“Slave Auction, U.S.
South,” Image Reference cass6, as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, sponsored by the
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library.
With
African Americans – the descendants of enslaved people of African descent here
in America – one thing is for certain for those who take an autosomal DNA test
from 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and/or FamilyTreeDNA. A lot of DNA matches will be
descendants of family members who were permanently separated from our direct
ancestors during slavery, never to see each other again. This forced migration
of nearly one million enslaved people from the Upper South to the Deep South
was coined as “The Second Middle Passage.” Many of our enslaved ancestors were sold
"down the river" from auction blocks. Many mothers were separated
from children, husbands from wives, sisters from brothers, and so on. Many were
marched hundreds of miles to their Southern destinations, on foot and in chains,
especially from 1830 to 1860. Additionally, many white slave-owning families
left the Upper South for the Deep South, taking their slaves with them. Many of
them left behind family members, never to see them again.
Such
was the case with most of my great-great grandparents. Since both of my Mississippi
grandfathers (my maternal grandfather and my father’s biological father) were much older than my grandmothers, I hit
the slavery era in the fourth generation – my great grandparents. Let’s look at
the years when all of my eight great grandparents were born: 1856, 1865, 1880,
1880, 1846, 1852, 1870, and 1867. Three of the eight were born during slavery.
One was born the year slavery ended and never worked as a slave. The remaining
half were born within 16 years after slavery’s end. Mind you now, I am only in
my early 40s, and I know many people my age or older who knew one or more of
their great grandparents quite well. To add, we all have 16 great-great
grandparents. Only 4 of my 15 once-enslaved great-great grandparents were even
born in Mississippi (one great-great grandfather
was European). The rest of the 11 were transported to Mississippi from South
Carolina (5), North Carolina (3), Alabama (1), Tennessee (1), and Virginia (1).
Hence, I have DNA matches from all over the South, like many African Americans.
A
number of my past blog posts show how I have experienced much success finding long-lost
family members who were permanently separated from my direct ancestors during
slavery, with the help of DNA technology. Check out my July 2015 post called “Repairing Broken Ties: DNA
Finds Aunt Barsilla,”
or check out my November 2014 post entitled “DNA Does It Again – Another
Long Lost Sibling Found!”
Read my recent short fictional story, “Losing a Sibling,” which was based on a lot of
facts I had revealed in my second book, “150 Years Later: Broken Ties Mended.”
So as you can see, autosomal DNA has been one of my best friends!
However,
there are some DNA matches that are driving me crazy! Why? Because we share a good
amount of DNA, and I can’t figure out exactly how we are related. Normally,
many DNA matches in the first to third cousin range are not “hair-pullers” to
find the connection. The success rate of determining the MRCA (Most Recent
Common Ancestor) is greater with those DNA matches (for non-adoptees),
especially if both sides have done some good genealogy research. But because I
am confronted with slavery in the fourth and fifth generation (great grandparents
and great-great grandparents), this particular case with Mrs. Williamson (fake name to hide identity) is giving
me a run for my money...so to speak!
Mrs.
Williamson’s daughter tested her with 23andMe. She popped up in my and my father’s
relative database over a year ago, sharing a significant 119 cM of DNA over 2 segments. 23andMe gives a prediction of “3rd
Cousins.” I got excited because I was immediately confident that I could figure
out the family connection. Within seconds, my excitement went to utter
confusion when Mrs. Williamson’s profile showed that all of her family was from
North Carolina. I sent her daughter a message to learn more. Luckily, her
daughter responded, but she expressed that she was a newbie to genealogy and
DNA and did not have much information. She also shared that her mother was from
Franklin County, North Carolina. I was also able to uncover that Mrs.
Williamson is approximately 82 years old.
Since
she was born before 1940, I checked the 1940 U.S. Census and found her! Finding
her was relatively easy because she possesses an uncommon first name, with a
relatively uncommon last name. Mrs. Williamson, her widowed mother, and her
three siblings were in the household of her mother’s brother, Hurley Batchelor.
