved ancestors — FamilySearch, NARA, Freedmen’s Bureau, WPA Narratives, and more.
8 sectionsFree Read →
🌿 Lineage Report
Faulkner Enslaved Lineage Research Dossier
A deep archive investigation into enslaved persons connected to the Falkner/Faulkner family of Mississippi — DNA evidence, Emeline Lacy, and Rowan Oak.
5 sectionsFree Read →
🔍 Ancestry Report
Faulkner / Falkner Lineage & Related Surnames
Documented lineage lines and surname connections for Faulkner, Falkner, Nevills, Taylor, and associated Mississippi families from c.1820–1920.
ComprehensiveFree Read →
⚖ Comprehensive Report
Faulkner Lineage & Enslaved Ancestors — Comprehensive Report
A full documentary report tracing Faulkner/Falkner lineage alongside enslaved ancestor records, court filings, estate inventories, and post-emancipation evidence.
Full ReportFree Read →
🗺 State Records Guide
North Carolina Slavery Records: 1790–1870
County-by-county guide to North Carolina slave schedules, freedmen’s records, plantation documentation, and named enslaved persons across eight decades of state records.
County IndexFree Read →
⚜ Surname Research
Gates Surname — Research Dossier
Origins, variant spellings, and the geographic anchor of Gates County, NC — with documented pathways freedpeople used when adopting the Gates surname after emancipation.
Full DossierFree Read →
🔤 Surname Research
Surname Research Index
A growing A–Z index of researched surnames with documented findings, DNA connections, migration patterns, and linked resources for each family name.
Full IndexFree Read →
📺 Memorial Records
Obituaries & Funeral Programs
A public archive of digitized obituaries and funeral programs contributed by families — an invaluable source for confirming names, relationships, dates, and places of burial.
ArchiveFree Read →
📖 Historical Document
Harnett Pioneer Almanac
A digitized historical almanac of pioneer families in Harnett County, NC — essential for pre–Civil War research in this region carved from Cumberland County in 1855.
PDF AvailableFree Read →
“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”
— Alex Haley

What You Can Do Here

Whether you’re starting from scratch or building on decades of research, Legacy Keepers gives you the tools to go deeper.

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Store census records, birth certificates, marriage licenses, letters, and photographs in your private family archive.

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Connect generations from the present back through Reconstruction and beyond — with full spouse, sibling, and child support.

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Ancestor Map

Visualize where your ancestors lived across generations with an interactive map powered by historical location data.

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DNA Integration

Track DNA test results, matches, and ethnicity estimates alongside your documentary evidence.

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Heritage PDF Reports

Generate beautiful family heritage reports ready to print and share — a gift that lasts generations.

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Research Services

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Who We Serve

Rooted in African American heritage and open to every family on earth.

Legacy Keepers was built first and foremost to address the unique challenges of African American genealogy — the deliberate erasure of names in records, the barrier of slavery-era documentation, the scattered evidence of the Great Migration.

But the platform and its resources welcome researchers of every background, because we are all family. Every feature, every research guide, every tool is designed to help you find the people who came before you — no matter where those roots reach.

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