Piecing together enslaved family relations at Monticello

24/09/201824/09/2018 / genealogyadventures / 5 Comments

I have spent the past few months doing a deep dive into the early colonial enslavement of my Varina, Henrico County, Virginia Bates line. My connection to this family is via my great grandmother, Julia Ella Bates Roane, the mother of my paternal grandmother, Susan Julia Roane Thomas Sheffey.

DNA tells a story of a genetic connection to many of the oldest enslaving families in Henrico – as well as up and down the James River: Bates, Bolling, Christian, Fleming, Jordan, Piersey, Pleasants, Price, and Woodson. Julia’s DNA also connects me to some of the known and unknown 20-and-odd Africans who were brought to this part of colonial Virginia in 1621 such as Cornish, Johnson, and Gowen/Goins/Goings. This makes sense through the prisms of time and location. My Bates and allied family lines were in Varina from the beginning of the colonial period of Virginia…and never left. Their DNA mixed with the DNA from the other old Varina and James River families down the centuries.

I know the where, how and the why behind my connections to these families: slavery. Centimorgans (cMs) and SNPs have provided a solid glimpse into when this DNA became part of my genetic makeup (mid-to-late 17th Century and early 18th Century).

In some instances, I even know who contributed this DNA to my genetic inheritance. Not enough, however. Too few instances, if I’m honest. Hence the past few months have been spent trying to unravel the story behind the forgotten individuals who form this part of my ancestry. This has meant delving into and stitching together a patchy paper trail of probate records for the enslaving families tied to this family history and ancestry, deeds of sale and deeds of gifts, letters, farm books, journals – any available puzzle piece that could shed light on this research.

You should expect a few detours when you do research of this nature. Detours are part and parcel of the work we do as genealogists and family historians. In my experience, I’ve rarely found these detours to be a waste of time. Typically, for me, they reveal something important. This is one of those instances.

There I was, chipping away at adding Bolling family enslaved people (EPs) to my tree when I came across deeds of sale between a John Bolling and Thomas Jefferson. John Bolling married Thomas’s sister, Martha. It made sense that EPs would pass between the two of them.

Again, the purpose of this article is how to apply different strategies in researching enslaved ancestors. It isn’t a commentary on the selling of human beings. If I use language that may seem insensitive, just know I don’t mean it to be. Trust me, I have plenty of skin in the game. I can only write about researching enslaved people because I have ancestors who were enslaved. So please, don’t get hung up on language. It’s the research methodology that’s the subject.

In order to understand the history of the EPs Thomas Jefferson sold to his brother-in-law, John Bolling, I needed to find out more about them while they were with Jefferson. I was able to achieve this via discovering a digitized copy of Jefferson’s Farm Book: a ledger where he noted all manner of things about the EPs held by him. It is genuinely a genealogical goldmine in terms of Jefferson EP family research.

Thomas Jefferson’s Farm Book, available through The Massachusetts Historical Society via

https://www.masshist.org/thomasjeffersonpapers/doc?id=farm_c2&mode=lgImg

It was time to add Jefferson’s hundreds of EPs to my family tree. Their details came straight from his Farm Book. Sally Hemings’ immediate and extended family were already in my tree as they were a known family from our common Wayles link. She and her Fossett, Brown, Bell, and Colbert kin have been exceedingly well documented. There were no new revelations to be found there with regard to her family.

This time around, I was focused on Jefferson’s EPs who worked the land. These are the lesser known and researched of his EPs. Some of these EPs were my kin via transactions with other enslaving families who were my ancestors or kin. Families like Christian and Woodson.

The first thing I had to tackle where numerous EPs with the same first name. When you’re dealing with one name ancestors, this is a nightmare.

Take the name Suckey, for instance. There were around two dozen entries in Jefferson’s Farm Book for different Suckeys. Thankfully, Jefferson was pretty consistent in the details he provided for many of the Suckeys in this book. It appears there are at least 6 Suckeys covering three generations. There may be a seventh and an eigth Suckey – I’m still trying to work out if these last two Suckeys are different women from the 6 known Suckeys or just poorly notated Suckeys from the 6 who are known.

Were all of the known Suckeys related? Four of them were: mother, daughter, a grand-daughter and a niece. I suspect the other two Suckeys are related to this family group based on what they named their children. However, Jefferson didn’t provide information about either of these two Suckey’s parents or siblings. I suspect both are additional nieces to the eldest Suckey (“Old Suckey”) via unknown or undocumented siblings of Old Suckey.

When it comes to this kind of research, naming patterns matter.

I’ll give you another example. It’s an example I’m currently working on.

While reading about Jefferson and his EPs, I came across some accounts in history books about how the British stole a number of Jefferson’s EPs in Cumberland County, Virginia during the Revolutionary War. It turns out these EPs weren’t stolen. They actually fled to the British in a bid for freedom. But more on that at another time.

Once I entered the details of the EPs who fled to the British to my tree, the relationship between a number of them was immediately appraent. One of Jefferson’s enslaved families made a bid for freedom:

Emanuel and Patt’s bid for freedom, along with their children’s, did not end well. With the exception of Isabel and her brother Peter, the rest of the family died in the British encampment. Emanuel died of cholera – one of the hazards of military camps of the time. The other being typhus. I can only presume cholera is what killed Patt and most of the children.

Keep the names Sam and Sall in the back of your mind.

Two other family groups who lived among Emanuel and Patt’s family also fled to the British in Cumberland County at the same time. Note their names:

So…we have Sall (“Black Sall”) and a Sam who also fled to the British. Emanuel and Patt had children by these names. Is there a connection between these 3 family groups? My instincts say yes. What does the paper trail say? The jury is out. So far, nothing on paper proves or disproves a family connection.

Looking at this logically, fleeing to the British as an enslaved person wasn’t easy. Add the fact you were taking young children with you. On the one hand, Emanuel and Patt probably thought the disruption of war would provide the best chance of escape, and ultimately, freedom. They may have thought this was their only, best hope for freedom. So they planned. And planned some more. What they were planning, if they were caught planning it, would have landed them in a world of hurt. At the worst, if discovered, their entire family could have been split up and sold away from each other. My cousin Thomas Jefferson had form for this. So it was a genuine possibility and a reasonable fear.

With stakes this high, Emanuel and Patt wouldn’t have told just anyone. The risk of someone alerting Jefferson or the overseers was just too great. If you were bound to disclose such plans at all, you’d only do such a thing with people you trusted with your life, which would include family.

It’s for this reason I don’t believe that it’s a coincidence that Black Sall and Sam joined Emanuel and Patt when they fled their bondage. Little Sally and little Sam were named for an aunt and an uncle – a naming practice that is entrenched in this part of my ancestry.

The question remains who, precisely, Black Sall and Sam were related to. Were they Emanuel’s siblings or Patt’s. I don’t have an answer for that yet.

The elder Sall, Black Sall, may be the answer to a question that I have. Little Isabel and Peter lost their entire immediate family while encamped with the British. They were young, both under the age of 12. So how did they get back to Jefferson? I believe that the elder Sall brought them back along with her surviving children. Sall’s two youngest daughters died in the British army camp. Little Jamey was ill. Perhaps some of her surviving children were ill too. She was ill. Weighing her options, perhaps she believed returning to Jefferson was the best chance for the survival of her remaining children, and possible neice and nephew. At this stage, I have no doubts that she was the person who brought Isabel and Peter back to Monticello. Truly, Sall was faced with a dire choice.

Sall died of cholera herself shortly after her return. Her surviving children would all be passed to Jefferson’s son-in-law, John Wayles Eppes. I’m still researching them to find their descendants in order to see the surnames they went by. Seeing the surnames used by the descendants of her son, Billy Warny (I believe his surname was actually Warner, not Warny), if he had any, would shed some light on how this family group would have identified itself.

Emanuel and Patt’s surviving son, Peter, will also provide clues in this regard. His trail has been difficult to pick up once he returned to Jefferson. There are too many indistinguishable Peters for me to be certain if he’s the Peter who went to Thomas Mann Randolph, the one who went to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, or the one who went to John Wayles Eppes. Or the Peter who was sold outside the family. He may be one of these Peters – or none of them.

Researching EPs means working with limited information in more cases than I’d like to think about. It means working from the known to the unknown…and then using critical thinking to bridge gaps. Which this article illustrates.

So what are the next steps?:

Finding the estate inventory for Peter Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson’s father). I have his Will, which cites a scant few EPs. What I need is his complete estate inventory which would list all of his EPs, with possible ages and family relationships cited. This will hopefully show how Black Sall and Sam were related to either Emanuel or Patt;
Finding the estate inventories for Jane Randolph, Thomas Jefferson’s mother, for the reasons provided in Point #1. Again, I have her Will, it’s the estate inventory that’s needed;
The 1823 estate inventory for John Wayles Eppes, to pick up the story of the EPs he received from Jefferson; and
The estate inventories for John Blair Bolling (aka John William Bolling), and his wife, Martha Jefferson, to pick up the trail of the EPs they received from Jefferson.

All this to figure out how, exactly, my Varina, Henrico County, Virginia family is genetically connected to some of the EP families coming from Jefferson’s various farms and properties. Deeds between Jefferson, the Bollings, the Christians, and the Woodsons are the hows. Now, it’s a matter of tackling the who.

It may be the mother of all detours, however, I see how it leads back to Varina. Time, perserverance, and patience will reveal the specifics. In that, I have absolute faith.

