Follow two branches of one family back to the ancestors they share.
Where the Branches Meet
Emmett Till entered public history in 1955, but his family story reaches generations further back. BEFORE TILL reconstructs that lineage through records, family history, and ongoing research.
Calculated from the published graph
Emmett Louis Till and Amberly R. Carter-Mills — relationship under review
Emmett Louis Till descends from John Smith and Laura Tolliver Smith through George Smith, 4 generations down. Amberly R. Carter-Mills descends from the same ancestral family through Amanda Smith, 4 generations down. Because the two descendant lines separate at John Smith and Laura Tolliver Smith, BEFORE TILL calculates their relationship, on the evidence entered so far, as third cousin. Because at least one generation is not yet independently documented, this label is published as a research conclusion and not as a proven fact.
The cousin label this path would produce is withheld from the headline until the unresolved parent-child links below are settled. The working calculation is third cousin.
Who they are
Two people, two branches
Emmett Louis Till
BT-PER-00269 · 25 July 1941 – 28 August 1955
A descendant of the Smith-Tolliver family, born 25 July 1941 and died 28 August 1955. Those dates are well established in published accounts and are carried here on that basis. BEFORE TILL follows this family backward through the generations whose lives preceded 1955; this profile is genealogical and is not a biography.
Open the profileAmberly R. Carter-Mills
BT-PER-00273 · May 23, 1985 – ?
Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist of BEFORE TILL. Cultural technologist, researcher and interpreter, and a living descendant of the John and Laura Smith household. Born 23 May 1985 and recorded at birth under the surname Harris, the surname of her mother's first husband, whose name Illinois law required on the original certificate because the marriage had not yet been dissolved. Michael Carter married her mother in 1986 and adopted her at the age of one, at which point her surname became Carter. She considers herself a member of Michael Carter's family. Biological paternity is attributed to Tyrone White and is recorded for accuracy only; no relationship is claimed.
Open the profileThe branches meet
John Smith and Laura Tolliver Smith
Both descendant lines below begin in the same household and separate one generation later. Every line shown is a published parent-child link, and its evidence status is printed against it.
Down to Emmett Louis Till
BT-PER-00004 · Dates not yet documented
DocumentedBT-PER-00266 · 21 April 1881 (death record) or about 1872 (1880 census) - conflicting – 3 March 1936
- Under Investigation
BT-PER-00267 · about 1902 (memorial) – about 1981 (memorial)
- Under Investigation
Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley
BT-PER-00268 · 23 November 1921 – 6 January 2003
- Under Investigation
BT-PER-00269 · 25 July 1941 – 28 August 1955
Down to Amberly R. Carter-Mills
BT-PER-00004 · Dates not yet documented
Family TraditionBT-PER-00270 · Dates not yet documented
- Under Investigation
BT-PER-00271 · Dates not yet documented
- Under Investigation
BT-PER-00272 · April 25, 1956 – ?
- Family Tradition
BT-PER-00273 · May 23, 1985 – ?
Meet the shared ancestors
BT-PER-00004 · Dates not yet documented
Person shell created for research. Dates, places, and relationships are pending documentary research.
BT-PER-00003 · about 1852 – ?
Laura Tolliver Smith was born about 1852 in Copiah County, Mississippi. Surviving post-Civil War records identify her as a formerly enslaved member of the family associated with H. G. D. Brown's Lucky Hit plantation. She later married John Smith and raised a large family. Some details preserved in family history — including a claim that she attended an institution called "Vicksburg College" and the family's relationship with Bishop C. H. Mason — remain subjects of ongoing research.
Go back another generation
Where the line continues — and where it stops
- Under Investigation
Hilliard Taliaferro / Tolliver
BT-PER-00001 · about 1823 – about 1900
- Under Investigation
Bettie Alexander Taliaferro / Tolliver
BT-PER-00002 · about 1837 – ?
