Jean Douglas wants to know her name. Oh, she knows the name her parents gave her. She knows the names of her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. But beyond that, where did her family come from? It is a mystery Douglas would love to solve someday. Read More

About 1812, when Great Britain went to war for the second time with the United States, farmer William Newport left his home in Connecticut and settled in Sodus Point, a frontier port on Lake Ontario in what would become Wayne County. Newport, then in his early 30s, was a free African American in a state that would allow slavery for another 15 years. Read More