WikiTree 15 Nations Global Tour: CAMEROON (Stop #9)

Question

CAMEROON

After a fascinating excursion to Panama, we are now heading back across the Atlantic Ocean to Western Africa and the nation of Cameroon. Cameroon, then called Kameroon, was a German colony until the defeat of Germany at the end of World War I. It was then split into two colonies, French Cameroun and British Cameroon. The country was united as the Republic of Cameroon in the early 1970s. 

Since that time, Cameroon has had only two presidents. The second and current president, Paul Biya, has been in office since 1982, and at age 90, is the oldest current head of state in the world. We will be meeting both of Cameroon's presidents during our visit, as well as a variety of other Cameroonian notables, including a couple of early tribal leaders, a few popular musicians, two Olympic gold-medal winners, an early film star, an astronaut, a current American television actress, and an NBA Star.

If you haven't participated previously in our global project, it's not too late to join. We need people of all skill levels, so please don't be intimidated by the topic. You need know nothing about Cameroon to participate. This project is a learning experience for all of us. If you're not keen on research, we also need bio-writers, sourcerers, formatters, proofreaders, photo-finders, etc. 

To learn more about Cameroon and the 15 notables we will be meeting there, head on over to the 15 Nations Cameroon page by clicking the link here, or by stopping first at the 15 Nations Global Tour page and clicking the Cameroon link in the table. Determine what how you'd like to contribute and then jump right in. Just be sure to periodically check back in here to update us on your progress.

Answer 1

I got my hands on a copy of Middlemen of the Cameroons Rivers: The Duala and their Hinterland, by Ralph Austen & Jonathan Derrick, which provides a fantastic overview of the oral histories of the Duala people & their ruling lineages. I'm working on adding all the connections listed in that book, but in the meantime it took very little effort to connect Duala Manga Bell through his wife, whose father was an English merchant who lived in the so-called "Dualla House" in Bristol, England.

Comments

Another fantastic job. It is interesting to me how many 18th and 19th century leaders, in nearly every nation we've visited, were married to English, American, or other Western European women. Looks like Cameroon was no exception.

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Thomas - just ordered a copy so can help out when it arrives! Chris

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What do you think is the best way to enter profiles of individuals from an oral history of traditional lineage, with few if any dates?

How about assuming generations are 30 years, as this seems to be the average across all 30m WT profiles, according to Aleš, and then modifying for exceptional events (like wars, died early, etc) and to fit in with any known dates?

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As Western genealogists, we are taught not to believe everything our grandmothers told us. In many other cultures, however, if your grandmother said it was true, then it was true.

One way we've dealt with undocumented Oral Tradition is though the use of Free Space pages. In Kenya, we met author Grace Ogot. We were able to identify many of her relatives, but could "proove" very few. Thus, we added a link on her profile to a Free Space page where we outlined all the unverified relationships we found. This got the information onto WikiTree without misleading members into believing that it is proven fact.

We used a similar strategy for many of the Malaysian chieftains we came across. Some had published genealogies dating back 1000 years. These were oral traditions accepted by many scholars as fact. But since we couldn't "proove" them, we again relegated them to a free space page.

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I think it usually has to be taken on a case-by-case basis, especially since the veracity of such histories can vary (though scholars seem to agree that the Duala lineages as far as I've listed on WT seem to be probable, as they line roughly up with the records of European merchants), but of course oral history is in many (if not most) parts of the world just as, if not more valuable than the limited written records.

In the case of the Duala, the traditional genealogy does loosely conform to the records kept by European merchants- so while there are several leaders not mentioned in documents, we have documentation of King Doo in the latter 18th Century, & a mention of a local leader named Monneba in 1630, who seems to be equivalent with Mulobe, his great-great-grandfather. Given approximate birth dates I estimated an average generation of around 28 years, & then rounded to the nearest 5th year, which is my usual approach when working on this sort of genealogy. Somewhere around 25-30 is usually a good estimate for generation length, but that varies greatly by cultural traditions, so looking at the context & basing it off of the averages for the generations that we do have dates for, is always the best route to my mind. & yes, of course, we want to adjust to match or account for any new info & dates that come to light.

