Anders Genealogical Services

12/10/2025

"It's just a fun gift" - Is that what you're thinking about giving a DNA test kit this holiday season? Here's why you might want to reconsider!

Many clients come to us after receiving DNA test results, unsure how to process unexpected information or connect with newly discovered relatives. The truth? While DNA tests can be exciting, they're not always the straightforward, fun gift people expect.

For instance, we recently worked with a family who gifted their grandmother a DNA test. They were excited to learn more about their ethnic background, but the results revealed a long-held family secret: their grandmother had been adopted. This discovery led to a rollercoaster of emotions and raised many questions about their family history.

In situations like these, we guide families through the process of understanding their results, connecting with newfound relatives sensitively, and integrating this new information into their family narrative. We work together to turn potentially unsettling discoveries into opportunities for growth and connection.

Think about the potential impact: discovering unknown siblings, uncovering family secrets, or connecting with long-lost relatives. It's not just about ethnicity percentages - it's about people's lives and identities.

Let's explore whether a DNA test is the right gift for your loved ones. Book a consultation today. We'll discuss the pros and cons, and I can guide you through alternative genealogy gifts that might be a better fit. If you do decide on a DNA test, I'll be there to help you navigate the results, whatever they may reveal.

Have you ever given or received a DNA test as a gift? Share your experience in the comments!

12/09/2025

Genealogy can help you find names, dates, and places - but it also holds all the clues to your family’s resilience, values, and legacy.

But sometimes genealogical research isn’t as straightforward. It requires expertise in historical archives, knowledge of cultural context, and the expertise to piece together fragmented records.

This is exactly what my team and I will do for you inside the Ancestor Package. In this service, we’ll spend 8 weeks doing deep analytical research and diving into historical archives to find the facts and discover new details of your ancestor’s past.

We only need a few basic details to get started - like a first name, a spouse’s name, the name of a child/parent, or even the place they are buried to get started. From there, you’ll receive a detailed report and a call with me to walk through every finding.

Ready to dive into your family history?

Book your free call to explore the Ancestor Package, and I’ll share the process you’ll be guided through to go from curious about your past to proud of your family’s legacy in just 8 weeks.

12/08/2025

At a recent genealogy conference, something happened that I can't stop thinking about.

A white attendee approached me and several other Black researchers during a break. She seemed well-intentioned, but her words revealed something else.

She didn't ask about our work or expertise. Instead, her tone carried a familiar assumption: "That's nice that you're trying."

Here's what she didn't know: the researchers she addressed are professionals with years of experience and significant contributions to community history preservation.

This happens more often than it should. There's an assumption about who can do sophisticated genealogy work and whose cultural knowledge counts as expertise.

But understanding enslaved naming patterns, migration routes, church traditions, and community structures isn't just academic. It's lived knowledge that shapes how we approach records and honor the people we're researching.

These assumptions don't just hurt feelings. They affect whose ancestors get found, whose stories get told, and whose histories become part of the permanent record.

Cultural knowledge matters. Excellence in this field comes from diverse voices.

For other researchers: I see you. Your expertise is valid. Your place in these spaces is deserved.

I share more reflections like this in my newsletter notes each week. Join me there.

Sign up for the newsletter here: https://loom.ly/i_4GDuY

NEWSLETTERJoin the A-ListSign up for our newsletter where you'll hear about past clients, upcoming workshops, and other insider tips and stories. Honoring history with detailed and compassionate research. It's all about blending rigorous research with storytelling. We dig deep into archives, pore ov...

12/08/2025

The Cemetery Was Never Empty

A lawyer in Tampa, a historian in Portsmouth and a forensic anthropologist in Montana are part of a national effort to reclaim Black burial grounds the nation tried to forget.

Over the last two decades, across cul-de-sacs and college campuses, under high schools and parking lots, the bones of African Americans have resurfaced, forcing cities and institutions to confront how thoroughly Black death — like Black life — was pushed to the margins.

These rediscoveries have a familiar rhythm. A construction project pauses when a backhoe lifts a skull from the clay. An archivist or curious reporter compares old plat maps with modern parcels, realizing an all-Black cemetery lies beneath a warehouse or football field. Descendants, often women, show up at planning meetings with armfuls of death certificates and family Bibles.

What distinguishes this moment is not that these graves are being found — they were always there — but that, for once, the people buried in them are starting to be treated as ancestors rather than obstacles.

Full the article at https://www.kolumnmagazine.com/2025/12/06/the-cemetery-was-never-empty/

12/07/2025

Thank you!!

Celebrating Anders Genealogical Services, a Best of Black Business nominee. One person shared that they helped uncover family history and gave new meaning to stories and oral traditions that had been passed down. Because of their work, they now have a clearer sense of where they come from. That kind of guidance and care is truly priceless.

Show them some love and support this outstanding business.

12/06/2025

Join me next week!
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Anti-Racist Genealogy with a European-American Lens

Join Sutro Library for a live virtual webinar on Anti-Racist Genealogy on Thursday, December 11th at 4 pm, PST!

Explore how white privilege impacts genealogical research. We'll discuss what's often missing in traditional practices and how genealogy can reveal racial and cultural identity. Learn to use your family history as a tool for understanding and addressing historical injustices.

*This talk assumes a basic understanding of racism and white privilege.

Mica L. Anders is a professional genealogist specializing in African American genealogy with almost 20 years of experience. As the first-ever history fellow at the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum, she conducted pioneering research on early African American communities, earning the Minnesota Genealogical Society's Pioneer Award for her work. With expertise in navigating pre-1870 research challenges, Mica combines rigorous historical research with storytelling to bring ancestors' stories to life. She also collaborates with museums to highlight underrepresented narratives and is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Register Here: https://libraryca.libcal.com/event/15762146

12/06/2025

The assumptions people make about who belongs in professional spaces never cease to amaze me.

