TAMPA, Fla. — The Hillsborough County Public Library system is home to the largest genealogy collection in the Southeast.
What You Need To Know
- Tampa has the largest genealogy collection in the Southeast
- The program is free and offers one-on-one help
- Genealogy resources are available at every branch of the Hillsborough County Public Library
Their free one-on-one program helps residents unlock their family tree.
“This is the only [Robert W. Saunders Sr.] library in the Tampa Bay area that exclusively focuses on African-American resources,” said Supervisory Librarian Shedriek Battle. “Part of that unique collection is the Freedman's Bureau. If you access Ancestry.com outside of the library it is a paid service. Here it is free and you get professional assistance."
More than 26 million people have been tested by consumer genetics companies, according to the MIT Tech Review.
However, the At-Home DNA tests come with a price tag, privacy concerns and sometimes lack in useable data.
Alexia McKay is an entrepreneur and motivational speaker, with deep roots throughout the state of Florida.
“My mom’s side of the family is from North Florida, my dad's is from Central Florida,” she said.
Alexia was born and raised in Florida herself and enjoyed reading as a child.
“The ‘Florida Sentinel', I grew up reading that paper at home and to see that Dr. Martin Luther King was here, that was cool,” she added.
The Blake High School graduate recalls learning about leaders in the community.
“Clarence Fort, he led Blake High students in a sit-in. I’m always fascinated to hear about local history,” she said.
However, Alexia says she always wanted to get a deeper understanding of her own family's history.
She’s getting that opportunity now at the Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library.
“There is a stigma with African American families,” said Alexia. “It’s so hard for us to track our family history.”
African-American genealogy records are harder to find because record keeping for blacks prior to the Civil War was lacking.
Through the resources at the library, Alexia is tracing her family lineage back by more than three generations.
“I never knew about this resource that’s right in my backyard,” said Alexia.
The Saunders Library has a reference collection focused on African-American genealogy.
Librarian Shedriek Battle is Alexia’s guide.
“It helps to narrow it down if you include the birthplace,” said Shedriek.
Alexia has World War II draft and honorable discharge papers for both of her grandfathers.
The documents were helpful in unlocking information, like the fact that her maternal grandfather also shared her passion for entrepreneurship.
“He couldn’t read and write, but he was self-employed, and he owned his own property,” he said.
She was fascinated by even the simplest details about her grandfather, who died before she was born.
“A lot of people don’t really talk about him much and also to know that he was short,” she chuckled. “He’s 5’6 and I’m 5’5,” she said.
Through a 1930s census, she learned about how her great-grandmother and grandmother made it through the Post-Reconstruction era. One also shared Alexia’s passion for reading.
“Somehow she didn’t go to school, but there was someone in her life who was educating her and she passed it down,” added Alexia.
With the help of these digital resources, the soon-to- be- mom plans to provide her child with even more knowledge than she had growing up.
“I really want to pass this information down to my daughter to really understand where she comes from, her heritage.”
It’s a legacy and rich history she want’s her daughter to be proud of and pass on to future generations.
Genealogy resources are available at every branch of the Hillsborough County Public Library.
The following forms will help with your search:
https://hcplc.org/research/genguides/fhgl-research-form.pdf
https://hcplc.org/research/genguides/fhgl-source-checklist.pdf