Sometimes the hardest part of your genealogy research is the living relatives. Searching for African American ancestors makes this increasing difficult as well. Over generations, African Americans did not talk about their ancestors. Sometimes stories were passed down, but not necessarily shared among everyone.
My family double related. You would think this would make it easier for me to get information. However, it’s not. It makes it more difficult. For whatever reason, my family, the Bessie Lowry/Aaron Spence side, isn’t that close with the other side, Rosa Lowry/Enoch Spence side.
My own perception of it is: The Rosa Lowry/Enoch Spence side MOVED. They didn’t stay in the small town and most moved on to MD or VA.
However, the Bessie Lowry/Aaron Spence side remained in Pasquotank (Elizabeth City/Newland area). Not many of them moved on. I guess from there, some members of the family seemed to have grown apart. I wonder if the Lowry sisters were close with each other. There was a 10+ year age difference between them, but it just makes you think. They married brothers, they should have been close.
I have had the same problem too. Usually there is one relative that likes too talk. You just got to find that one. I have an aunt who is 101. She has a wealth of knowledge and she is still in her right mind but she doesn’t believe in talking about the past. Bummer.