one black daughter in a white family

Question

On 18 Apr 2023 Shirlea Smith wrote on McCullough-4291:

Caroline is the daughter of a William McCullough, but is it possible that two Williams are conflated here? Caroline is a free black person but the rest of the family here seem to be all white. Caroline's strong connection to Virginia and her identification of both parents as being born in Virginia (1880 Census) is another anomalous aspect within this family.

Comments

i ask because she is a connection for me on this week's Featured Connections, and it looks like it might be doubtful...

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Looks like she's connected to the wrong father.

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apparently the white father to whom she is currently connected left a will.  If anyone can find it, it might clarify some things...

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This is clearly the wrong man.  The William McCullough she is attached to lived in Ohio while she was living in Virginia and West Virginia.  He was born in Ireland, her parents were born in Virginia.

Answer 1

I agree with Kathie that this is clearly the wrong William McCullough to be Caroline's father. The possible connection seems to have been made because they both had a connection to Steubenville, Ohio, but Caroline did not live there until the very end of her life (after 1880) and William might have briefly lived there in 1840. There is no indication that this William ever lived in Virginia where Caroline was born and lived most of her life - he lived in Pennsylvania before coming to Ohio. There is a Nancy McCullough in the 1840 census who is a free person of color living in Hampshire County, Virginia where Caroline lived that seems more likely to be Caroline's parent.

I'm going to go ahead and disconnect them and update the research notes on their profiles. There are other connection points for Dr. Henry Louis Gates, so everyone will still be able to find their connection to him, it might just be a longer path.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Shirlea!