Since 2001, Save the Family Institute has worked with the Salter-Saulter family to help research and compile their family history. In particular, we worked closely with Salter family historian Joyce Salter-Johnson (pictured right), author of The Early Black Settlers of Stephenson County, Illinois 1830-1930 and A Hundred-Year Journal: A Pictorial History of the Early Black Settlers of Stephenson County, Illinois 1830-1930 (available on her website, linked below). As a result of this lengthy collaboration, Charles Williams, STFI's founder, was made an honorary member of the Salter-Saulter family. We at Save the Family consider the Salter-Saulter family to be a model for both what a family should be and what STFI can do for a family. We are proud to present here Mrs. Salter- Johnson's account of her experience working together with STFI.
Are you curious about where you came from or want to know more about your family history? There are many amazing stories out there just waiting to be discovered, but how do you get started? There is no question that doing your genealogy research can be a daunting task. There are many lines and connections and so many questions to ask. Where do you go to find your relatives? What type of information should you look for? How do you know that the information is accurate? What if you run into a brick wall? Just take it one step at a time - that is how the professionals at Save the Family Institute see it.
In 2001 upon meeting with Charles Williams of Save the Family Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, I soon realized that he was passionate about his mission. Williams and his staff and board members believe that this can only be done through the organizing the family unit.
Williams believes that for a family to function efficiently as an institution, the family must be unified. To unify, like any other institution, the family must share traditions and pursue a common mission. The shared traditions should support the mission of the family institution. An institution is only as effective as it leadership, “therefore,” says Williams, “the family must select its leaders.”
At the Salter family 39th annual reunion in Atlanta, Williams and his staff, along with Dr. Pat Dixon, Professor of Social Sciences at Georgia State University, organized a round table discussion with my family elders and representatives of the Salter branches of the family. This discussion was to show Williams and Dr. Green how the family rated on the six-step family organization chart, or to help determine the family temperament as it relates to its unification.
Steps four and six on the chart were to employ a family historian – as the family historian this was not our greatest need – what was needed was assistance in getting me over the proverbial brick wall and the expertise necessary to establish a family website and database.
For over ten years we have been working with Charles Williams and his institute. During that time we have established a family website and published the Salter family history. At present we are documenting the Johnson family history for publication. Also we were able, with the valuable assistance of Save the Family Institute, to trace my ancestry back to my grandfather, Hardy Salter, born in 1790.
Williams and his staff directed me to the family historians of the slaveholding Salter family, who are members of county historical and genealogical societies. While working with STFI, we decided to follow the migration trail of the slaveholding Salter families of North and South Carolina. This was the journey taken by my ancestors, the Hardy Salter family of North/South Carolina. On this journey we took along a small camera crew to document the event. The journey of locating family history took us to Salter Path, North Carolina; Edgefield and Salters, South Carolina; Washington County, Georgia and Conecuh County, Alabama. The search continued on into Mississippi, through Newton and Jasper Counties plus many hours of research in Neshoba County, the home of the slaveholding Salter Family. - Joyce Salter-Johnson