Maps, charts and dozens of family photos cover the walls of Solomon Titus Taylor’s apartment in Rochester.
For almost 20 years, he’s been documenting his family’s ancestry. Taylor started his initial research by going through books of information about his family lineage kept by his grandfather. That lead him to family census data on Ancestry.com.
The book sparked his curiosity and motivated him to go to Ancestry.com to find his family census records.
Genealogy company 23andme has made headlines recently after going bankrupt, and users are concerned about how their DNA information will be sold when the company liquidates. As trust in these ancestry companies wanes, genealogists and archivists are touting old school record searches as a way to learn more about ancestry and heritage.
Taylor’s research helped him discover that he was related to Ishmael Titus, a Black Revolutionary war veteran. It also connected him to other Titus families around the world.
Taylor has two phones filled with the emails and phone numbers of his family members across the world. In his apartment, maps and a black tri-fold poster show his family all over the United States in places like California, Georgia, Texas.
Last year, the 100 of the Titus family members gathered in Charlotte to meet. Taylor said some relatives traveled from as far as Jamaica and London. In Rochester, he said the Titus family is 300 members strong.
“It's my responsibility to make sure our family stays connected,” Taylor said. “Make sure our family understands again who we are and where we come from for future generations.”
If people no longer want to give DNA, local archivist Autumn Haag who helps genealogists said they’re other ways to kickstart research.
“You should start with birth, marriage and death records,” Haag said. “They’ll give you the name of occupation. It’ll give you an address.”
The New York Department of Health, libraries and records offices have those records.
In Taylor’s family, he’s become the starting point for many of his family members — the person future generations turn to for answers about the Titus family legacy.
During a time when the Trump administration is signing executive orders that force schools and museums to remove historic relics, Taylor is focused on protecting his family’s history.
“The lights may shut out one day, but still, yet, the lineage will still be here,” Taylor said.
