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Expert Series
How I Discovered That The First Shot Of The Civil War Fired In Michigan
by Craig Manson | Mar 25, 2011
Unraveling a family mystery can sometimes lead to a significant historical event. As I tried to understand a pair of unusual marriages in my family tree, I discovered an incident at the root of the Civil War in a most unlikely place. This article tells that story, while at once highlighting often-overlooked resources and strategies in African-American genealogical research.
In the 1930 census of Kansas City, Missouri, my great-uncle, Julius Walter Long is enumerated with his wife, Laura, and Laura's daughter, Violet Crosby. One thing that immediately struck me was that Laura's birthplace was listed as "Canada English."
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