Tracing your family tree can be tough. This group helps Milwaukee's Black community find answers.

Patrisse Robinson hit a few brick walls researching her family's lineage.

She found information on her great-great-grandfather, who worked for the railroad and owned land in Alabama. But piecing together the maternal side of her bloodline proved challenging.

The birthdate of her grandmother, Ora C, is different on census records than what Robinson remembered growing up. Her last name changed as a child when she went to live with her paternal grandparents after her mother died. And the spelling of her grandmother's name was in question.

"It's a puzzle," said Robinson, a West Milwaukee resident who began researching her family's lineage 15 years ago. "It is a lot of layers that you peel through."

Robinson often relies on the expertise of the African American Genealogical Society of Milwaukee to shake loose clues about her family that are buried in census and other archival records.

With a few mouse clicks, AAGSOM was able to fill in those missing pieces to bring the puzzle of Robinson's family into focus. The group of amateur genealogist sleuths was able to find her grandmother's actual birth year from census records, based on who Robinson's grandmother was living with at the time.

"They know how to enter the information that you have," said Robinson, recalling that her computer search pulled up several names and dates. "There is so many that show up that I don't know how to decipher all of that."

AAGSOM, she said, was able to determine that her grandmother was 5 when she lived with her paternal grandparents.

Interest in genealogy has increased, thanks to TV shows like PBS' "Finding Your Roots." And the digitization of census records and other technological advances with archives has made familial research a lot easier within the last few decades.

Now, people can comb through the National Archives database from their kitchen table instead of sifting through paper records or microfiche at local libraries or courthouses.

"Records are a lot more accessible now," said Chuck Powell, the group's secretary.

Census records and other common research tools like death records, newspaper s and even some Freedmen's Bureau records are online .

"When we started, there was no internet," Powell said. "You were doing everything by mail."

Still, the hardest part for many is where to begin and how. AAGSOM can help with that, especially tracing earlier family generations.

The group holds monthly programs to help people in their search. Meetings are held every third Saturday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Villard Square Milwaukee Library, 5190 N. 35th St.

The group also hosts education sessions on topics like using courthouse records and sorting through DNA matches. On Saturday, Nov. 16, the group will present a discussion on self-publishing a book of autobiographical sketches. You can attend virtually through Zoom . Membership in the group is $20 but many of its programs are open to the public.

When the group started in 1992, there were few people interest in genealogy, Powell said. Few people even knew what the term meant.

"They thought it was somebody who collected rocks or somebody that made jewelry or some kind of doctor — a doctor that delivers babies," Powell said with a chuckle. "But now people know that word more, especially with the DNA testing going on."

Census records are part of the genealogy search, but so is collecting oral histories, Powell said.

People should get names of their grandparents, parents, parents' siblings, where they were born or where they lived. Obituaries are another great source for family history. So is a family bible. Other records include maps, old photographs, funeral home records and even death certificates, which can list the decedent's parents.

"Write down what you already know and then talk to older relatives," Powell said. "Then you start getting different stories about different people."

At some point, Powell said, people can get stuck. But that's the biggest advantage of AAGSOM — there's someone who can help.

Karen Culledge-Willaims of River Hills recently joined the group to help trace her family roots. The group, she said, has helped in getting initial information. Most of her family knowledge came from what her mother told her.

"They gave me quite a bit of information," Culledge-Williams said. "I believe there is a lot more to know than what they've said."

Culledge-Williams started researching her family tree in an unorthodox way in 2019. At a family gathering, she encouraged relatives to write down everything they knew about their family on butcher block paper.

Then the pandemic happened. And after losing her daughter in 2020, passing down her family lineage, especially to her two remaining sons, became even more significant.

"Knowing who you are," she said, "links you to our immediate past and your extended past."