GA Live S01 E09: Pushing beyond the 1870 Census to find your enslaved ancestors

02/07/201816/07/2018 / genealogyadventures / Leave a comment

You’ve made it to the 1870 U.S. Federal Census…and now you have no idea of what to do or where to go to research your enslaved ancestors. “What do I do now?” is a question we continually see in countless Facebook African-American centric genealogy groups on Facebook, or letters to The Root.

We’re doing this broadcast with you in mind.

Join host Brian Sheffey and Donya Williams – with our special guest, librarian Sharon Rowe – as we share the tips, tricks, and research resources we’ve used to smash through slavery era brick walls.

Join Genealogy Adventures Live every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month @ 4pm EST via https://www.facebook.com/genealogyadventuresusa

The Moses Williams Family Tree Project: Update #1

16/05/201712/12/2018 / genealogyadventures / 4 Comments

The Moses Williams Family Tree Project has been going full steam ahead since I last wrote about it Genealogy challenge: Researching the 43 enslaved children of Moses Williams (Old Ninety-Six, SC) https://genealogyadventures.net/2017/03/24/genealogy-challenge-researching-the-43-enslaved-children-of-moses-williams-old-ninety-six-sc ). Some 500 enslaved souls in North Carolina and South Carolina have been added to this unique family tree on Ancestry.com.

Reconstructing a full, slavery-era family tree

The project team has already struck gold. We have traced a handful of the enslaved people’s lines to the 1870 Census. These lines are connected to Edgefield, Newberry, Barnwell, and Laurens Counties in South Carolina. In one instance, we have traced an enslaved Williams line from 1750 to 1910. We are still in the midst of identifying members of this one line’s extended family in South Carolina. Words fail to describe the feeling of following one direct line of enslaved Williams from its oldest known enslaved ancestor down through subsequent generations past the Civil War and into the turn of the 20^th Century. It’s been hard work. It’s worked that has taxed our patience at times. We persisted – and found that this approach to documenting and researching enslaved families, as developed by the Beyond Kin Project, does work. The approach that Beyond Kin developed, the one which we’ve adapted for our purposes, isn’t easy. Nor is it straightforward (Why diversity matters for online genealogy service providers via https://genealogyadventures.net/2017/04/25/why-diversity-matters-for-online-genealogy-service-providers). However, the effort is absolutely worth it.

This approach is revealing something beyond the nature of kinship between enslaved people. Our project group has gained insight into how the Williams family approached the enslavement of African-descended people from about 1720, in York County, Virginia, to the dawn of the Civil War in South Carolina.

The first 3 generations of the family, which spanned Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, had a markedly different sense of slavery than the following generations (at least the latter generations in South Carolina). Earlier generations of the Williams seem to have had two groups of enslaved people. The first group was held within the family. We know that one individual, my 4x great grandfather Moses Williams, Sr, was a blood relation through the DNA test results of his descendants. We suspect there was also a blood connection between other enslaved people who were continuously held within the family, or freed. Effort was taken not to break immediate family members apart. By this, I mean parents were not separated from young children. In a handful of instances, elderly enslaved people were given the choice of which Williams family member they wished to live the remainder of their days with.

The second group of enslaved people was treated in a more historically familiar manner when it comes to American chattel slavery. They were sold to enslavers outside of the family.

Great care too was taken in the first three generations of the family over the provisions for those they enslaved in preparation for the handling of their estate once they died. For instance, before he fought in the Revolutionary War battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina, Maj. James Henderson Williams instituted a series of provisional Deeds which stipulated how his enslaved population was to be dispersed amongst his heirs. Nor did these early Williams men want their wives to keep whatever property, including enslaved people, from their husband’s estate, if they remarried. Williams men wanted their wealth and property to remain within the family. If one of their widows remarried, she forfeited everything.

The recording keeping among the earlier generations of the family were meticulous and thorough.

Things begin to change with the fourth generation of the family in South Carolina. Suddenly, Williams begin dying intestate. In other words, they died without a Will. More often than not, an estate sale followed. I can only imagine that news of an estate sale must have terrified those who were enslaved. They would have known all too well what that could mean for them and their loved ones. Anyone could buy them and take them away from everyone and everything they had ever known. Worse still, slave traders, who would resell them to the highest bidder without care or consideration, always attended such sales. Slaver traders were one of the means by which enslaved families were split apart and sent to all points throughout the south.

We have noticed one dynamic with these estate sales. Older members of the members seem to have gone out of their way to purchase specific enslaved people and/or specific enslaved family groups. These were individuals and family groups with known, or strongly suspected, kinship ties to the Williams family. Others, who we know were purchased from outside of the family, shared a different fate. They were simply sold to whoever had the inclination to purchase them.

We are also beginning to see the wider connections between the black and white Williams families and their inter-connectedness to the wider Edgefield community. When two children from slave owning families married, the groom would have his slaves, and the bride hers, in the form of a dowry. Thus two different slave populations were brought together through such a union. Unless, of course, two cousins married. In this latter scenario, they could very well be bringing two groups of related enslaved people together, with the addition of whatever new slaves they would buy over time. Sticking with the first scenario, imagine the enslaved who had been part of the groom’s family identified themselves as Williams, Henderson, Richardson, Griffins, and Martins. And then the enslaved families who were part of the bride’s family who would identify themselves as Jones, Peterson, Sibley, Mobley, Sheppard, and Sims. One enslaved group would marry into the other group. Over time, their descendants would form one exceedingly large family with a myriad of different surnames. Add the fact that their white enslaving family members were connected to a myriad of white Edgefield families – you have an extensive county-level interconnectedness between the white side of the family, the black side of the family – and then again between the black and white population within the county. Basically, everyone is related to everyone else. This is how it happens. At least this is how it happened in Edgefield.

The project’s research team has always known this. This project, however, is showing the proof of it. It’s the subject of some pretty interesting conversations.

Finding Moses’s Lost Children

The team believes it has found two of Moses William, Sr’s enslaved daughters. The first discovery, Elizabeth, we found her living next door to him in Red Oak Township in Barnwell County, South Carolina in the 1870 Census.

The first box, in red, shows Moses Williams, Sr with his second wife, Maria. The exciting piece of information for him is this Census record proves he was born in Virginia, most likely York County, Virginia if he was born into the Colonial Era Williams household. The blue box shows his daughter, Elizabeth Williams, and her children. Please click the picture for a larger image.

We see her here with one son named for his grandfather.

It was the second daughter who turned out to be a remarkable discovery. My 4x great grandmother, Violet, has been a decade-long mystery. We knew she was born around 1809 in Edgefield, South Carolina. She was the wife of Peter Peterson. The main mystery about Violet was her maiden name. Simply put, there are no documents to provided her maiden name. We had some thoughts about which of the large Edgefield families she would have been a daughter of. However, this was merely conjecture.

I had spent a good part of one day researching Williams’ family Wills and probate records in Edgefield and Newberry when the names Peter and Violet (Vilet) appeared out of nowhere. The document that cited her name was the 1829 Will of Washington Williams of Newberyy, South Carolina.

This page is exciting for a few reasons. However, you have to understand how the Will was written to ferret out the key points. The enslaved in this Will are in family groups. Not only do we have Violet, we have members of her family: from Humphrey (Umphrey) to Jacob. I believe the majority of the names grouped with hers were her siblings. Secondly, there’s a man named Ceasar. He too is a Williams. Along with Violet, Ceasar and his family are found in Edgefield in the 1870 Census. At present, it is unclear whether Ceasar was Moses William, Sr’s son or nephew. Presumably Ceasar, his family, as well as Violet and Peter, left Newberry for Edgefield to live among their Williams family relations.

we believe Peter Peterson above is listed with his siblings on this page. Squire Peterson appears in Edgefield, along with Peter, in the 1870 Census.

I should mention that Violet was a very rare name in Edgefield at the time. It wasn’t a common name among the enslaved population (using the Gloria Lucas book, The Slave Deeds of Edgefield County as a guide). We verified the rarity of this name among the white population in the county in the census records and genealogy/family history books for Edgefield spanning from 1790 to 1880. Seeing a Violet in a slave-related record was enough to pique my interest. In and of itself, it was not enough to provide her with a maiden name. Paired with a Peter, this was an entirely different deal. Returning to the 1870 Census ,in order to see who her neighbours were, and re-examining the names of the children she and Peter had, the pieces began to fall into place. There was every indication that Violet was a Williams. And, not just any Williams, she was very likely a daughter of Moses Williams, Sr. We’re still doing DNA work to finally clinch this.

Considering we made this discovery in the midst of working on the Moses Williams Family Tree project, this discovery seems almost providential. We were meant to make this discovery. However, there is more to it than that. We were meant to make this discovery during the course of this very specific research project.

Through her, we could also begin to answer some basic questions about her husband, Peter Peterson. There have been all manner of conflicting family stories where he is concerned. First, there’s the uncertainty about his surname. Was he Peter Peterson or Peter Bagley/Bangley? Where did those two surnames associated with him come from? Was one parent a Peterson and the other a Bagley/Bangley? Family lore stated that Peter was either a white man, or a mulatto man who was born free in West Virginia. I, and the other members of the team, have spent years going down the proverbial genealogy rabbit hole chasing all of these family stories about Peter; all to no avail. Over the years, Peter refused to give up his secrets.

The above record confirms what I have long suspected: Peter Peterson was enslaved. He was a part of the slave-owning Peterson clan who were residents of Newberry, South Carolina. It would appear that Peter and Violet met one another in Newberry, both of them part of Washington Williams’ household.