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I always try to make sure I highlight that the source(s) I'm using are derived from oral tradition, but when the genealogy can be a useful source to connect to other notable lineages (as is true of the Duala), I find that making the profiles is valuable, & probably better than leaving the tree blank & relegating all the information to a free space page. In the long run, if a Cameroonian genealogist finds a way to disprove any of the traditional lineages, they can always be detached & marked as such, but as it goes, when an oral history seems to be completely within the bounds of historical plausibility, it's not a bad thing to take things at the people's word

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Thomas,

I agree with you - if the oral tradition seems reliable and consistent, I would prefer full WT profiles for the named ancestors. We have the {{Estimated Date|Birth}} and {{Estimated Date|Death}} stickers and we can quote the sources as oral.

I thought about having another sticker for a lineage and its sequence of estimates in case the accumulated date errors may need highlighting, but I think the existing stickers suffice.

I think the free space approach should be for very tentative lineages or ones that are clearly mythical.

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I don't disagree with you Thomas.

One thing I did neglect to note regarding the cases where we have opted to rely on Free Space Pages is that typically we were also significantly lacking in dates, making the creation of profiles particularly difficult. I have no problem estimating a birth date for a father, spouse, or siblings. But when we start trying to guess a birthdate for a first wife's second-cousin's stepfather, we're just asking for trouble. That's where Free Space Pages really do come in handy.

The important thing is that whatever method you choose, as Thomas states, be clear and upfront about your source. If it's oral tradition, where did you find it and how can others re-find it? This will allow your fellow researchers the information they require to determine for themselves how much credibility they want to give it.

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Just to give an example of oral history: many years ago when I lived in Cameroon, I occasionally visited Lake Ejagham, about half way between Mamfé and the Nigerian border. It seemed a delightful place - clear cool water, very deep, in a volcanic caldera, great for swimming and picnics. No bilharzia, crocodiles or hippos. There were no villages nearby and locals would never go there as it was "an evil place" and a "monster" lived in the lake.

As the deadly violent out-gassing 'eruption'  at Lake Nyos  showed, we now call the 'monster' super-saturated dissolved volcanic carbon dioxide. And subsequent science suggests previous 'eruptions' at these lakes may have been more that 500 years ago, so oral histories, however seemingly far-fetched, can maintain a useful truth.

Answer 2

Hi David,

Glad to see Cameroun on the itinerary, though news coming from there is often upsetting. I’ll be adding a profile of John Fru Ndi who recently died, but suspect I may have to use mainly Wikipedia and BBC as sources. And CD sleeve notes for Manu Dibango!

I have a few obscure books  on the various Cameroons that may be useful for some sources - how about a bibliography somewhere?

15 Nations is a great idea to get off the beaten track.

Chris

Comments

The news coming out of many of our selected nations is often unfortunate. I will be the first to admit that not all of our chosen notables have been the most savory of characters. However, those who have been participating throughout this venture have also been privy to some amazingly inspiring stories. It seems no matter what nation you are in, you will find people who love their culture and are proud of their heritage, regardless of the political events that so often overshadow them. I'm expecting to discover the same amongst the people of Cameroon.

I look forward to seeing what you can add to our Cameroonian tour. We are happy to have you work on any of our 15 Notables, but you are also welcome to add additional Cameroonian profiles from the resources you have access to.

Also, feel free to post those resources here and our team can use all the leads we can get.

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Hi David, 

Here are some of my (quasi-scholarly) books on Cameroon. Happy to give references from bibliographies if needed.

"Traditional Bamenda: The Pre-colonial History and Ethnography of the Bamenda Grassfields, Vol 1". E M Chilver and P M Karberry. 1967, 134pp. No names of actual people, but has an  undated genealogy of a tribes ancestors. Bibliography of original documents, many in German.

"Cameroons Village: An Ethnography of the Bafut". Robert and Pat Ritzenthaler. 1962, 136pp. Milwaukee Public Museum. Short Bibliography of English documents. Photo and detail of then current Fon of Bafut.

"The Prime Minister’s Lodge at Buea". Margaret Field. 2nd Ed, 1969, 23pp. Details of colonial officers, German and English, and three Cameroonian Prime Ministers of West Cameroon (Dr J N Foncha, A N Jua, S T Muna)

And some local people (carpenters, tailor, steward)

"Zintgraff's Explorations in Bamenda: Adamawa and the Benue Lands 1889-1892". E M Chilver. 1966, 34pp. Poor photos of Zintgraff and several named Cameroonian chiefs.

"Eye-Witnesses to the Annexation of Cameroon 1883-1887". S G Ardener. 1968, 86pp. A page of English and German references. Lots of detail, poor photos and correspondence with key Cameroonians, including returned enslaved people . 