They resided in the Cypress Creek district in Franklin County, which touches
the Franklin/Nash County line. The 1940 census also reported them residing on
“Seven Paths to Spring Hope.” The town of Spring Hope was no more than 5 miles
away, over in Nash County. This was great information!
Instantly,
I thought of my father’s paternal great-grandfather, Robert “Big Bob” Ealy of Leake County, Mississippi. He was born
around 1817 in North Carolina. His last enslavers, William “Billy” and Frances
Bass Eley, transported him to Mississippi around 1835, from Nash County, North
Carolina. Family lore claimed that “Masser Billy Eley” had used him as a
breeder. Grandpa Big Bob was Frances’ inheritance from her father Jesse Bass’
1822 will. I had already determined that Jesse Bass’ plantation was located
somewhere near Spring Hope in Nash County. So what does further DNA analysis say?
To
confirm that Mrs. Williamson was indeed related to us via Grandpa Big Bob Ealy,
I triangulated in 23andMe, using their chromosome browser to compare her to
known family members. By that time, at least five other descendants of Grandpa
Big Bob had tested with 23andMe, too. I smiled when I noticed that Mrs.
Williamson matches six of us on the same two chromosomes, 7 and 21! To add, the
two chromosome segments that she shares with me and my father are quite long,
totaling 118 cM for me and 119 cM for my father. The first shared segment is
89.3 cM, and the second one is 29.3 cM with my father (28.3 cM with me). Our four
Ealy cousins are also DNA matches on one of the two chromosomes. One is also a
great-great grandson of Grandpa Big Bob, and the other three are
great-great-great grandchildren. See diagram below that shows the matching with
five of us.
Clearly,
when Grandpa Big Bob Ealy was taken away from North Carolina, a close family
member was left behind. Was that person a child he had fathered, since he was
approximately 17 or 18 years old when they migrated to Mississippi? Was that
person a sister or brother? Who? I had deduced that Big Bob’s mother and four identified
siblings (John, Gus, Esther, and Lazarus) were taken to Texas and Mississippi. His
brother, John Bass, was taken to Gonzalez County, Texas, transported there by
Frances’ brother, Jordan Rogers Bass. Frances’ other siblings migrated to Hinds
and Washington County, Mississippi, and her sister, Penelope Bass Wilhite,
migrated to Meriwether County, Georgia with her husband, Ricks Wilhite. I had
found evidence that Lazarus was indeed taken to Hinds County, Mississippi. So
who was left back in North Carolina? I haven’t been able to positively identify
Grandpa Big Bob’s father. Was he left back in North Carolina?
I decided
to research Mrs. Williamson’s family tree back further, in hopes of finding
some clues. Researching census records, as well as marriage records and death
certificates for North Carolina on ancestry.com, I was able to trace back to
all of her 8 great grandparents. I wonder if one of them was Grandpa Big Bob’s closely
related family member. They were the following:
(1) Tom WHELESS (not found in census)
(2) Mrs. Adline Wheless (maiden name
unknown); birthdate reported as March 1830 in N.C.
(3) John YARBROUGH; age reported as 56
in 1880 (born c. 1824 in N.C.)
(4) Mrs. Milly Yarbrough (maiden name
unknown); birthdate reported as Aug. 1829 in N.C.
(5) Alfred BATCHELOR; reported as 50 in
1870 (born c. 1820 in N.C.)
(6) Evaline GAY; reported as 29 in 1870
(born c. 1841 in N.C.)
(7) Gilford LEONARD; reported as 38 in
1870 (born c. 1832 in N.C.)
(8) Nancy DAVIS; reported as 24 in 1870
(born c. 1846 in N.C.)
One
of the eight was family! Who? Maybe that family member was Mrs. Adline Wheless,
since Grandpa Big Bob Ealy named one of his daughters Adeline. He had also
named a son after his brother Gus, a daughter after his mother Annie, and his
oldest son was named John, possibly after his brother, John Bass. Hopefully,
time, other DNA matches, and more genealogy research will uncover this mystery.
If you have further information about any of these eight people, please let me
know. I hope that Mrs. Williamson’s daughter will eventually respond to my
additional questions, and it would be nice to meet her and her mother. If this
happens, we can thank DNA technology for mending broken ties!