The final find to-date has been the discovery of another of Moses’s five sons: Ellick (or Aleck) Williams.

As it stands, we have found two of Moses’s five sons: Moses Williams, Jr and Ellick/Aleck Williams. We have also found one daughter, Elizabeth, with Violet increasingly looking like a second daughter.

So… only three more sons and thirty-eight more daughters to find!

UPDATE Monday, 19 June 2017

The time has come for us to hit the road and begin to research undigitized documents in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina that are related to this project. Part of this project’s output will be making these newly digitized documents publicly available…and buy around 200 or so DNA test kits. Towards that end, we’ve set up a Go Fund Me campaign to the raise the $10,000 we need: Stronger Together: The Moses Williams Family Project https://www.gofundme.com/stronger-together-dna-project

All donations will be gratefully received. And your support, no matter what form it takes (likes and shares on social media), will mean so much to the team.

Genealogy challenge: Researching the 43 enslaved children of Moses Williams (Old Ninety-Six, SC)

24/03/201719/06/2017 / genealogyadventures / 6 Comments

My cousin and research business partner, Donya, hit me me with a small newspaper clipping packed with some major family history implications for our Edgefield County/Old Ninety-Six County, South Carolina family:

Edgefieldians already know we’re connecting to one another in a myriad of ways from 1800 onwards. Whether our Old Ninety-Six ancestors were white, Native American, or black…everyone in the Old Ninety-Six region is related. With a long history of cousin marriages, most of us are related to one another at least three or four ways.

My 4x great-grandfather Moses, and his 43 children, connects many of us at a much earlier date than any of us could have imagined. This one man pushes our combined ancestry back to around 1769, the year Moses was born. We reckon this one man is going to connect around two-thirds of the black and mulatto residents of 19th Century Edgefield/Old Ninety-Six.

Two. Thirds. I’m still wrapping my noggin ’round that one.

This journey of discovery will be far from straightforward. Honestly, though? It has the makings of a brilliant documentary.

The first challenge is the fact that Moses, his children, and their respective mothers, were enslaved. So it’s not going to be a matter of diving into census records between 1790 and 1870. Moses and his descendants won’t appear in their own right until the 1870 census. If we’re lucky, some of them may appear in the Freedmen Bank Records between 1865 and 1870…if we’re lucky. Most of our formerly enslaved ancestors from Old Ninety-Six didn’t open Freedmen Bank accounts unless they lived near to a city or large town.

At this stage of our research, we have identified the family who held them in slavery. Not unsurprisingly, this was the Welsh – descended Williams family of Hanover County, Virginia; Caswell, Granville, and Pasquotank Counties in North Carolina; and Laurens, Newberry, and Old Ninety-Six /Edgefield Counties in South Carolina.

The relationship between Moses and the Welsh – American Williams family wasn’t just one based on enslavement. DNA is already giving us an insight into which Williams family member fathered Moses. However, that reveal is planned for a forthcoming book.

In the meantime, I thought this would be an opportunity to outline the various stages we’re preparing to tackle this behemoth of a genealogical conundrum.

First up is creating a family tree for the Welsh-descended Williamses:

I’ve adapted our Ancestry.com tree to an old school pen and paper format, concentrating on the specific line of Williams who held Moses and his children in bondage. Millennials will be horrified. However, sometimes, the pen and paper approach is necessary. This step came after a week of reading countless Williams family Wills, estate probate records, tax records, and deeds of sale and/ or deeds of transfer.

The next step was literally sketching out the enslavement of our ancestors within this family, one generation at a time. The image above gives an overview of our ancestors enslavement within the second generation of the Williams family.

The next step was mapping out enslavement based on Wills and Deeds. In the image above, I’ve made a special note regarding the date and location of the Deed. In a way, I’m treating Deeds like they were a census. We know exactly where these ancestors were in 1795 based on this record.We also know exactly where they were going at this date.

While this deed doesn’t offer clues about the family relationships between these people, it does tell us these souls left Pasquotank, NC for Newberry, SC at this date in one large group. We know who went to South Carolina, and who remained behind in North Carolina.

The image above explores our kinsmen and women’s fate within the third generation of the Williams family.

These series of Deeds have been an invaluable information gold mine. Almost all of them gave our enslaved ancestors and kin’s ages (all of those numbers in parentheses). In other words, we could extrapolate birth years. I can’t begin to convey how rare this information is when it comes to enslaved people’s history.

The superscript numbers are tracking numbers that allow us to follow a person through a series of inter-family deed transactions and transfers through subsequent Wills.

The images marked ‘4’ and ‘5’ mark what I refer to as ‘outlier deeds’ within the Williams family. At this stage, were not entirely certain who the enslaved individuals are, or how they fit into the overall history or narrative of our Old Ninety-Six family. It’s my practice to always record, and make notes, even if the information – or its impact – is unknown. You never, ever know if you can re-find such information. From my experience, I know nothing is ever wasted. There will come a point and time in the research process where I will be mighty pleased I took the time to record this information.

The above is a pretty straightforward representation of the dispersal of our enslaved kin by their owner-relative. I’ll admit my heart went out to poor Rose. Her life was spent going back and forth between various Williams family members.

So, at this point, we’re still tracking down Wills, estate inventories, land records, tax records, and deeds for a handful of Williams family members…as well as sketching out more Generation 3 transfers. Then, it will be time to sketch an outline of the same for Generation 4.

Once Generation 4 is complete, that will bring us to the 1870 Census. Then? Well, we’ll know where our newly freed kin were from the last set of Wills and deeds. We can map their known last location from such Wills and Deeds, along with ages, to individuals and family groups in South Carolina in the 1870 Census for the Old Ninety-Six region.

And then start the whole process over again for our kin who remained in North Carolina from 1795 onwards.

Yep. This is an enormous undertaking. Which, in its own way, is historic.

If researching an enslaved man and his 43 children wasn’t challenging enough, good ole 4x grandad Moses has provided us with even more challenges:

We’re seeking Moses, his 2 wives, and 43 children in at least 6 different known counties in two states;
There’s an even earlier generation of this family. Their story begins in Hanover County, Virginia;
Born about 1769, we know Moses had at least one child named Moses, Jr by 1791. We estimate Moses, Sr began having children from 1784 onwards;
The birth of 43 children covers quite a span of time. If our Edgefield family trait of 1 child every 18 months holds true for Moses, were talking nearly an 80 year time period. This means no one white Williams held all of them. These children would have gone to various members of the Williams family over a few generations. And could have been relocated as far afield as Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri;
40 girls means 40 different surnames, if each one married. Their daughters would also go on to have different last names due to marriage…and their daughters. You get the general idea;
Moses, Sr was definitely fathering children when he was a grandfather. We have reason to believe he was also having children when he was a great-grandfather. In other words, some of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be older than his youngest children. Yeah, I’ll let that one sink in for a moment. Heck, the man lived to the august age of 115 after all! Basically? We have to be extra careful when looking at the birth years on census returns; and
This is a big swathe of time to cover for 1 person.

So please bear with me. There are going to be quiet spells in terms of my publishing. Our Twitter feed and Facebook page are always busy. You’re always free to keep in touch with us via those routes.

In the meantime, please do wish us well. We can certainly use the positivity.

Namaste

UPDATE Monday, 19 June 2017

All donations will be gratefully received. And your support, no matter what form it takes (likes and shares on social media), will mean so much to the team.

Genetic genealogy, DNA triangulation, and the search for my missing Futrell ancestor

23/10/201623/10/2016 / genealogyadventures / 8 Comments

When it comes to my genealogy adventures, more often than not, I feel like Sherlock Holmes or Poirot when it comes to uncovering the identity of missing ancestors who lived in the 17th, 18th and early 19th Century. Paper trails invariably run out, especially when it comes to my ancestors who were either working class whites, blacks, mulattos, Native American, or free people of colour. There are various reasons for this. Either records were lost, destroyed during times of upheaval (i.e. Revolutionary War, Civil War, Bacon’s Rebellion, etc) or were lost due to things like courthouses burning down. Given the remote areas some of ancestors lived, records may have never been produced at all. Or, if enslaved, full names weren’t provided. Or, due to ethnicity, they weren’t seen as people.

DNA testing is one key to uncovering the identities for ancestors where paper documents never existed, or no longer exist…or have yet to be digitized. The process of DNA triangulation is key to this process:

Triangulation for autosomal DNA is kind of a chicken and egg thing. The goal is to associate and identify specific DNA segments to specific ancestors. The easiest way to do this, or to begin the process, is with known relatives. This gets you started identifying “family segments.” From that point, you can use the known family segments, along with some common sense tools, to identify other people that are related through those common ancestors. Through those matches with other people, you can continue to break down your DNA into more and more granular family lines. (DNAeXplained, “Triangulation for Autosomal DNA” via https://dna-explained.com/2013/06/21/triangulation-for-autosomal-dna)

Regular readers will know I’ve developed a talent for triangulation over the years. In truth, much credit goes to my team of genetic genealogists who spent long and patient hours explaining how genetic genealogy and triangulation work; and mentoring me through my first forays into triangulating with my own DNA.

I’ve saved one of the most challenging triangulation tasks for last: discovering the father of my 2x great grandmother, Selinda Futrell, born about 1842 in Rich Square, Northampton County, North Carolina. This falls on my mother’s side of the family tree.

There are a couple of phases when it comes to organizing how I approach working with DNA and vital documents identifying a parent, or parents, for an ancestor. I’m still very much in the early phases with Selinda.