"Kamerun! Une Guerre Cachée aux Origines de la Françafrique 1948-1971". Thomas Deltombe, Manuel Domergue, Jacob Tatiana. 2011, 741pp. Comprehensive end notes and index of names. Several photos of key players.

I’ll probably be using these last two as  initial primary sources.

Chris 

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Thanks Chris. This is great!

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What is the scope of 'Cameroon Notable' - is it just someone with Cameroonian nationality (though historically that is a movable feast)? Or are non- Cameroonians important to Cameroons' history in scope?

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This is an excellent question. When selecting our 15 Notables, I always select individuals who were born in the nation we are visiting. However, the primary goal of this project is to increase the overall footprint of each of these nations on WikiTree. Thus, if you have additional profiles that you'd like to add I think that's terrific. Every Cameroonian we connect (for example) increases the odds that other Cameroonian families will eventually be able to connect themselves to the Global Tree.

That said, any profiles that are added to WikiTree, even if outside the scope of this project, still help to improve WikiTree as a whole. So please don't let our project's focus discourage you from adding any profiles you choose.

Answer 3

Andy Allo, actress and musician, is now connected.  Her father was Cameroonian and her mother was American. 

Comments

Congrats Paul. I previously mentioned this on Discord, but it's so mindboggling to me that I'll repeat it here: Andy Allo's Cameroonian father actually attended my Alma Mater in California (Humboldt State University) and later settled in my current hometown in Texas. It's particularly intriguing to me since I selected her for this tour despite having no idea who she is (sorry Andy). It really is a very small world we live in.

Answer 4

I found a profile for Ahmadou Ahidjo and linked to it from the Unconnected World Leaders page, but I couldn't find a single profile for any former prime ministers, premiers of British Cameroon, or Prime Ministers of French Cameroon. I did find profiles for two former colonial administrators, but they were both already connected, so not of interest to the Connectors Project. In fact, most of the colonial administrators don't even have Wikipedia entries. (At least, not the English version of Wikipedia. The German version might do better there.)

Aleš hasn't worked up an unconnected report for Cameroon, but searching on WikiTree+ mostly turned up profiles which were either unlinked or not open. The largest unconnected branch only has 50 people in it.

Sorry I couldn't do more.

Comments

Greg,

Thank you for highlighting the various politicians that could have WT profiles.

I have just added a few categories for principal cities so that [[Cameroon Notables]], and [[Cameroon]] do not become over-populated. Later, a more formal category structure could be adopted.

As religion is an important aspect of Cameroonian society, the leaders of the various churches are well represented on Wikipedia. Again, those with profiles are not yet connected.

Chris

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Greg,

I think [[Manga_Bell-2|Andrea Tüke Ekedi Manga Bell (1921-2003)]] would be a good start for Connectors to tackle - she married a French man and had three children in France. She would connect the whole of the Duala "kings" branch to the main tree. Perhaps a French specialist Connector needed.

Chris

I was out of date: just realised that the Duala Manga Bells are already connected!

Answer 5

On the Ancestry site it has incoming immigration records. For example if you type Cameroon and a date it lists passenger ships into Southampton UK from Tiki, Cameroon as well as from Duala, Cameroon.  Most seem British citizens though, no likely not many native Cameroonians though.  Many are listed on ship logs as residents of Nigeria or Cameroon or other African countries.

Comments

Great suggestion. I have just tried my FindMyPast subscription:

For all sources:

Kamerun 244 results unfortunately seemingly all Kamerunga in Australia.

Cameroun 30 results

Cameroon 8121 results

So plenty to investigate.

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Just identified Alexandre Duala Manga Bell in the New York shipping lists - he was a deputy in the French Parliament representing the Cameroun colony. He is on his way to the UN, almost certainly to advocate independence for Cameroun!

Answer 6

David,

We have made some progress with some new profiles of notable Cameroonians, with some connected to the main tree.

Can anyone advise on the correct, non-European,  naming patterns, especially the Douala Manga Bell line?

Obviously there is some divergence between Cameroonian, English, French and German sources.

Answer 7

NOTICE

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Monday's Cameroon Wrap-up presentation of YouTube has been delayed until Tuesday, 11 July 2023, at 8pm Eastern Time (midnight GMT and 1am Cameroon Time). This week my co-host will be the amazing Betsy Ko, so you won't want to miss this.   

Click here for the YouTube session

Comments

Thank you - I’ll try to sit in.

And thank you for taking the Tour to Cameroon! Very useful progress made - new profiles, sources and resources, enough location categories in place and very few Suggestions outstanding (mainly decayed links on older profiles) and lots of fascinating history!