The Journey of The Green Legacy
In my quest to discover as much as possible about my family history, I became more and more determined to breathe life back into the generations that came before me. I've utilized many platforms to share my family roots and hopefully this story will assist others in doing something similar. Presently, I’m involved with Kickstarter in order to make the latest part of my dream (a film) a reality.
THE FAMILY TREE
Back in 2012, I received a diagram of a family tree, given to me by my aunt, which reflected my father’s kin. This first tree had few dates so my challenge was to place the individual dates of birth in order. I joined Ancestry.com in order to pull together documents (state census forms, birth and death records, draft cards) to that would verify these dates.
I first checked on information leading to the males named Green since the last name remained consistent even with marriage. At the top of his life-chart was my great-great grandfather Daniel Green who I found out was born in 1853.
As I picked up information of this relative, a man named Sanders Green kept appearing in the state census information. He lived with Daniel from the time he was young and was more than twenty years older than him. With a bit more effort, I was able to prove that Sanders Green was the father of Daniel, making Sanders my great-great-great grandfather. To my surprise, I had actually tracked down a relative that none of my family knew existed! In addition to this joyful find, I was able to locate most of the birth-death dates so the task of constructing a more up-to-date family tree was a lot closer to completion. 
THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
The marriage certificate was in the form of a ledger notation where all parties in attendance signed. These signatures and the stamp of the courthouse that sent me the information proved that the certificate was authentic and the union actually took place.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
I also tracked down my father's first home where he lived as a teenager during the 1930's. He lived with his three brothers, three sisters, mother and father. I've heard numerous stories from family members about this old house but I never visited it. I took for granted that it no longer existed.
On a chance, by using Google Earth, I was able see the actual house, which was still sitting on 4121 Willow Street, in New Orleans. The old two-story building looks as if it is close to being torn down but it stood proudly long enough for me to take a picture of it as a keepsake.
MAKING THE BOOK
In addition to numerous interviews, both in person and on the telephone, I had gathered enough information to construct a true story of five generations of the Green family prior to my being born. The time span was approximately from 1830 through 1950. In order to add extra realism, I searched for general information of the era (such as clothing styles, famous people, natural disasters, etc.).
I came across the slave manifest of a ship named the Baroque Panthian. It had set sail from Richmond, Virginia and landed in New Orleans on March 14, 1843. There were thirty-eight people on the cargo list of which ten were female. All the slaves had full names except for one sixteen-year old individual simply named Judy.
This lone teenager fascinated me and I decided to build a major role for her in my story.
Soon afterwards, I discovered Creole in a Red Headdress, ca. 1840, which was painted in New Orleans by Jacques Lucien Arman. The alluring gaze of this unidentified woman inspired me to keep her image in mind as I wrote my story. She became Judy. On March 14, 1843, Judy’s world-wind adventures began as her cargo ship arrived at that bustling dock in New Orleans. This is also how the story ofThe Green Legacy begins.
Book to Film
During 2017, I began doing library sessions on "Writing a Factual and Entertaining Family History." During each session, there is a discussion on how to effectively build a factual family history. Afterwards, techniques on how to combine the history with an entertaining story, in order to draw the interest of family members and many others, are discussed. The review also covers the interviewing process, document searches and storyline evolution that can produce a personal and entertaining family history narrative. The Green Legacy is used as example of how this can be done.
MAKING THE FILM
The need to create a film sprung from those who enjoyed the book and would then say, "The characters seemed so real. When is the movie coming out?" I'd never done a script before so I obtained a program, which would convert my writings to the proper format. I then wrote the script for the two-minute introductory video, which my team and I excitedly completed in a few days. Making a movie costs money, which is why I decided to create a Kickstarter campaign. I plan on doing monthly updates about the progress of the film in order to keep supporters and all others interested, in the loop. As always, I plan to keep family alive.
Hope to see you all at the screening.
If you have any questions concerning my or your journey through ancestry, contact me at: [email protected]
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