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Tracing Your Roots: How Did My Black Ancestor Come to Own Land?
Finding out how a great-grandfather came to own 300 acres of land in post-Civil War South Carolina. Dear Professor Gates: It is a mystery to me how and when my great-grandfather Peter Golphin obtained his wealth and holdings. He was born about 1858 in Barnwell, S.C. Somehow he obtained 300 acres of land. I have…
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Tracing Your Roots: What Did Freedom Bring for My Ancestor?
Post-Civil War records point to a common fate for many African Americans after emancipation. Dear Professor Gates: Iâm searching for any information on my third great-grandfather Hardy Dykes, who was born in 1843. I assume that he was born in or near Hawkinsville, Ga. The only record I could find on him was in the…
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Tracing Your Roots: Where Did My Ancestorâs Freed Slaves Go?
A forebear emancipates his slaves in the 1840s, but âfreedomâ was a relative term in 1840s Kentucky. Dear Professor Gates: Iâm trying to trace a family who was owned by my sixth great-grandfather the Rev. John Holland Owen. Their names were Christopher and Winney Owens and Winneyâs childrenâFanny, Edwin, Elijah, Andrew Jackson, Charles, America, Mary…
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Tracing Your Roots: Have I Found My Ancestorâs Plantation?
She found a photo of her great-grandmother in the records of a historic plantation house in Georgia, but little information about her life under slavery. Dear Professor Gates: I have located my great-grandmother Cora Lundy in the 1880 census. I would like to learn about her life before 1880 but have so few clues. She…
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Tracing Your Roots: Who Were My Grandparents?
Census records reveal clues to an African-American lineage stretching back in time to the years before slavery ended. Dear Professor Gates: My mother, Maggie Nell Lyons, is an only child. Her mother, Magnolia Battle, died when my mother was 5 years old. Magnolia Battle married Nelson Lyons, my grandfather. They lived, we think, in Gordon,…
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Tracing Your Roots: Who Was My Black Colonial Ancestor?
A white woman discovers that she has African ancestry and wants help identifying her black New England forebear. Dear Professor Gates: I took a DNA test through 23andMe and it confirmed what I already knew: that I have black ancestry through my motherâs side, approximately 5.2 percent. There was talk during my childhood that my…
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Tracing Your Roots: Why Did My DNA-Test Results Change?
A few reasons that the percentages in your ethnic-ancestry breakdown may change over time. Dear Professor Gates: I did DNA testing through the site African DNA. Initially it showed I had 82 percent West African ancestry, 10 percent European and the rest âMiddle Eastern.â However, I recently received updated results from Family Tree DNA (which…
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Tracing Your Roots: Untangle My Redbone Heritage
A mystery illustrates how an 18th-century family became caught up in Virginiaâs laws around race, sex and freedom. Dear Professor Gates: My book about the triracial âredbonesâ of the 18th century, My Bones Are Red, came out in 2005 from Mercer University Press. Iâd like to pick up where I left off in my research…
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How Shame, Secrets and Sugar Get Between Us and Better Health
The late-night spoons of ready-made frosting were the best. The preteen thrill of sneaking downstairs to the fridge and plunging a spoon into an open can of sweet and creamy vanilla sludge made the treat all the sweeter as it melted over my tongue and then slid down my throat. My parents caught onto my…
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Tracing Your Roots: Who Were My Granddadâs Enslaved Parents?
A reader encounters the proverbial brick wall that African Americans encounter in antebellum genealogy research. Dear Professor Gates: Please help me find the parents of my grandfather Frank Lockhart (born July 28, 1878; died March 15, 1968). At some point he married Amanda Standback, but I have not been able to confirm any records for…
