LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LLM, CG® CGL(SM), FASG
ProGen Member Overview
I worked as a tax lawyer for 35 years before retiring from a partner-level position at Ernst & Young in 2013. I am now an author, lecturer, teacher, Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical LecturerSM.
I became a Board-certified Genealogist (no. 1065) in 2015. Since then, I have served as Trustee and Treasurer of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. In September 2019, I was elected President of BCG. and served in that position for three years. I also served for six years as the Registrar General of the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage, a national lineage society that honors ancestors who were enslaved in the United States before slavery ended. In 2021, I was elected as the 170th Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, the independent honorary society of the leading published scholars in the field of American genealogy. Founded in 1940, the ASG is limited to fifty life-time members designated as Fellows.
Education
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, B.A.
New York University School of Law, J.D.
New York University School of Law, Master of Laws (Tax)
Boston University. Center for Professional Research: Genealogical Research Certificate, 2011
ProGen Study Group 13 (2011—2013)
Mastering Genealogical Proof Study Group (GenProof 25, 2013 – 2014)
Experience
Currently on the editorial board of both the Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.
Publications & BLOGs
NGS Research in the States Series: Alabama, NGS Special Publication 136. Falls Church, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2021. Available at https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/ris/alabama/
A Guide to Researching African American Ancestors in Laurens County, South Carolina, and Selected Finding Aids. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris, 2016
The Source : the Garrett, Neely, and Sullivan families : over two hundred years of African American history, beginning in Laurens County, South Carolina : 2010 supplement. Salt Lake City: Family Heritage Publishers, 2010
The Source : the Garrett, Neely, and Sullivan families : over two hundred years of African American history, beginning in Laurens County, South Carolina. Salt Lake City: Family Heritage Publishers, 2008
The Source of our Pride : the Garrett, Neely, and Sullivan families : two hundred years of African American history, beginning in Laurens County, South Carolina. San Jose: Family Tree Press, 2000
I served as the editor and principal writer of two Church histories that document the involvement of families that organized them:
Macedonia Baptist Church 1920-2011: a History of the Little Church on the Hill. Bethesda, Maryland: Macedonia Baptist Church, [2011]
Historical book of Bethel Hall Missionary Baptist Church. Laurens, South Carolina: the Centennial 1910-2010. Laurens, South Carolina: Bethel Hall Missionary Baptist Church, [2010]
“Parents for Isaac Garrett of Laurens County, South Carolina: DNA Corroborates Oral Tradition,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 108 (June 2020): 85-112.
“There is Something about Edgefield: Shining a Light in the Black Community through History, Genealogy & Genetic DNA.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 107 (June 2019): 150. (Book Review)
“The Freedman Richard Neely: One Family’s American Beginning.” Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society 34 (2017): 62
“Genealogy Ethics and the Call For Diversity,” OnBoard, the newsletter of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. January 2017
“The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 104 (December 2016): 311. (Book Review)
“Resolving a Modern Genealogical Problem: What was Rainey Nelson’s Birth Name?” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 104 (September 2016): 203-213
“Some Thoughts on the Process that Resulted in my Successful Application for BCG’s Certified Genealogist(R) Credential: My Genealogical Education” Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society 37 (2016): 33-36.
“Diverse Communities: Researching African American Families that Came Out of Slavery.” BCG Springboard (blog), 5 January 5, 2016. https://bcgcertification.org/researching-african-american-families-that-came-out-of-slavery/
“Bethel Hall Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery.” The Tree Climber, Laurens District Chapter, South Carolina Genealogical Society 29 (Winter 2014): 42.
“Searching for the Slave Owners of Isaac Garrett: Expanding Research Beyond Online Sources.” Columns, the quarterly publication of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors. June 2014.