A preliminary to Phase I

Let’s start with her mother, Melinda, whose name appears as Melinda Futrell in official documents. Melinda was born around 1824 in Northampton County, North Carolina. The first question I had to tackle was whether or not Melinda was a Futrell by birth, or was it a name she assumed after Emancipation. In short, what was her connection to the Futrell name?

The three documents I have for Melinda, including the 1870 Census, cite that she is black. All three documents are consist in this fact. There is nothing to-date to indicate that she was of mixed race. Now this could be for one of two reasons: either she was born of mixed parentage and simply didn’t appear to be. Or, as I strongly suspect, she wasn’t born of mixed parentage. I am satisfied on the score that she was not a Futrell by birth.

Melinda’s children, on the other hand, are consistently cited as being mulattos. All of them. Which indicates that, unlike Melinda, her children had a white father. Given some 20+ DNA matches with white Futrells and Futrell descendants with roots in Northampton County, North Carolina, the team and I are very confident that man was a Futrell. This would explain Melinda’s adoption of the Futrell name, which she passed on to her children.

This is a prelim into Phase I.

Phase I: The Futrell family tree

So, the preliminary to Phase I was all about determining if Selinda Futrell was indeed a blood relation to the Quaker-descended Futrells in Northampton, NC.

Phase I, which is still ongoing, requires me to do a full and thorough work-up on the Quaker-descended Futrell family tree. This is easier said than done. I’m not going the lie. The Futrells are a nightmare to research.

Let’s just start with the surname. When it comes to misspellings and variants of the name, it’s in a league of its own: Fewtrell (the old English spelling of the name), Futral, Futrill, Fetral, Tutrill, Titrill, Futrelle…the list goes on and on.

Then there are the beloved family names that were commonly used among numerous branches: Shadrach, William, Charity, Daniel, John, Nathaniel, and Mary, just to cite a few. Online family trees are aren’t an option – too many have confused or merged individuals who borne the same first name and were born within a few years of each other.

The one book I hoped to get a hold of, 12 Northampton County, North Carolina Families
Bridgers, Daughtry, Futrell, Jenkins, Joyner, Lassiter, Martin, Odom, Parker, Stephenson, Sumner, and Woodard by Rebecca L. Dozier is no longer in print.

But then, as luck or providence would have it, I discovered a second book: The Futrell Family Revised by Roger H. Futrell (available to read and/or download via: https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE99258) This book has been an absolute godsend. I’m not exaggerating when I say that we couldn’t have done an accurate family tree without it.

The book allowed us to ramp up Phase I, and begin Phase II.

Phase IIa: Eliminating and shortlisting paternity candidates

The 18th and early 19th Century Futrell family is huge. The family was not only prolific, it produced an unusual number of male children generation after generation.

At the moment, we’re just shy of 60 Futrell men born between 1650 and 1820. In order to have the fullest list of possible paternity candidates, we’re required to try and trace as many descendant lines for Thomas “The Immigrant” Futrell (born 1659 in Shropshire, England, lied for a period in Surry County, Virginia – and died in 1693 in Bertie County, North Carolina). Once this has been done, we can begin to specifically look at Futrell men who were old enough, and resident in Northampton County, NC prior to Selinda Futrell’s birth in 1842.

I don’t know if ‘luck’ is the right word, but I’m going to use it anyway. As luck would have it, around two-thirds of the Futrells who were in North Carolina had moved to Trigg and Christian Counties in Kentucky by 1814. Why is this lucky? These Futrell men are automatically eliminated as possible descendant lines who could have fathered Selinda and her siblings. These Futrells didn’t moved back and forth between Kentucky and North Carolina. Once they arrived in Kentucky, that was it.

We next looked into the proximity of Futrell men to Melinda and her family in Rich Square. There were a dozen or so men of the right age either living in Rich Square. Another 8 Futrell men lived within a day’s horse ride away from Rich Square. Then there was the extended family group of Futrells who lived in Onslow County, NC.

Next we looked at which Futrells owned slaves. This ruled the Onslow County group of Futrells out almost immediately. None of them had enslaved people.

This, again, helps us narrow the field of identifying the best, most likely paternity candidates on paper before we begin using DNA to triangulate.

After eliminating so many Futrells from consideration, we are left with a few family lines to investigate more closely:

Male Futrell descendants of John W Futrell (1715-1788) and Martha “Polly” Daughtry;
Male Futrell descendants of Benjamin Futrell (1720-1790) and Mourning Smith; and
Male Futrell descendants of Thomas Futrell III (1713-1770) and Elizabeth Dickinson.

Work continues in investigating these three family groups.

Phase IIb: Wills and probate…and more Wills and probate

Wills and probate records are a vital – and rich – source of ancestral information. On the one hand, they provide the names of surviving family members, including grandchildren (e.g. I bequeath to my grand-daughter Hezekiah Heathcock, the daughter of Anne,…)

Next, Wills and probate are important for my Futrell ancestry for another reason. Wills and probate tells me who held enslaved people and who did not. This isn’t always a hard and fast rule. My formerly missing German-American Sheffey 4x grandfather, John Adam Sheffey, was the only 18th Century Sheffey to not own slaves. However, his brothers did. Yet, as far as DNA is showing, only John Adam Sheffey seems to have fathered children with Jemimah, an enslaved woman in the household of his brother Maj Henry Lawrence Sheffey. Slave ownership isn’t always a reliable factor when it comes to determining paternity.

For the Futrells who held enslaved people, the names of the enslaved are cited in their Wills. It is actually possible to follow the trail of the enslaved from generation to generation through subsequent Futrell family Wills.

Using an example, let’s say Futrell #1 had an enslaved woman by the name of Amey. She goes from him to his son, Futrell #2. Next, we might see in Futrell #2’s Will that Amey and her children, Patsy and Shadrach, pass to his son, Futrell #3. Not only can I track Amey, I can now see that she has two children. Further Wills will provide further clues and information about Patsy and Shadrach.

The above is an illustrative example. The Will of Elliot Futrell below, is a real-world working example:

I’ll go ahead and say. Creating family trees from Wills is a strange and unsettling business. I don’t think I’ll ever reconcile myself to it. With that said, it is a critical skillset to acquire when it comes to genealogy.

As part of my genealogy practice, I add this information my Ancestry.com family tree for the respective individuals who held and inherited enslaved people. I do this in the hopes that it helps other African Americans researching their own family trees. I include the names of the enslaved and how that individual came by them (i.e. inheritance or purchase) with links back to the original course. The two images below show my working practice using the Will above:

The image above shows notes I add to respective Ancestry.com pages to track the movement of enslaved ancestors from generation to generation.

Now, in the instance above, I don’t know if any of the enslaved people cited are part of my Futrell family’s story. However, they will be part of someone’s family story. So many have helped me along my way in my adventure, it would be churlish for me to not pay it forward.

Phase IIc: Identifying Futrell DNA segements

While I grapple with the traditional genealogy required in Phases IIa and IIb, the team is working on identifying my Futrell DNA segments and the Chromosome(s) associated with this segment or segments. While I’ve become adept at this part of the process, it is time consuming. And, in this instance, exceedingly tricky due to endogamy (cousin marriages, in short). I’m going to say it: the professionals are far quicker at this than I am!

This article from DNAeXplained gives you a glimpse into what’s involved: Concepts: Match Groups and Triangulation https://dna-explained.com/category/triangulation.

Phase III: Working with online DNA cousin matches

This final phase will do one of two things. It will either identify the father of Selinda Futrell and her siblings. Or, it will narrow the search down to a single family group, a father and his sons, in other words. Most of the time, we get a solid hit and there’s no doubt about it. Other times – and this is largely due to endogamy – we can only narrow it down to a father and/or his sons.

For example, it’s not unusual in my family tree for two brothers from one family to marry sisters from another family – and both sets of couples were cousins. Add the fact that the parents of the 2 brothers and 2 sisters were 2nd or 3rd cousins. Nothing skews DNA triangulating quite like this. It’s a bit of a nightmare. Less frequent is a father and a son marrying a mother and a daughter from another family, who may or may not be related to them.

Part of Phase III includes me relaying any possible DNA overlaps back to the genetic genealogists. For instance, the Quaker descended Futrells married Outlands, Exums, Vinsons and Lassiters quite often In Northampton, NC. I know already that I have Lassiters and Exums in Virginia on my father’s side of the family. I also have Outlands from Pennsylvania and Virginia on both my parents’ ancestral lines. Regardless of which colonial territory or State they lived in, these Outlands, Lassiters and Exums are part of the same family. Add in the Quaker White family, which links all of these families and more…and you have some tricky triangulation to do.

This information is crucial for the genetic genealogy team to reduce the risk of them arriving at a false positive. They need to find ‘pure’ lines – lines that don’t share common DNA with any other, in order to successfully identify Selinda Futrell’s father. We use this as a benchmark against which we compare every other line.

Each Futrell line will be examined individually to see which one matches me closer, in terms of generation, than any other. For instance, if all of my DNA matches are at the 5th, 6th and 7th cousin level, save one that matches me at the 4th generational level or less – the most recent shared match is the one we need to investigate more closely. The identity of her father rests on Futrells who match me more closely in terms of generational distance than any other Futrell descendant line.

