Join Sussex County Genealogical Society (SCGS) in-person at the library or online for the presentation "Lewes Family Papers" by Syl Woolford. The Albert Lewis Family donated family papers to the University of Delaware Special Collections. In those paper were a set of documents that chronicled the buying, selling, and running away of slaves that Albert Lewis owned.

Syl Woolford earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from Delaware  State University and then a master’s degree in business administration from Rutgers University. Going on to work for many years in accounting and sales with such firms as Campbell Soup, IBM, Pacific Telesis and Sun Information Services. Most recently he worked for, and retired from, AAA MidAtantic in Wilmington.  He said he didn’t develop an intense interest in history until after he retired, in 2008, when the City of Newark published the book “Histories of Newark: 1758 – 2008,” in honor of the city’s 250th anniversary.“They did a fantastic job on it, but left my family out" Woolford said.The slight stung a little, but it inspired in Woolford a resolve to research his own roots. He started simply searching family members’ names on Google, and searching online databases for historical records. He eventually culminated a trove of information about black Delawareans.He has since poured his research into PowerPoint presentations, and has recently lectured to audiences around the state on topics including U.S. colored troops who fought in the Civil War; Methodism among blacks in the 18th and 19th centuries; advertisements for slaves that ran in Delaware newspapers; the legacy of Howard High School; and black patriots and loyalists during the War of 1812.

SCGS is a non-profit organization and its mission is to promote genealogy and educational work in a professional manner, encourage and instruct its members in genealogical research through careful documentation and maintain quality genealogical standards.

NOTE: this session is available to attend in-person or through Zoom. Request a Zoom invitation link by sending an email to programs@scgsdelaware.org.

If you have need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email SCGS. Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here.

For more information, visit the SCGS website. This program is co-sponsored by the Lewes Public Library.