This happens across industries, but in genealogy, it has particularly harmful consequences. When Black researchers aren't automatically recognized as experts, it's not just about hurt feelings or awkward moments. It affects whose ancestors get found and whose histories make it into the permanent record.

Cultural knowledge isn't a bonus in genealogy research. It's foundational.

Understanding how enslaved people chose names after emancipation, recognizing migration patterns across the country, knowing which community records might exist when official documents don't.

This expertise comes from lived experience and deep study. It's not something you pick up from a database subscription.

Yet there's still this persistent assumption that sophisticated genealogy work comes from one type of researcher. That assumption costs families access to the most qualified people to tell their stories.

I've watched brilliant researchers get overlooked for opportunities while less experienced people get platforms. I've seen culturally significant findings get dismissed because the person sharing them didn't fit someone's image of "expert."

The field is changing, slowly. More diverse voices and stories are being published, recognized, awarded. But we still have moments that remind us how far we have to go.

To my fellow researchers doing this work: your expertise matters.

Your cultural knowledge is invaluable. Your place in this field is earned and deserved.

And to everyone hiring genealogists, publishing research, or organizing conferences: excellence comes from diverse voices. Make sure you're recognizing and uplifting it.

12/03/2025

This conversation with , a professional oral historian, was so affirming of why both our fields matter.

We often talk about genealogy as uncovering the past. About finding records, tracing lineages, documenting names and dates. But Ambar's work is a reminder of what gets lost when we focus only on documents: the sound of someone's voice, the way they laugh, the stories that hold families together.

"Families need stories as their organizing principle," she said. "The same way businesses have values they drive towards, families need those stories as their guiding star."

I see this constantly in my genealogy work. I can find your ancestor's name in a census record, their property in a deed, their marriage in a certificate. But I can't recover their voice. I can't capture how they told stories or what they sounded like when they were happy.

That only happens if someone records it while they're still here.

And just like genealogy, oral history is most powerful when done by professionals who know how to ask the right questions, create safe space for difficult stories, and preserve these recordings in ways that will last for generations.

You wouldn't trust amateur genealogy research with your family's legacy. The same applies to oral history. Professional oral historians like Ambar and her company know how to draw out the stories that matter, the ones that become anchors for future generations.

Genealogy gives you the framework. Oral history gives you the soul.

Document the stories. Preserve the voices. Give the future something genealogy alone can never provide.

12/02/2025

This client came to us with a 1600s Virginia will listing enslaved people owned by her ancestor. She wanted the truth, even knowing it would be difficult to face.

What we uncovered in an exploratory research session blew the lid off of what she (and we) thought would be found and better showed the scope of her family's roles as enslavers with a clarity that only professional genealogy can provide.

This work isn't easy. For descendants of enslavers, genealogy research can surface realities that are "bare" and "steel-like" in their brutality. But understanding the full truth is the first step toward reckoning with it.

She ended with two powerful realizations: "I need to swallow all this and live for a while with the question of 'what's next?'" and "I clearly would be a fool to think I could do this ancestral work on my own."

That's the courage this work requires. The willingness to sit with uncomfortable truths. The recognition that professional guidance matters when navigating complex historical realities.

I'm honored when clients trust us with these sensitive family histories. Whether you're descended from enslaved people or enslavers, the truth deserves to be known. Only then can we decide what comes next.

If you're ready to face your family's full history, whatever that history holds, we're here to guide you through it with care, accuracy, and respect.

12/01/2025

Unlike what most people believe, there are records that exist before 1870.

Many African American families assume the paper trail ends before the first official census that names formerly enslaved African Americans. When that happens, they stop searching, believing their ancestors’ stories are lost forever.

But the truth is, those stories are out there, tucked away in archives, church registries, probate files, military records, and more.

That’s exactly what we do inside the Ancestor Package. Over 8 weeks, we dig deep into historical archives, piece together fragments, and create a context-rich narrative of your ancestor’s life.

You’ll gain insight into their resilience, their communities, and the legacy they built that still lives in you today.

Book your free call today and kickstart your journey to discovering your family’s full history. On this no-commitment call, I’ll talk you through exactly how this service can take you from curious about your past to proud of your lineage in just 8 weeks.

Link in bio!

11/25/2025

Not every Thanksgiving table feels the same.

Some families will gather in warmth. Others will navigate tension or feel the absence of who's missing.

Whatever your gathering looks like this week, I hope you find moments of joy and connection.

Holiday tables hold something archives can't provide: multiple generations in conversation together.

Stories get corrected in real-time. Historical context emerges naturally. The details that surface aren't always dramatic. Sometimes it's how someone hummed while cooking or what they said every morning at breakfast.

These intimate pieces of who people were can't be found in records. They live only in memory, only in moments like these.

So if you're at a table this week where history surfaces, listen more than you document. And don't forget to press record!

Be fully present. The transcription can happen tomorrow. Your family is here now.

Once the holidays are over and you start going through your notes from all the conversations. Feel free to reach out. We'll work together to put all the pieces of stories together and uncover more about the lives of your ancestors.

11/24/2025

Some stories don't live in documents.

They live in the way someone always hummed while cooking. In the specific way they tied their shoes. In what they said every morning at breakfast.

These intimate details can't be found in archives.

They surface only when families gather and memory moves through the room. This week, if you find yourself at a table where stories rise (whether that table feels warm or complicated) just listen.

Be present. Notice the small things: how someone's voice changes when they talk about who came before. The details that get repeated. The silence that holds meaning too.

You don't need to record everything. You don't need perfection. You just need to be there, paying attention to what wants to be remembered.