Sept. 27, 1952 – Feb.
12, 2013
On
Tuesday, February 12, 2013, God picked a beautiful flower to take home to
heaven with Him. This beautiful flower was Sandra Jean
Taliaferro. Waiting at the door were her ancestors – the ones she knew
personally, the ones whose names she called during her years of genealogy
research, and also the ones whom she longed to find. Sandra is with all of them
now. She is overjoyed.
Sandra
was a member of AAHGS Metro Atlanta chapter for over five years. She was born and raised in Atlanta and
graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in
Urban Life, with a concentration in Criminal Justice, from Georgia State University
in 1979. She was employed as a Paralegal
with the Office of the General Counsel for over 30 years.
Sandra
began researching her family history in 2001. Her ancestral journey included a
number of counties in Georgia, including Henry, DeKalb, Clayton, Greene,
Morgan, Newton, Meriwether, Pike, Harris, and Putnam counties. Her
maternal surnames of interest were Gates, Middlebrooks, Thompson, Parks/Park
and Guise. Her paternal surnames were
Taliaferro, Toliver, Dorsey, Jackson, Gilbert, Butler, Askew, Brewer, Lawrence,
Reid/Reed, Turner, and Little. Sandra
researched feverishly and passionately for her ancestors. She was very active
in the online genealogy community where she wrote about her family history
research and other genealogy-related musings on her blog entitled “I Never Knew My Father” (http://ineverknewmyfather.com).
In
2003, Sandra began researching her paternal line; her desire to uncover her
paternal roots was sparked by the fact that she never knew her father. Equipped with only a few facts and clues
provided by her mother, Sandra began her search, although the possibility of
tracing her paternal ancestry was never an avenue she thought she'd pursue with
much success. Nonetheless, her research was
very successful beyond her imagination.
After
finding her father, John Lawrence Taliaferro, with his parents and siblings in
the 1930 census, Sandra was able to trace her paternal line back to her
great-great-grandfather, Miles Taliaferro. She located him in the 1870 census,
a genealogical feat. Sandra also found
Miles and his son John (her great-grandfather) on an 1856 slave inventory and
appraisement for their former Taliaferro enslaver in Fulton County,
Georgia.
However,
Sandra’s most significant and surprising research find was indeed a life-changing
one. Through the message boards on Ancestry.com, she discovered and connected
with the family of the father she never knew.
She met four first cousins, an aunt (her father’s sister), and a
brother. She and her brother Bernard
officially met in July 2005, and Sandra’s research story was featured in the
February 19, 2007 issue of Jet magazine. See that magazine article here: http://tinyurl.com/a9wt82y
Upon
meeting her brother Bernard, they instantly bonded; he moved back to Atlanta in
2006 and became her devoted care-giver.
He was right there by her side for the remainder of her beautiful
life. She will be dearly missed but
never forgotten. Rest in peace, Sandra.
Enjoy this eternal time now with those ancestors you loved so dearly!
Sandra and her brother, Bernard
A Letter to Sandra from
Emma Davis Hamilton, President of AAHGS Metro Atlanta Chapter:
Dear
Sandra,
We
all already miss you. Now who will I call to vent about my big brick wall? Who
is going to keep me up to date with what is happening in the genealogy blog
world? Who will write that beautiful
prose for the chapter?
You
were very quiet much of the time at meetings and gatherings. Besides being the corresponding secretary, few
knew that behind the scenes your genius mind was at work and involved in all
our planning for activities. You were
a key member of the team for all our major programs, like the very successful
Ancestry Day and the Gullah Symposium.
You
will be happy to know that the work you did was a major contributing factor
that prompted AAHGS National to approve our request for financial support for
the Emancipation Proclamation Symposium.
The symposium has been our most successful program to date with over 200
people attending. Even though you were
not there in body, I know you were there in spirit.
I
imagine that you are dancing and singing with the ancestors and the angels. Have you met with your great-aunt and asked
her why they accused her of tying the children to the railroad tracks? Was she
framed as we theorized? Tell my folks, the Carrs and the Colliers, that I am down
here looking for them everywhere and they need to show themselves!
Well,
my dear, you rest in peace now, and we will all be seeing you sometime in the
future.
Until
we meet again…
Love,
Emma
“While we are
mourning the loss of our friend the ancestors and the angels are rejoicing to
greet her.”