Normally, we’d also rely on the length of DNA segments shared, and the number of segments shared, between me and my Futrell DNA matches. However, because of cousin marriages, I already know we’ll share more DNA in common than is typical for 4th to 8th cousins. As an example, I have a Quaker cousin in Pennsylvania who Ancestry.com suggests is a 3rd cousin. We know a number of the ways we’re related, which makes us 5th, 6th, and 7th cousins respectively (due to endogamy within the colonial Quaker communities, we share at least 6 sets of common ancestors). We share a crazy amount of DNA segments for two people whose common ancestors lived between 1660 and 1770. It’s not Ancestry.com’s fault, it can only go by what the genetic numbers are telling it.

Yep, I know, it sounds like a whole lot of work to identify one ancestor. It’s what you do when the paper trail runs out.

And why spend so much time and effort to identify a father-owner ancestor? I’ll touch on that in the next article.

Typical Actions in Probate of a Slaveholding Estate with David E. Paterson [podcast]

03/12/2015 / genealogyadventures / Leave a comment

Podcast host Bernice Bennett and special guest David Paterson discuss the most fruitful probate records for slavery research in most states, for the period about 1800 to 1865.

The discussion may be less useful for the colonial period, or for the records of Louisiana or Spanish colonial Florida whose laws and processes derived from different legal traditions.

David also describes the process flow from one record to the next – the purpoe of each record – and what kinds of slavery-related information maybe found in each kind of record. Particular attention focuses on records that are sometimes overlooked in guides or how-to books; especially annual returns and vouchers.

You can listen to the podcast by visiting the Blog Talk Radio website:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bernicebennett/2015/11/20/typical-actions-in-probate-of-a-slaveholding-estate-with-david-e-paterson

Navigating Wills & Probate Records on Ancestry.com

22/10/2015 / genealogyadventures / Leave a comment

These records are a goldmine of information. On the one hand, they can prove family relationships. For African Americans with enslaved ancestors, they can show who owned your ancestors from generation to generation – as well as indicate who may have fathered your enslaved mixed-race ancestors.

All I can say is that I have made some genuinely amazing family history discoveries using probate records and wills on a number of online digital record services.

My working practice for my African American genealogy research

11/08/201502/09/2015 / genealogyadventures / 2 Comments

This post is a glimpse into my working practices when it comes to researching black ancestors who were enslaved. On the one hand, it will probably look like Olympic standard mental gymnastics. On the other, I hope it gives a good framework for other African Americans researching their own enslaved ancestors.

In this post, I’m going to concentrate solely on my Sheffey ancestors in Wythe County, Virginia.

A tale of a very tight knit family

Part and parcel of researching ancestors who were enslaved is acquiring knowledge about the family who owned them. Any chance of discovering such ancestors can only be accomplished through the records kept by slave owners. Our enslaved ancestors’ lives were inextricably linked to their owner’s family. Obvious, I know. Still, I’m stating this for a specific purpose. My enslaved Sheffey ancestors were kept together within the extended Sheffey family. I have no overall understanding of how usual or unusual a practice this was. The fact that the black and white sides of the Sheffey family were related may have had a part to play in this. With an increasing knowledge of the beliefs and quirks of the slave owning Sheffeys, I wouldn’t be surprised if this kinship was behind keeping my black Sheffey ancestors and relations together.

Not only was the family structure of my enslaved Sheffey ancestors and relations kept intact, it definitely seems as though the extended black Sheffeys were in regular contact with one other. It makes sense. My white Sheffey ancestors and kin were a close knit and very sociable bunch of people. Going from family home to family home, with slaves in tow, seems the most obvious way my black Sheffey cousins kept in regular contact with one another and maintained their closeness.

How do I know the black Sheffeys were every bit as tight knit as their white counterparts? The 1870 Census. Whether it’s Wythe County towns like Wytheville, Cripple Creek, Ivanhoe or Black Lick (and Marion in neighbouring Smyth County) – there they all are, my black ancestors, all living near to one another. And through numerous marriage records showing second and third cousins from the different Wythe County towns (and Marion) marrying one another.

In other words, it wasn’t the habit of Sheffey slave owners to split the families of their black relations apart. Which has made researching my black ancestors an easier task than if they had been sold all over the southern states. Research is showing that my black Sheffey ancestors and kin were passed, intact, by my white Sheffey kin to other Sheffey family members in their Wills.

An example of how I identify which Wills and probate records I’ll need for my research. Click for larger image.

Now all I need is to find the Wills to actually prove this. Which segues quite nicely back to my opening sentences.

Enter genealogy: Focusing on the oldest known generation of back & mulatto Sheffeys

Let’s take a look at the oldest known members of my earliest known black Sheffey ancestors.

Snapshot putting my oldest known black Sheffey ancestors into context. Click for larger image.

I’m going to focus on three people: Jemimah, her son Jacob Sheffey and his wife, Elsey George.

Once you’ve identified an owner for an enslaved ancestor, it’s a good idea to do a rough work-up of that owner’s family tree. Slaves were usually passed from generation to generation. Doing a genealogical work-up of a slave owner and his family can provide clues about your enslaved ancestor’s genealogy – identifying siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins to additional children they may have had.

Once you have done an outline of a slave owner’s family tree, the next step is to find any Wills, estate records, estate inventories (usually done as part of the probate period), tax records, letters and journals – anything that might make reference to slaves by name. I have uncovered previously unknown family lines through this practice.

If an enslaved ancestor lived to an advanced age (say, seventy or older), and appears on the 1870 Census, you stand a good chance of tracing who owned them when they were born and then all the subsequent family members who owned them and their family. The caveat is this works so long as they were kept within the same family.

I find that it helps my research if I draw some outlines of inter-connections and relationships between enslaved ancestors and how they connect to various owners. Visual aides always help my research. Like the working example below:

Outline of black and white family connections. Includes avenues to investigate to identify Godfrey Taylor Sheffey's parents. Click for larger image.

Outline of black and white family connections. Includes questions to answer and avenues to investigate to identify Godfrey Taylor Sheffey’s parents. Click for larger image.

The image above is a working outline I’ve shared with some Sheffey DNA cousins trying to place their ancestor, Godfrey Taylor Sheffey, into my overall Sheffey family tree. We know there is a connection. The men in their line bear an uncanny resemblance to me and many of the men who are descendants of Jacob Sheffey and Elsey George. Seriously! It’s like the men in Jacob’s line were cloned!

Through plotting the image above, it’s my hunch that Godfrey Sheffey’s parents were Jacob Sheffey and Elsey George. Laying out all the known, pertinent facts – as they have been in the image above – just makes that hunch even stronger.

However, the image above serves a few purposes. There is more within it than meets the eye at first.

Jemimah’s origins remain a mystery. By that I mean I have no clue who owned her when she was born in 1770. This void means I have no clue about who her parents were, or the identity of any siblings – or what family name her family would have used. Her early life requires a lot more work. She was born before the second generation German-American Sheffey’s (e.g. Daniel Sheffey and his brother Henry Sheffey) arrived in Virginia and became save owners. Daniel and Henry were still children themselves in Frederick County, Maryland. So she couldn’t have originally been owned by them. I’m hoping a trail of Virginia Slave Deeds of Sales will lead me back to her first owner.

Some Deductive Reasoning and Critical Thinking

Now the next bit requires deductive reasoning and critical thinking. These are not ideal tools of the genealogist. However, my previous critical thinking and deductive reasoning has led to some remarkable genealogy breakthroughs.

Our enslaved ancestors’ stories are inextricably linked to the story of the families who owned them. This includes their Properties and Places of residence – I refer to this as P&P.

Here’s a working example: In order for Jacob and Elsey to have a ‘union’ and produce children, they were more than likely resident within the same Sheffey household. So which one? My thinking is that Jacob and Elsey were owned by Henry Sheffey. And here’s how I came to that deductive conclusion:

Elsey’s first child was by James Lowry White, Henry Sheffey’s brother-in-law. Elsey and James were both teenagers when that child was born. So it makes sense that she was owned by James’s father, William White, and not by James. Carrying this deductive reasoning further, it seems highly probable that Elsey was born into William White’s household. William White more than likely also owned her parents and siblings – I’ll come back to this in a bit**.
Elsey more than likely became a part of Henry Sheffey’s household through his wife, Margaret White. I’m guessing that Elsey was part of an inheritance. And she came with her first born, the son she had with James White. In order for Elsey to meet and be courted by Jacob, I can only see this if he was already established in Henry Sheffey’s household.
If Jacob was already part of Henry Sheffey’s household, there is a strong likelihood that Jemimah, his mother, was also part of this household.

Now deductive reasoning requires a paper trail in order to convert reasoning and deduction into fact. Henry Sheffey has stymied me in this. He died fairly young. Some of his sons were raised by his brother, Daniel Sheffey, while others were raised by his brother-in-law, James White. If Henry left a Will, I haven’t been able to find a copy of it. Nor have I been able to find any reference to a Will. Nor have I been able to find any probate or estate inventory papers. This means I have no idea what happened to my ancestors when he died. Did his sons inherit them? Were they held in trust by the boys’ guardians? I don’t know. In short, there is no paper trail to follow…yet.

Jacob and Elsey had their first child while Henry was still alive (this was my 2^nd Great Grandfather, Daniel Henry Sheffey, Sr). Jacob and Elsey’s remaining 5 children were born after Henry Sheffey’s death. Jacob and Elsey were clearly together. But where? In whose household? That remains a mystery.

What I do know is the trail picks up in the Wythe and Smyth Cohabitation Records that were compiled in February of 1866. The Cohabitation Records cite the last slave owner for each formerly enslaved person cited within it. And many of my Sheffey ancestors and relations are listed within these documents. By and large, all were owned by members of the extended Sheffey family.

