BEFORE TILL archival sealBefore TillThe Living Evidence Archive

Public Beta · Research in progress

Before
Till

The family history before the world knew Emmett Till.

Follow the Smith–Tolliver family through surviving records, family memory, migration, enslavement, freedom, and generations of descendants.

Explore the familyEnter the Evidence Time MachineSee how the branches meet
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

Evidence Cases

Case 001 · Laura Tolliver Smith

What the family remembers, what the records say, where they conflict.

Read the case

Case 002 · Hilliard Taliaferro / Tolliver

From an estate inventory to freedom-era records: one life reconstructed across slavery and emancipation.

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Standard of proof

Evidence Meter

  • Documented43
  • Corroborated6
  • Family Tradition13
  • Under Investigation47
  • Corrected0

109 evidence-bearing statements currently held under the standard. 43 of them reach Documented.

Open investigation

Featured Mystery

Active Research

Was “Qualls Tolliver” a Quarles Taliaferro?

A named lead with real weight and no documentation behind it 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…

The model, in one line

See the story. See the proof.

Family

Explore the Living Lineage — the identified generations, with every descent link rated.

Open the lineage →

Evidence

Open the records behind each conclusion: the source, the observation, the reasoning.

Open the evidence →

Questions

See what remains unresolved, and what record would settle it.

See the open questions →

Where the research is deepest

Featured evidence cases

  • Derived likeness of Laura Tolliver Smith, restored from the photograph in Alma Smith Spearman's family history: an older woman with a light complexion, hair drawn back, in a high-collared patterned dress.

    Derived likeness · labelled

    Laura Tolliver Smith

    Born into slavery in Mississippi; the family remembers a college the records have not yet confirmed.

    Documented life · tradition under investigation

    Explore case →

  • No verified portrait

    Hilliard Taliaferro / Tolliver

    Appraised in an estate inventory, sold, separated, and later named in his own right.

    Documented transactions · corroborated freedom-era records

    Explore case →

  • No verified portrait

    Bettie Alexander Tolliver

    Unnamed in the slave schedules; named at last in the record of 1870.

    Documented from 1870 · silent years before

    Explore case →
  • Derived likeness of John Smith, restored from the photograph in Alma Smith Spearman's family history: an older man with a dark complexion, a moustache and short beard, in a dark suit and tie.

    Derived likeness · labelled

    John Smith

    Household head across four censuses, with a marriage date the record contradicts.

    Corroborated household · date under investigation

    Explore case →

Two branches, one household

Where the branches meet

Follow Emmett Till and Amberly R. Carter-Mills backward through two descendant branches until the family lines meet. The relationship is computed from the published parent–child links — and reported as provisional wherever a link is still under investigation.

See the connection

Move through the evidence

Beta

The Evidence Time Machine

Choose a year and see what surviving records reveal — and what they leave unanswered.

Enter the Time Machine

Geography under study

Journey to Freedom

  1. Copiah CountyCounty
  2. ArkansasState
  3. KentuckyState
  4. IllinoisState
  5. Lucky Hit plantationPlantation
  6. HazlehurstTown
  7. Chicot County, ArkansasCounty
  8. Union County, KentuckyCounty
  9. Spencers MillTown
  10. Blue Island, IllinoisCity
  11. Chicago, IllinoisCity

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
Amberly R. Carter-Mills, founder and descendant archivist of BEFORE TILL: a Black woman with long dark hair in a black sleeveless top, photographed indoors against a warm tan background.

Original photograph · supplied by the founder

BEFORE TILL archival seal

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
60
Claims under standard
56
Open questions
26
Documents digitised
9
Places under study
11