Before TillThe Living Evidence Archive

Est. by descendant research

Before
Till

Before the world knew a name, there was a family. The Smith–Tolliver generations of Mississippi and Illinois, reconstructed through records — and honest about every silence in them.

Enter the lineageHow we know what we knowOpen the Mystery Lab
Research & Interpretation byAmberly R. Carter-Mills— Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist

The identified generations

The Smith–Tolliver Line

Full lineage

Named absences

  • Hilliard's parents — identity unknown
  • Bettie's parents — identity unknown

Inside the research

Case 001

Laura Tolliver Smith

A living evidence case study: what the family remembers, what the records say, where they conflict, and what could still change the conclusion.

Read the case

Standard of proof

Evidence Meter

  • Documented2
  • Corroborated0
  • Family Tradition3
  • Under Investigation11
  • Corrected0

16 evidence-bearing statements currently held under the standard. 2 of them reach Documented.

Open investigation

Featured Mystery

Active Research

The Vicksburg College Question

Research in progress. No documentary evidence has been entered into the archive for this question yet.

Enter the Mystery Lab

Retrieval only

Ask the Archive

A research assistant that answers only from cited holdings — and says so plainly when the archive is silent.

Ask a question of the record…

Geography under study

Journey to Freedom

  1. Copiah CountyCounty
  2. ArkansasState
  3. KentuckyState
  4. IllinoisState
  5. Lucky Hit plantationPlantation
  6. HazlehurstTown

These are research areas under examination. No documented movement between them has been published to the archive.

Open the map

From the holdings

Document Spotlight

No document published yet

Document images and transcriptions will appear here as they are digitised, described, and cited. Until then this slot stays empty by design.

Contribute a record

Participation

A Living Archive

This record is not finished. Leads, family papers, and corrections enter a reviewed queue — they never silently change a conclusion.

Contribute to the archiveRead the research ledger

See the story. See the proof.

Five statuses govern this archive

Documented

Direct documentary evidence supports the claim.

Corroborated

Multiple independent pieces of evidence support the conclusion.

Family Tradition

The story has been preserved through family memory, oral history, or later family accounts but has not yet been independently established.

Under Investigation

Evidence is incomplete, conflicting, or actively being researched.

Corrected

Earlier family or public accounts conflict with stronger evidence and have been revised.

Read the full evidence standard

Founder & Descendant Archivist

Amberly R. Carter-Mills

BEFORE TILL was conceived, researched, and structured by Amberly R. Carter-Mills. Her authorship is permanent and non-transferable: every claim, correction, and research note in this archive carries her attribution.

Read the methodology
People identified
5
Claims under standard
12
Open questions
6
Documents digitised
0
Places under study
6