In this image, I’m focussing on the central figures in this specific research exercise. The diagram shows inter-relationships between the black and white sides of the family, with contextual notes and questions. Click for larger image.

Intricately Connected Lives

Last Wills and Testaments would answer so many of the questions that I have. And these are proving stubbornly elusive. Wills for Henry and his brother Daniel would answer quite a few. Their children’s Wills won’t provide any answers. They all died after the end of the Civil War. There were simply no slaves for them to bequeath. Added to this, not all of their children, notably the Reverend Robert Sayers Sheffey, owned slaves.

The two Wills I have mentioned, however, would shed some light on:

Which of Henry and Daniel’s children inherited family slaves before the onset of the Civil War
How my family members came to be with extended family members like the Morrisons, Spillers, Robertsons, Sanders and Porters.

Knowing this would better enable me to understand how formerly enslaved Sheffeys came to reside where they did within Wythe and Smyth Counties. In other words, this knowledge adds missing context to their lives and their histories.

**Now, back to Elsey George, her family, and how their lives were so closely entwined with that of the White family (let’s not forget I’m related to this family too through my mother’s Harlan lineage!).

William White owned extensive land holdings and enterprises throughout Virginia as well as Kentucky (Harlan County) and Alabama (Hunstville, Madison County). His son, James White, expanded upon his father’s business and became one of the wealthiest men in the southern states. William and James moved slaves throughout their various estate holdings in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. And in all the places they owned property, I find members of the George family.

Every. Single. Place.

It’s going to be quite the adventure to stitch the George family story back together. I have yet to find a copy of William White’s Will. James White died intestate. However, his billion dollar estate (in today’s money) resulted in a long and protracted lawsuit between his heirs. His estate holdings, if reports are accurate, were well documented as part of this lawsuit. And I’ve found where all of his estate and personal papers are kept: The University of Virginia Library http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=uva-sc/viu00730.xml This collection will be a goldmine of information when it comes to piecing together the George family tree. I’m also hoping it will shed some light on Henry Sheffey’s estate, including which family members inherited Henry Sheffey’s slaves.

So, let’s recap.

There’s no getting around it. You have to do some genealogy work on the family or families that owned your enslaved ancestors. Yes, it’s extra work. Rather a lot of extra work, if the truth be told. In my case, it was part and parcel of my family genealogy research because the people who owned my enslaved Sheffey ancestors are blood relations.

Once you’ve done a genealogical outline of the family who owned your ancestors, the next thing on your list is to track down any existing Wills or probate estate inventories that will cite and list the slaves. Provided your enslaved ancestors were kept within the same family for generation after generation, you can trace them from place to place, and by generation after generation.

Tracing slave ownership for the Scots-Irish Roane family of Virginia

29/09/201402/03/2015 / genealogyadventures / 3 Comments

My thanks to my cousin Lewis S – who has so kindly shared slave-related documents with me from his side of the Roane family. And my thanks to another cousin, Mia F, who has spent quiet some time over the past few months visiting the Virginian archives in search of information and documents about our enslaved Roane and Price ancestors. This post wouldn’t be possible without their generosity.

I’m hoping this post will enable other African American Roanes trace their family ancestry. Or help people whose enslaved ancestors were owned by members of the earlier generations of the Scots-Irish Roane family in Virginia.

I’ve debated about how best to present the information that follows below. Should I do a series of posts? Should I put everything together in one post? In the end, to show a clear progression of ownership, I opted to put all of the information I have in one post in chronological order.

Some slaves, like Orange, have such unique names that they are easy to race from generation to generation. Most others, however, share such common names that I haven’t been able to confidently trace the transfer of ownership from one Roane to another.

I will continue to update and re-post this as I find more information about Roane family slaves.

The slaves of William Roane, Sr

William, the son of Sir Archibald Gilbert Roane, was born in 1701 (County Antrim, Northern Ireland) and died in 1757 (Bloomberg, Essex County, Virginia).

The document below shows his purchase of 3 slaves from John Seayres on 17 March 1746:
Matt;
Kingston(e); and
Richmond (Rich). (This may be the same Richmond mentioned in William Roane, Jr’s Will, in which case, he was deeded to William Roane, Jr’s son Spencer Roane. Alternatively, the Richmond mentioned in William Roane, Jr’s will may be the son of this Richmond).

1757 Will of William Roane, Sr.

William’s will was proved December 20, 1757; his wife Sarah Roane’s will was dated 1^st day of August 1760, and was proved December I5th, 1760.

Will of William Roane Essex County Virginia Will proven 20 December , 1757

In the name of God Amen I William Roane of the Parish of Southampton in the County of Essex Gent. Being sick and weak of body but of Perfect Sense and memory Blessed by Almighty God therefore Calling to mind the uncertainty of this Transitory Life so make this my Last Will & Testament in manner following first I will that my body be buried in a decent manner at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named trusting through the merits of my blessed Savior Christ for the Salvation of my Soul and for the disposal of my worldly Estate with which it hath pleased God to bless me

I Give devise and bequeath the same as followeth Viz; Imprim is I give and bequeath to my son Thomas Roane the tract of land I purchased of Philip Vase whereon he now lives also the tract where his Quarter won Piscataway formerly Doctor Philip Jones’s and also the Ordinary tract with their and each of their appurtenances to him and his heirs forever

Item. I give and bequeath to my son William Roane all that tract of land that was John Haul’s (Haile) also the tract I purchased of Thos Gatewood joining it , and all the tract I purchased of Henry Crittenden with their and each of their appurtenances to him and his heirs forever

Item. I give and bequeath to my son John Roane all my land in Culpeper County Viz: one tract containing by estimation thirteen hundred and fifty acres purchased of Joseph Bloodworth also the tract of land I purchased of Charles Cavenaugh and also a tract adjoining Cavanaugh’s lately purchased of John Williams with their and each of their appurtenances to him and his heirs forever

Item. I give to my daughter Mary Ritchie as much money as will make her fortune eight hundred pounds current immediately inclusive of what she hath already received being upwards of six hundred pounds as per my ledger and at my wife’s decease I give her two hundred pounds more .

Item. I give to my daughter Sarah Roane eight hundred pounds current money to be paid her at the age of eighteen or day of marriage and two hundred pounds more at my wife’s decease

Item. I give to my daughter Lucy Roane eight hundred pounds current money and two hundred pounds more at my wife’s decease

Item. I lend my loving wife Sarah Roane all the tract of land I live on with the piece I bought of Robert Johnson and my water grist mill with all their appurtenances during her natural life and after her decease I give it to be equally divided between my three sons Thomas, William & John and their heirs forever

Item. I also lend my said wife twenty negroes , her choice, all my household furniture except half the Plate, all the stock that belongs and is on this my dwelling Plantation during her life and after her decease to be equally divided amongst all my children and heirs forever

Item. I give and bequeath all the residue of my estate to be equally divided amongst my three sons Thomas, William & John and their heirs forever

Item. My will and desire is that if either of my children die before they attain to age of marriage that their part or parts be equally divided amongst all my children & their heirs forever .

Item. I do hereby appoint my three sons Thomas, William & John Executors of this my Last Will and Testament . In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand ~~~ this 17th day of November Anno Dom. 1757

W Roane

Signed Published declared by the dc William Roane in & for his Last Will & Testament in presence of us

Jno Clements
John Upshaw
James Upshaw

At a Court held for Essex County at Tappahannock on the 20th day of December 1757 This Last Will and Testament of William Roane Gent. Dec’d was presented into Court by the Exors herein named who made oath thereto according to law the same being proved by the oaths of John Upshaw & James Upshaw two of the witnesses thereto , is ordered to be recorded & on the motion of the said executors and their performing what the Law in such cases require a Certificate is granted them for obtaining a Probate thereof in due form

Test John Lee Jun D Clk

Know all men by these presents that we Thomas Roane, William Roane , and John Roane and John Upshaw , James Upshaw and Thomas Waring and John Lee Senior are held and firmly bound to Francis Waring, Simon Miller, James Hibbard, Robert Brocke Gent. Justices of the Court of Essex County now sitting, in the sum of ten thousand pounds current money to the payment whereof well and truly to be made to the s’d justices and their heirs ——— we bind ourselves and each of us and each of our heirs Executors Administrators Jointly and Severally firmly by these presents Sealed with our seale this 20th day of December in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and fifty seven and in the 31st year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the second .

The condition of this obligation is such that the above bound Thomas Roane, William Roane & John Roane Executors of the Last Will and Testament of William Roane Gent. Deceased , do make or cause to be made a true and perfect inventory of all and singular the Goods, Chattels & Credits of the said deceased which have or shall come to the hands possession or knowledge of the said Thomas , William and John or into the hands and possession of any other person or persons for them and the same so made, do exhibit into the County Court of Essex at such time as they shall be hereunto required by the said Court , and the same goods, chattels , and credits and all other goods, chattels, and credits of the said deceased which at any time after shall come to the hands possession or knowledge of the said executors or into the hands and possession of any other person or persons for them do well and truly administer according to Law and further do make a true and just account of their actings and doings therein when thereto required by the said Court and also shall —– truly Pay and deliver all the legacies contained and specified in said Testament as far as the said goods, chattels and credits will thereunto extend and the same shall charge then this Obligation to be void & of none effect or else to remain in full force and virtue

Thomas, Roane, William Roane
John Roane, John Upshaw
James Upshaw , T Waring
John Lee Junior

At a Court held for Essex County at Tapp’a the 20th day of December 1757 this bond was acknowledged by the parties and ordered to be recorded & is truly recorded

John Lee Junr Clk

1757 William Roane Sr., estate inventory (excerpts, with valuations in Pound Sterling, designated by the letter “L”)

Filed in court 1758 0321

“An Inventory with Appraisement of the Estate of William Roane Gentleman decedent in Essex County Anno Domini 1757

Slaves named:

Richmond 50L
Bought from John Seayres in 1746 – see the first record in this article.