Show me the proof
Every link, one generation at a time
A relationship is only as strong as its weakest generation. Each row is a single parent-child link on the path, with the claim that carries it.
| Parent | Child | Status | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley | Emmett Louis Till | Under Investigation | Was Emmett Louis Till the son of Mamie Till-Mobley? |
| Alma Smith Carthan Spearman | Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley | Under Investigation | Was Mamie Till-Mobley a daughter of Alma Carthan? |
| George Smith | Alma Smith Carthan Spearman | Under Investigation | Was Alma Smith Carthan a daughter of George Smith? |
| John Smith | George Smith | Documented | Was George Smith a son of John and Laura Smith? |
| Magnolia "Maggie" Carter | Amberly R. Carter-Mills | Family Tradition | Is Amberly R. Carter-Mills a child of Magnolia Gordon-Carter? |
| Kermit Gordon | Magnolia "Maggie" Carter | Under Investigation | Was Magnolia Gordon-Carter a child of Kermit Gordon? |
| Amanda Smith | Kermit Gordon | Under Investigation | Was Kermit Gordon a child of Amanda Smith? |
| John Smith | Amanda Smith | Family Tradition | Was Amanda Smith a daughter of John and Laura Smith? |
Weakest links
- Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley → Emmett Louis Till — under investigation
- Alma Smith Carthan Spearman → Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley — under investigation
- George Smith → Alma Smith Carthan Spearman — under investigation
- Magnolia "Maggie" Carter → Amberly R. Carter-Mills — family tradition
- Kermit Gordon → Magnolia "Maggie" Carter — under investigation
- Amanda Smith → Kermit Gordon — under investigation
- John Smith → Amanda Smith — family tradition
Only parent_child and adoptive_parent_child links are walked. Enslavement, estate, household and community connections (enslaver, enslaved_by, estate_holder, purchaser and others) are recorded in the archive but can never produce a kinship label.
Story mode
Reading the connection
Names change
Following a family through changing surnames
A single family line can carry several surnames across four or five generations. A change of name is not a break in the line, and it is not evidence of one.
- Marriage
- Spelling variation between clerks and record sets
- Naming after emancipation
- Clerical error or transcription drift
- Family usage that never appears in any record
BEFORE TILL does not state the reason for any specific surname change unless a record documents it. Where the reason is unknown, the archive lists the variants and leaves the cause open.
Under revision
What could change this conclusion
- A newly discovered birth record
- A corrected parentage claim
- A duplicate-person resolution merging two records into one
- DNA evidence combined with documentary research
- A newly discovered family Bible
- A corrected census identification
Genealogy is a research conclusion based on available evidence. If stronger evidence changes a relationship, BEFORE TILL preserves the revision history rather than hiding the change.
Unwritten — prompts only
Why this matters to me
Reserved for Amberly R. Carter-Mills
- When did you first understand the exact relationship?
- What did your family always know?
- What did the records clarify?
- How does seeing the entire path change the way you think about Emmett's story?
- Why was it important to show the generations before 1955?
Two branches. One family. Follow the evidence.
How are we related?
Share the calculation with its verification state attached, so the relationship never travels without the evidence behind it.
How this page is built
The order of the argument
- 01
Meet Emmett
- 02
Meet Amberly
- 03
Trace Emmett back
- 04
Trace Amberly back
- 05
The branches meet
- 06
How are they related?
- 07
Show me the proof
- 08
Meet the shared ancestors
- 09
Go back another generation
- 10
What could change this?
Cite this page
Carter-Mills, Amberly R. "Where the Branches Meet — Emmett Louis Till and Amberly R. Carter-Mills." BEFORE TILL: The Living Evidence Archive. Version rel-engine-1.0.0. Object BT-REL-emmett-louis-till--amberly-carter-mills. Accessed 2026-09-24. /relationship/emmett-louis-till/amberly-carter-mills.
Attribution: Amberly R. Carter-Mills, Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist.