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Tracing Your Roots: Is Gunfighter Doc Holliday My Ancestor?
Legend has it that the Old West gambler learned his card skills from an uncleās black servant girl, intriguing a reader whose ancestor shared Docās name. Dear Professor Gates: Iām writing you in reference to John Henry Holliday, better known as āDoc Holliday,ā one of the gunfighters who survived the shootout at the O.K. Corral…
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Tracing Your Roots: Our Family Matriarch Was a White Indentured Servant
Untangling the origins of Virginian ancestors whose lives crossed boundaries of race, freedom and the law. Dear Professor Gates: I am a descendant of Catherine Donathan, who was a white servant to Robert Bristow of Virginia. She had a relationship with a black slave from another plantation. She had a child, William. She has been…
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Tracing Your Roots: Is Charleston, SCās Famed Jack Primas My Ancestor?
A woman notices that her ancestors shared a surname with an 18th-century free black landowner after whom a road and historically black district were named. Dear Professor Gates: I recently came across an article that discusses the history of the Jack Primas neighborhood of Charleston, S.C. According to the article, John Primus (aka Jack Primas)…
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Tracing Your Roots: Is My Spouse Kin to a Man Who Freed 81 Slaves?
Sleuthing the tale of a ābachelorā slave owner who freed those enslaved at Virginiaās Tynes Plantation in his will. Dear Professor Gates: I have been trying to research the connection between the family of my father-in-law, Timothy George Tynes (April 13, 1927-November 1983), of Cambridge, Mass., and a slave listed in an 1802 will. The…
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Tracing Your Roots: How Safe Is It to Date a Cousin?
A woman seeks to know the risks of datingāand the risk of having offspring withāa relative. Dear Professor Gates: I want to date a fourth cousin of mine. Is that wrong? Iām curious to know how related we actually are. We do not plan to have any children together, but if we did, would there…
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Tracing Your Roots: The Story of My Ancestorās Origins Keeps Changing
A great-granddad appears to have been the marrying kind, which may explain why records vary on when and where he was born. Dear Professor Gates: Iām curious about the origins of an elusive family member, my great-grandfather Schofield Love. There were rumors of Native American and Jewish ancestry, but an Ancestry.com DNA test of his…
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Tracing Your Roots: Is My Ancestorās Surname From Slavery or Marriage?
The origins of the surname of a great-great-grandmother who was born into slavery are shrouded in mystery and require creative sleuthing. Dear Professor Gates: I am trying to map out my fatherās side of the family tree. He passed away a few years ago and I never met his side of the family. Iāve been…
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Tracing Your Roots: I Am Black but Discovered I Have Jewish DNA
Test results show unexpected Ashkenazi heritage and raise the possibility that a family legend is true. Editorās note: This article was originally published Jan. 22, 2016. Dear Professor Gates: Iām African American, but about a year ago I received the results of genetic testing, which indicated that Iām 5 percent Ashkenazi Jew. My European genetic…
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Tracing Your Roots: Was My Civil War Vet Ancestor an Overseerās Son?
Family lore and death records contain conflicting information about the parentage of a forebear who served in the colored troops during the Civil War. Dear Professor Gates: Iām writing for help in tracing the parents of my third great-grandfather, William Owen Van Vaxen Goodlow. He lived in Missouri and Iowa, was married to Mary Nickelson…
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Tracing Your Roots: Help Me Separate Fact From Family Fiction!
An upcoming family reunion motivates a young woman to prepare an accurate presentation about the storied family matriarch. Dear Professor Gates: Since the late 1970s, my family has come together every two years for a reunion. For the upcoming one in 2018, I would like to present my family with information on the origins of…