Stafford 50L

Lancaster 50L

Sam 50L

Ben 50L
Owned by William Roane, Jr and deeded to William Jr’s son Spencer Roane in 1782

Little George 50L
Deeded either to Col Thomas Roane, Sr or William Roane There are too many George’s to be able to clearly identify who he was deeded to

Hanover 50L

Isaac 40L
Deeded to son Col Thomas Roane. Col Thomas Roane deeded Isaac to Richard Barnes, husband of his daughter Rebecca Roane

Dick 40L

George 50L
Deeded wither to Col Thomas Roane, Sr or William Roane There are too many George’s to be able to clearly identify who he was deeded to

Nero 40L

Letty 45L

Caroline 35L

Jamey 60L

Beauty 45L

Brunswick 45L

Kate 40L

Hannah 50L
Owned by William Roane, Jr and deeded to William Jr’s son Spencer Roane in 1782

Betty 32L
“Bett”owned by William Roane, Jr and deeded to William Jr’s son Spencer Roane in 1782

Lame Letty 10L

Austin a boy 40L
Deeded to William Roane, Jr.

Moll a girl 30L

Ambrose a boy 25L

Nell a girl 37L

Great Jammy & Child Ann 65L

Nan & Child Rachel 55L
This could be the same “Nan” cited in William Roane, Jr’s 1782 slave deed to son Spencer Roane in 1782

Young Philio, a girl 30L

Phil a boy 18L

Lucey a girl 30L
There are too many Lucy’s to confidently assess which child she was deeded to.

Pegg a girl 22L

January a girl 30L

Rose a Woman 50L
This could be the same “Rose” cited in William Roane, Jr’s 1782 slave deed to son Spencer Roane in 1782

Amey & Child 10L
There are too many Amy’s to confidently assess which child Amey and her child were deeded to.

Liddey a small girl 15L

Charles a boy 35L

Old Philio 8L 10s

At the Stafford Quarter:

Mulatto Ham (to be bound)

Negroes:

Norfolk a man 50L

Liddie a young woman 50L
This may be the same Lydia that Col Thomas Roane, Sr deeded to daughter Sarah Roane Campbell

Hannah & Child Harry 55L
This may be the same Hannah that Col Thomas Roane, Sr deeded to his daughter Patsy Hipkins Roane Ritchie

Sarah a girl 35L
Two Sarahs are mentioned in Col Thomas Roane, Sr’s will. It is likely this Sarah is one of those two.

Bulley a Boy 27L 10s

Betty a Girl 22L 10s

Norfolk a boy 12L 10s

Tom a boy 40L
This may be the same Tom McGeorge mentioned in Col Thomas Roane, Sr’s will

Jack a boy 27L 10s

Chance a boy 12L 10s

Dinah a girl 25

London a Man 15

Princess a Lame Woman 0

At Georges Quarter:

George a man 40L
This may be the same George mentioned in Col Thomas Roane. Sr’s will

Roy a man 30L

Surrey a Woman 40L

Hannah a woman 25L

Phebe (latters child) 10L

At Lancaster Quarter:

Glasgow a man 20L

Peter a man 50L

Prudence a Woman 25L

Chloe a Woman 45L
Deeded to son William Roane, Jr

At Gloucester:

Gloucester a man 50L

Orange a Woman 45L
Deeded to son William Roane, Jr

Winney a girl 45L

Frankey a girl 40L
This could be the same “Frank” cited in William Roane, Jr’s 1782 slave deed to son Spencer Roane in 1782

Alice a girl 40L
Owned by William Roane, Jr and deeded to William Jr’s son Spencer Roane in 1782

Patty a girl 22L
This could be the same “Pratt” cited in William Roane, Jr’s 1782 slave deed to son Spencer Roane in 1782

Grace a small girl 13L
Deeded to son William Roane, Jr, who deeded her to his daughter Sally Roane

Gloucester a child 15L
Owned by William Roane, Jr and deeded to William Jr’s son Spencer Roane in 1782

Total value of Estate: 5,215L 6s 10d

Note 1: Neither Kingston or Matt appears in this estate inventory list. Presumably, they were either sold or died before 1757.

Note 2: I don’t know what the word “Quarters” signifies. At present, Quarters seem to indicate the different properties and tracts of land owned by William Roane, Sr..

The slaves of Sarah Upshaw Roane

Sarah Upshaw was the widow of William Roane, Sr. Upon William’s death, she inherited his slaves.

No slaves are cited in either her will or her inventory. However, I include both below for transparency – and to save people the time and effort of trying to track them down. Presumably, the slaves she owned were divided between her children as per William Roane’s will of 1757.

I would suggest looking at the wills and estate inventories of William & Sarah’s children to trace the slaves cited in William Roane’s estate inventory. Their children were: Col Thomas Roane (died 1799 in Fairfax, VA. His will follows further below in this post), Mary “Molly” Roane (died 1800 in King & Queen County, VA. She married Andrew Archibald Ritchie, hence the name Mary “Molly” Roane Ricthie), John Roane (died Oct 1805, Uppowoc, King William County, VA), Lucy Roane (died 1801 in Richmond, Wise, VA. She married Richard Barnes, hence the name Lucy Roane Barnes), Sarah Upshaw Roane (died 1810 in Richmond, Wise, VA. She married Dr John Brockenbrough, hence the name Sarah Upshaw Roane Brockenbrough). William Roane (his estate information follows below).

Will of Sarah Roane
Essex County, Va. Will proven 15 Dec 1760 Will Book 11 Page 287

In the name of God Amen I Sarah Roane of the County of Essex being sick & weak of body but of sound & perfect mind & memory & considering the uncertainty of this transitory life do make and ordain this my last will & testament in manner & form following viz.

Imprimis I give to my daughters Sarah & Lucy each of them two gold rings.

Item. I give to my granddaughter Margaret Ritchie one stone ring of about fifteen shillings sterling price and to my niece Hannah Hipkins I give ten pounds currency.

Item. I give & bequeath all the residue of my estate to be equally divided between my three sons Thomas, William and John Roane to defray the expenses of bringing up and educating their two sisters and I do constitute and appoint them my said three sons, executors of this my last will & testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 11th day of August 1760.

Sarah Roane

Signed sealed and acknowledged to be her last will & testament in the presence of us
John Upshaw
Daniel Sullivan Junr.

At a Court held for Essex County at Tapp’a the 15th day of December 1760, this last will & testament of Sarah Roane dec’d was this day produced in Court by Thomas Roane one of the executors therein named who made oath thereto according to law and was also proved by the oaths of the witnesses thereto and admitted to record and is recorded.

Test. John Lee Jun. D.C.E.C.

Know all men by these presents that we Thomas Roane and John Upshaw Gentlemen are held and firmly bound to John Clements, William Mountague, Charles Mortimer and William Brooke Gent. Justices of the Court of Essex County now sitting in the sum of five hundred pounds to the payment whereof well and truly to be made to the said Justices and their Successors, we bind ourselves and each of us and each of our heirs, executors and administrators jointly and severally, firmly by these presents, sealed with our seals this 15th day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty and on the 34th year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George II.

The condition of this obligation is such that if the above bound Thomas Roane Executor of the last will and testament of Sarah Roane deceased do make or cause to be made a true and perfect inventory of all and singular the goods, chattels and credits of said deceased which have or shall come to the hands, possession or knowledge of the said Thomas or to the hands or possession of any other person or persons for him and the same so made do exhibit into the County Court of Essex at such time as he shall be thereunto required by the said court; and the same goods, chattels and credits and all the other goods, chattels and credits of the said deceased which at any time after shall come to the hands, possession or knowledge of the said Thomas or the hands or possession of any other person or persons for him do well and truly administer according to law and first do make a just and true account of his actings and doings therein when thereto required by the said Court and also well and truly pay and deliver all the legacies contained and specified in the said testament as far as the said goods, chattels and credits will thereunto extend and the law shall charge; then their obligation to be void and of none effect or else to remain in full force and virtue.

Thomas Roane
John Upshaw

At a Court held for Essex County at Tapp’a the 15th day of December 1760, this bond was acknowledge by the parties hereto admitted to record and was recorded.

Test John Lee Jun. D.C.E.C.

Note: I have not been able to find an inventory for Sarah Upshaw Roane

The slaves of Col Thomas Roane

There is quite a bit of information about Thomas Roane’s properties and plantations. These might indicate why certain ancestors lived where they did at the close of the Civil War.

WILL OF COL. THOMAS ROANE.

View this document on Scribd

Note: I haven’t found an estate inventory for Thomas Roane upon his death. I have compiled a list of his slaves cited in his will below.

