Founder's Corner

Dr. Vernon M. Herron is a practicing genealogist and has been since 1979. He is the founder of Comprehensive Genealogical Services (CGS). Dr. Herron retired as the Executive Director and CEO of CGS in 2007. CGS is a non-profit organization in Mecklenburg County, NC, committed to the preservation of the history, genealogy and culture of the African-Ancestral population of the community.

on the road to discovery

In addition to having attended numerous genealogical workshops and seminars, Dr. Herron completed the National Genealogical Society's course in American Genealogy. Enslaved African genealogy is his area of specialty. Dr. Herron has orchestrated several family reunions, researched and written family histories related to Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina. He is a member of the National Family Reunion Institute and has served as a panelist of the Family Reunion Conference since 1989.

Beyond his genealogical training, Dr. Herron holds a Master's degree in Public Administration and a Doctor of Ministry degree. He has authored several published works:

Recent Work

During his tenure as Executive Director and CEO of CGS, Dr. Herron initiated an Inquest of Cemeteries of the Enslaved. The photo shown above was taken in February of 2008, while visiting an unmarked gravesite at the corner of Remount Road and Youngblood Street in Charlotte, NC.

At that time, Dr. Herron was featured in an article by David Purlmutt of the Charlotte Observer. Within that article Dr. Herron discussed his quest to discover enslaved cemeteries and the 2004 discover of the internment site of his ancestor, Richard Herron, on property now owned by the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.

We want to recover information on persons willed to obliteration."

from the Executive director's desk

EXHIBITING YOUR HERITAGE IN YOUR HOME

By Iris Chandler

CGS Executive Director

We at CGS wish for you and yours much success in researching your family’s lineages. We encourage you get started creating an exhibit corner in your home, for your family, of items that represent your heritage. All of us have those once upon a time door stops that were flat irons in their day. Pick them up, clean them off and tell your children the story of relatives who may have use just that piece and how. This example should open the flood gates of your memories and help you locate other things to create a tangible representation to connect your children to their history. Let your children name your exhibit. We at CGS would like to see what you do. Send us pictures. We will choose some to feature on our website in the near future.

We continue with our mission to educate you in researching family and to inform you of new discoveries in the historical arena that impact all our knowledge of self and ancestry. Please visit our website often for all offerings.

Iris Chandler, Executive Director

Comprehensive Genealogical Services

P. O. Box 26242

Charlotte, NC 28221

(704) 892-7611

History of CGS

In 1993, The Comprehensive Genealogical Services was organized by Dr. Vernon M. Herron of King of Prussia, PA. and developed as a non-profit organization in the state of Pennsylvania. It was designed to assist individuals, families and other non-profit organizations in research and development in slave genealogy, pedigree development, family histories, consultation on family reunions, program and organizational development for family associations and family communiqués. It gave research assistance to any individual, family or ethnic group without regards to race or point of origin within the context of American Genealogy. However, special attention was given to Black Genealogy as the need was great due to a slave heritage, lost and unrecorded records and a period of family disruption.

In PA, the sponsorship of CGS was by both the Shiloh Baptist Church of Philadelphia, PA and the Institute for Non-Traditional Ministries of Washington, D. C., which gave a 501 c3 tax-exempt status to the organization.

After Dr. Herron’s retiring and returning to the state of North Carolina, The Comprehensive Genealogical Services was organized 13 December 1997 at the Beatties Ford Road Public Library and incorporated in North Carolina 5 October 1999.