The Peterson family legacy revealed itself to me when the State of Texas commissioned me to be part of an excavation and investigative team to study Ned and Elizabeth Peterson’s farm site. The site is among the first land to be purchased by African Americans in Southern Brazos County in central Texas, about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

My job was to use genealogical research to help put together the story of Ned and Elizabeth Peterson and their family. Texas A&M University in College Station purchased a portion of the Peterson land in 1940 and held the land for about fifty years. In the early 1990s, the school planned construction on the site, but due to its historic classification, the Peterson property required a thorough examination and report before construction could begin. Unfortunately, data mishandled in the past had complicated record gathering. There were incomplete birth and death records, spelling errors, multiple first names, and disregard for last names during slavery.