Slaves named:

Billy “The Blacksmith” – deeded to widow Mary Ann Hipkins Roane

James – deeded to daughter Sarah Roane Campbell

Jerry Bland – deeded to daughter Sarah Roane Campbell

Winney – deeded to daughter Sarah Roane Campbell

Lydia – deeded to daughter Sarah Roane Campbell

Suckey – deeded to daughter Sarah Roane Campbell

Pitt – lent to Hugh Campbell, Sarah Roane Campbell’s husband. Hugh Campbell sold to unnamed person

Jenny – lent to Hugh Campbell, Sarah Roane Campbell’s husband. Hugh Campbell sold to unnamed person

Dixon – lent to Hugh Campbell, Sarah Roane Campbell’s husband. Died prior to Col Thomas Roane’s death.

Amey (Amy) + her 2 unnamed children – deeded to daughter Margaret Roane Garrett

Peter – deeded to Sterling Clack Ruffin, husband of Thomas’s daughter Alice Roane.

Sam – deeded to Sterling Clack Ruffin, husband of Thomas’s daughter Alice Roane.

Anthony – deeded to Sterling Clack Ruffin, husband of Thomas’s daughter Alice Roane.

Charles – deeded to Sterling Clack Ruffin, husband of Thomas’s daughter Alice Roane.

Violet – deeded to Sterling Clack Ruffin, husband of Thomas’s daughter Alice Roane.

Judy – deeded to Sterling Clack Ruffin, husband of Thomas’s daughter Alice Roane.

Sarah – deeded to Sterling Clack Ruffin, husband of Thomas’s daughter Alice Roane.

Young Sarah – deeded to Sterling Clack Ruffin, husband of Thomas’s daughter Alice Roane.

Sally Pickles – deeded to Sterling Clack Ruffin, husband of Thomas’s daughter Alice Roane.

Isaac – deeded to Richard Barnes, husband of Thomas’s daughter Rebecca Roane.

Gilbert – deeded to Richard Barnes, husband of Thomas’s daughter Rebecca Roane.

Robin – deeded to Richard Barnes, husband of Thomas’s daughter Rebecca Roane.

Amy – deeded to Richard Barnes, husband of Thomas’s daughter Rebecca Roane.

Jany – deeded to Richard Barnes, husband of Thomas’s daughter Rebecca Roane.

Judy – deeded to Richard Barnes, husband of Thomas’s daughter Rebecca Roane.

Nancy – deeded to Richard Barnes, husband of Thomas’s daughter Rebecca Roane.

Phillip (Phill)- deeded to Richard Barnes, husband of Thomas’s daughter Rebecca Roane.

Pegy – deeded to Richard Barnes, husband of Thomas’s daughter Rebecca Roane.

George – deeded to son Thomas Roane, Jr

Dick – deeded to son Thomas Roane, Jr

Billy – deeded to son Thomas Roane, Jr

Jany – deeded to son Thomas Roane, Jr

Kate – deeded to son Thomas Roane, Jr

Janet – deeded to son Thomas Roane, Jr

Easther – deeded to son Thomas Roane, Jr

Mary – deeded to son Thomas Roane, Jr

Robin – deeded to son Thomas Roane, Jr

George – deeded to son Samuel Roane

Nelson – deeded to son Samuel Roane

Tom McGeorge – deeded to son Samuel Roane

Charles – deeded to son Samuel Roane

Nancy – deeded to son Samuel Roane

Tilloh – deeded to son Samuel Roane

Lydia – deeded to son Samuel Roane

Sarah – deeded to son Samuel Roane

Charles – deeded to daughter Patsy Hipkins Roane Ritchie, wife of Archibald Ritchie

Godfrey – deeded to daughter Patsy Hipkins Roane Ritchie, wife of Archibald Ritchie

Hancock – deeded to daughter Patsy Hipkins Roane Ritchie, wife of Archibald Ritchie

Aggy – deeded to daughter Patsy Hipkins Roane Ritchie, wife of Archibald Ritchie

Hannah – deeded to daughter Patsy Hipkins Roane Ritchie, wife of Archibald Ritchie

Patience – deeded to daughter Patsy Hipkins Roane Ritchie, wife of Archibald Ritchie

Venus- deeded to daughter Patsy Hipkins Roane Ritchie, wife of Archibald Ritchie
His widow, Mary Ann Hipkins Roane – rec’d 39 unnamed slaves

Archibald Harwood – Margaret Roane Garrett’s son. Would receive share from Amy and her children’s increase upon his mother’s death + 1 boy and 1 girl of his own age

Thomas Harwood – Margaret Roane Garrett’s son. Would receive share from Amy and her children’s increase upon his mother’s death + 1 boy and 1 girl of his own age

Patsy Hipkins Roane Ritchie – 2 unnamed slaves

Lucy Roane Upshaw (wife of Edwin Upshaw) – unknown number of unnamed slaves

Catherine Roane Ruffin (wife of Archibald Ruffin) – unknown number of unnamed slaves

John Roane – unknown number of unnamed slaves

The slaves of William Roane, Jr

William Roane, Jr gifts slaves to son Spencer Roane in 1782

1782 11 08 Roane, William gifts Spencer Roane some 20 Negro slaves

Deed of Gift.

William Roane of South Farnham Parish, Essex County, gent. for natural love and affection gave to his son Spencer Roane of same place all the Negro slaves following, to wit:

Frank

Patt & her children

Nan

Gloucester (Gloster)

Jude

Cork

Ben

Alice & her children

Will

Luce

Rose

Bett

Hannah

Richard

Yorah

together with their future increase and all other emoluments to them belonging….

Witnesses:

Henry Clements

John Gardner

Ralph Mitchell

Ackn 21 April 1783 & recorded

Attest: Hancock Lee, Clerk

(page 138, Essex Co. records)

William Roane, Jr’s Will dated 1785

View this document on Scribd

Slaves named:

Richmond – Deeded to son Spencer Roane

Joe – Deeded to son Spencer Roane

Grace (the daughter of Frances) – Deeded to daughter Judy Roane

Rachel (the daughter of Chloe) – Deeded to daughter Sally Roane

Sons Thomas and Spencer Roane received unknown number of unnamed slaves.

1785 estate inventory for William Roane, Jr, dated 1785

1785 12 26 Roane, William – Estate Appraisal after death

[note: 55 named slaves, across the three different plantations owned by William Roane and included in his estate]

In Obediance to an order of the Worshipful Court of Essex County made in December 1785 We the Subscibers, being first duly sworn, have appraised as of the negroes & personal Estate of William Roane Esq. dec’d this 26th Dec. 1785, the following

———

[Note: I’ve omitted all other property items except for the names of the slaves]

Austin 50L

Hanover L20

Moses L80

Reuben L60

Bristoll 65L

James L60

Will L60

Jerry L50

Joe L50

Peter L35

Betty L80

Bob L20

Jenny L40

Lydia & Child 30L

Lewis L12

Chloe L40

Jenny L70

Beck L15

Maysy L50

Charlotte L50

Lotta L70

Billy L60

Winney L80

Phillis & Child Caesar L90

Amey L80

Frank L40

Fanny L15

Lucy L60.

At King & Queen Quarter:

negroes:

Gawin 20L

Rachel 35L

–

At Meadow Quarter:

negroes:

Will L70

Harry L50

Bob L30

Charles L30

Nell L50

Daphne L15

Grace L45

Cyrus L0

Roy L0

Orange L0

–

At the Mill:

negroes:

Richmond and Joe L50 (deeded to Spencer Roane)

Mrs. Ann Roanes negroes (Widow of William Roane dec’d):

George L80

James L80

Caty L50

Betty L45

Lucy L75

Moses L60

Jacob L55

Bristol L25

China L75

Giles L15

(Molly dead since W. Roane)

Thomas Dix

Ambrose Greenhill

Jno. Haile

At a Court held for Essex County at Tappahannock on the 21st day of February in 1791, This appraisement of the Estate of William Roane esquire deceased being returned to Court, the same was ordered to be recorded. Test, John S. Lee, Clerk

To-date, a Will for Spencer Roane has yet to surface. This, along with his probate tax inventory, is a key document to find. Indeed, there are many missing Roane family Wills among Spencer Roane’s siblings and cousins.

Genealogy Adventures

you never know where your genealogy will take you

probate records

Piecing together enslaved family relations at Monticello

Like this:

GA Live S01 E09: Pushing beyond the 1870 Census to find your enslaved ancestors

Like this:

The Moses Williams Family Tree Project: Update #1

Reconstructing a full, slavery-era family tree

Finding Moses’s Lost Children

Like this:

Genealogy challenge: Researching the 43 enslaved children of Moses Williams (Old Ninety-Six, SC)

Like this:

Genetic genealogy, DNA triangulation, and the search for my missing Futrell ancestor

A preliminary to Phase I

Phase I: The Futrell family tree

Phase IIa: Eliminating and shortlisting paternity candidates

Phase IIb: Wills and probate…and more Wills and probate

Phase IIc: Identifying Futrell DNA segements

Phase III: Working with online DNA cousin matches

Like this:

Typical Actions in Probate of a Slaveholding Estate with David E. Paterson [podcast]

Like this:

Navigating Wills & Probate Records on Ancestry.com

Like this:

My working practice for my African American genealogy research

Like this:

Tracing slave ownership for the Scots-Irish Roane family of Virginia

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Reconstructing a full, slavery-era family tree

Finding Moses’s Lost Children

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

A preliminary to Phase I

Phase I: The Futrell family tree

Phase IIa: Eliminating and shortlisting paternity candidates

Phase IIb: Wills and probate…and more Wills and probate

Phase IIc: Identifying Futrell DNA segements

Phase III: Working with online DNA cousin matches

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: