African American ancestry and migration history.
From the cotton fields of Mississippi to the Freedmen settlements of Indian Territory, and from the battlefields of the United States Colored Troops to the classrooms of postwar America, Bloodlines of the Republic traces a family’s unbroken struggle for freedom, identity, and purpose.
Through meticulous research and ancestral discovery, Thomas L. Smith reveals the intertwined stories of his forebears, Harrison Harding and his son Thomas, soldiers of the 12th and 14th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiments; Aggie Sams Eastman, a Chickasaw Freedwoman born into slavery under Charles and Betsy Eastman; and the Ragland line, whose search for faith, education, and belonging carried the torch of moral resistance into the next century.
Binding these families together is a remarkable historical thread: Major Thomas Jefferson Morgan, the Union officer who trained the Hardings and later served as the 25th Commissioner of Indian Affairs, bridging the destinies of African American soldiers and Native Freedmen communities.
Drawing from military archives, Freedmen Rolls, oral histories, and long-forgotten documents, Smith reconstructs the American narrative from the inside out — one where bloodlines cross racial, tribal, and spiritual boundaries to form a truer portrait of the Republic itself.
This is more than genealogy.
It is the reweaving of a nation’s forgotten tapestry, told through the descendants who refused to be erased.

At JUBI AI, we value your privacy and are committed to safeguarding your personal information. Our AI system is designed to provide accurate and insightful responses based on historical and biblical data, adhering to the established methodologies outlined in The Prime Directive and General Orders.
However, while we strive for accuracy, JUBI AI may make mistakes. The information provided is based on extensive calculations, historical records, and biblical texts, but errors in interpretation, data processing, or calculations can occur. We encourage users to critically evaluate the responses, verify sources when necessary, and use JUBI AI as a tool for research rather than as an infallible authority.
If you notice any discrepancies or errors, please let us know so we can refine our processes and improve accuracy. Your feedback helps us enhance JUBI AI’s ability to serve the community with precise and meaningful insights.
For any concerns or inquiries regarding data privacy and AI-generated content, please contact tlsmith@theblackancestrynetworkgroup.com.
Last Updated: 03-16-2025

The AI-HARP Investigator helps families research, organize, and reconnect African American, Freedmen, and Five Civilized Tribes genealogy through the HARP-GEN research system. It can search available Freedmen records by name, tribe, Dawes Roll Number, Field Application Number, family group, parent, spouse, child, and former owner/enslaver household. It also helps identify possible family links across different surnames, owner households, and Dawes enrollment categories, while explaining each connection with a confidence level.
HARP-GEN also supports family tree building, specialized intake forms, PDF research reports, owner/enslaver record tracking, and cross-owner marriage discovery, a powerful feature for identifying family relationships that crossed plantation or household boundaries.
The Dawes-related data currently available in the HARP-GEN database is limited and still growing. At present, the working database appears to contain an estimated 50+ Freedmen, family-linked, owner/enslaver, and related Dawes-reference records, with additional names, family clusters, and owner-household references still being added and verified. Because this is an expanding research project, users should treat the database as a starting point for investigation, not a complete replacement for original Dawes cards, application jackets, tribal records, census records, and family documentation.
This database helps descendants reconnect family lines that were disrupted by slavery, forced migration, changing surnames, incomplete records, and Dawes-era enrollment practices. By organizing names, parents, spouses, children, Dawes numbers, Field Numbers, tribal affiliations, and former owner/enslaver connections in one place, HARP-GEN gives researchers a stronger path to identify ancestors, verify relationships, preserve family stories, and pass documented legacy forward to future generations.
You can help expand this work by using The HARP Investigator AI-GPT to search, test, and explore the available records. Community use helps identify gaps, strengthen family connections, and guide which records should be added next.
Please also consider supporting the BANG website through Ko-Fi. Donations help make it possible to add more Freedmen records, Dawes references, owner/enslaver household data, family group links, and historical documentation to the HARP-GEN database. Every contribution supports the larger mission: preserving names, restoring family connections, and protecting ancestral legacy for future generations.
