By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Everybody has relatives who make them want to check a birth certificate to make sure they’re actually kin to them, yet increasingly African Americans are searching for even more branches from their family tree.

Judge Vance Raye and Sandra Raye are interested in genealogy and discovering more of their roots. They attended the African American Family History Seminar where participants got the chance to swab their cheeks and submitted the collection for study that traces ancestry. Photo (c) Observer / Larry V. Dalton

Locals got help on their quests with the African American Family History Seminar II held on March 8 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Sacramento Regional Family History Center.

The seminar featured workshops for novices and those who are already familiar with genealogy. Classes included “Roots and Wings: Beginning Black Genealogy Research,” “Finding Blacks in Historical Newspapers,” “From Slavery to Freedom — A Case Study,” “Using Google to Find Your Ancestors” and “A History Behind Civil War Records,” led by African American genealogy expert Sam Starks.

The keynote speaker was Ugo A. Perego, director of Operations and Study Research Coordinator for the non-profit Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF). Perego spoke on “The Power of DNA: Discovering Lost and Hidden Relationships.” He also brought free DNA kits for participants and took samples to process for those immediately interesting in tracking where they hail from.

In his eight years with SMGF, Perego has supervised the worldwide collection of nearly 100,000 DNA samples with corresponding genealogical records, given over 120 lectures, and published several articles on the topic of genetic genealogy. SMGF is dedicated to building the world’s foremost collection of DNA.

As seen on the recent PBS special “African American Lives 2,” DNA can trace African Americans back to what region of Africa and other areas they originated from.

Host Henry Louis Gates traced his roots back to Africa and Ireland. Gates, a professor at Harvard University, has his own company that traces ancestry, AfricanDNA.com.
The Sacramento Regional Family History Center has been providing free services to Sacramento’s metropolitan genealogists, public, and Church members since 1962.

The center is one of only 13 regional family history centers in the entire world. The facility provides access to records and services from the largest set of genealogical archives in the world located in Salt Lake City, Utah, including extensive British, Canadian and U.S. Census records, book and family history collections, numerous computer stations, Social Security Indexes, Death Records and Pedigree Catalogues.