User:Jbill007~enwikibooks

Brief Introduction

My name is Jamar Antoine Billups and I am a 4th year student here at Old Dominion University. My major is History, Teacher Prep but when I first came to ODU in 2005 I was a Computer Science Major, but switched majors during the second semester of my sophmore year, which means that I will be at ODU a little longer than planned, but that's fine with me. When I graduate with my Masters Degree I will be teaching high school social studies such as World and American History, Governement and Geography.

Early Years

I was born on April 16, 1987 at Williamsburg Community Hospital 3 months prematurely to Casia Billups and Raymond Jones. At birth I was 4lbs, 7 ounces.

Educational Philosophy

My educational philosophy is to make History fun. Many people don't like history because their teachers made the subject seem boring or unimportant. But history is very important, and as a teacher I will try to make it fun and exciting and get the students to understand that history is crucial and knowing history will help you in the long run.

Historical Interest/Family History

Background

Every since I was a child I had a profound fascination with my genealogy. This fascination was triggerd by the memorable stories my grandmother Daisy told me as a child. But it was more so her wishes to not discover the family tree that really pushed me to research my heritage. In the Fall 2007, I enrolled in a Historical method course and during the semester was given an assignment to discover my family's history. I set out on a rigorous and obsessive task to discover my lost heritage.

Rebecca Davis

In my research, I traced my paternal ancestry 200 years to my great-great-great-great-great grandmother, Rebecca Davis who was a slave born in Jamestown, Virginia in 1808. It is my historical hypothesis that either one of Rebecca's parents or grandparents was indeed the "first slave in the family". In my research I discovered that by 1840, 25 years before the abolishment of slavery, Rebecca was a free negro. I accomplished something that many African Americans cannot accomplish and that was trace my heritage back before the American Civil War.

Caucasian Ancestry

I also discovered that my maternal ancestry was built on caucasian ancestry as well as African American. I have caucasian blood on three branches of my mother's family. My grandfather's grandfather on his mother's side (My great-great grandfather) was white, his grandfather's great-great grandfather on his father's side (My great-great-great-great grandfather) was white, and his grandmother's great-great grandfather on her father's side (My great-great-great-great grandfather) was also white.

My grandfather's maternal grandfather's name was Francis Bagby, and I traced his Bagby family line 880 years back to Wales.

But in evaluating the other branches in Francis Bagby's ancestry, I have discovered that my caucasian ancestry is made up of Scottish, Anglo-Saxon, French, Germanic, Italian, Spanish and Irish ancestry. Including royal ancestry dating back to the romans over 1,660 years ago to Flavius Afranius Syagrius. As well as other monarchs of Scotland, France, Italy, and Spain.