Are descendants of enslaved people and of enslavers finding each other?

Question

A lot of Wikitreers working on the US Black Heritage project had ancestors who owned other human beings as well as ancestors who were enslaved themselves.  In making these connections, I'm curious what people do when they find the actual individuals who owned or were owned by their own ancestors.  Are you contacting each other?

Comments

Coming to the Table and Linked Descendants connect through shared relationships of slaveholder and enslaved.

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Before I started working on the project, I had already found DNA descendants from a common white ancestor. So, what I actually had done was trace that family to the current time as much as I could. I also have another ancestor that was a slave owner, but I have not found any DNA connected to him And her. Have corresponded with some of these folks. I would be very open to meeting them in person. I just haven’t yet. In one case, we shared the same last name, and I sent a DNA test to him. But then we ended up not sharing any DNA! But that’s OK. It was a good effort .

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Thank you, Gina. I have long known that some of my colonial New York ancestors owned slaves. I've worked on many profiles for the USBH project, including the 1880 census project.  I decided to look at the county in New York where my ancestors lived and, sure enough, there are many with the same surnames.

It's one thing to create profile after profile as part of a Wikitree challenge but it takes on a different meaning when it touches your own family, I guess. I just wondered what other people's reactions are in this situation.

It gives me an added incentive to keep researching these families.

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Thanks for your help on the 1880 census project, Jaki, it is very much appreciated. There are a quite a few others working on NY state both via the Census project and within the US Black Heritage Project. I jump in on occasion. My colonial ancestors are from Connecticut and Maryland.

On a separate note, cousin (10th)...it appears we both grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan! Our apartment was up around 93rd and Broadway. It was fun to see that on your bio!

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Haha! We lived on 89th street! Small world. Nice to meet you, cousin!

Answer 1

Hi Jaki, the project has a team that specifically works on slavery era profiles and projects. We monitor, categorize, create profiles for both slave holders and those they enslaved. We have a set of standards we use to make sure these profiles are done well and are recorded respectfully. The team also connects, when possible, with descendants of the enslaved. WikiTreers whose ancestors enslaved others, often reach out to our project for help in documenting that history.

I hope this answered your question.

Answer 2

The thing about making the connections with descendants of enslaved ancestors whom your family enslaved is it's tricky. Some of them are very much in favor of making connections with you and bridging the divide. Others are very much opposed and don't want anything to do with it. As you can imagine, hurt and trauma runs deep. We urge caution when approaching descendants and letting their response being your guide.

Comments

Thanks, Emma.  Yes, it's a sensitive issue.  I am nowhere near identifying living descendants. Just came across some surnames in the 1880 Census and it got me thinking.

Answer 3

We most certainly are contacting each other. In one instance, a slave descendant whose ancestor became pregnant by the itenerant teacher employed by her enslaver to teach his children contacted me, and we are 4th cousins by DNA.

In another instance, I was contacted by a slave descendant who was searching for DNA evidence of the "work relationship" of his ancestor and  one of my enslaver families. I thought that was an overly generous description of slavery, and in that case we have not yet found any DNA evidence,  just the same uncommon surname.

23andME allows testees to post pictures, and I have worked with 3 other DNA cousins to try and find the MRCA on the other slavery side. This is hard work and requires a lot of triangulation to even figure out in which family the relationship occurred.

Comments

Hello Mack, Thank you for posting here. I believe that everyone with my surname, Ceruti, who has Bahamian ancestry, also has both European and African ancestry. I need help with DNA triangulation or any other DNA analysis to help connect a cousin, Emma Ceruti Manuel (Ceruti-101) to the larger Ceruti family tree descended from Theodore Ceruti (Ceruti-35), but I don't know how to use the DNA results to narrow down how I am related to Emma.

When you have a chance, if you could look at Emma's profile and suggest a reasonable "next step" toward solving the mystery, I would most appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for any help you might be able to provide.

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Consider using y-DNA testers from known male Ceruti. Y-DNA passed only from biologic father to son over generations with minimal changes. This can give strong DNA evidence for males in a direct biologic line. Get the tester to register on WikiTree and indicated that they have y-DNA tested. Overnight the system will add links out and back on family lines. Find living potential testers of your Emma (Ceruti) Manuel (brothers, 1st male cousins....). Autosomal DNA tests (23andme, ancestry, myheritage, etc) recombine DNA from both biologic parents every birth event - and so after about 5 generations may leave very few if any DNA relationship clues. What clues are left can be mapped using chromosome mapping tools to see if distant matches match on the same location - providing another piece of evidence. The place to do y-DNA testing is FTDNA, which has periodic sales. (One going on now).   See: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:How_to_Get_Started_with_DNA

https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Ceruti-35/890

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The FTDNA sale appears to be just for the Family Finder or autosomal kit.  They usually have Y-DNA sales around Father's Day.

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Hello Ann, You are spot on about the Y-DNA. We are halfway there. I have found one male Ceruti who was tested, but I'm having trouble finding another male Ceruti willing to take the test for corroboration. Thank you for the link.

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Recruiting testers is the challenge. If there are active female genealogist Cerutis - connect with them to see if they can help you make connections to potential testers. I have my DNA tests at all the places, my husband's as well - to make the pool bigger to find connections. I can also recommend attending RootsTech next years (virtually was free). They have an opt in ' Find relatives at RootsTech'. That gave me a great list of potential interested people to contact. Yes, my tree is on Family Search, as is my husbands. Good luck! - Ann

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Thank you, Ann, for your advice.

Answer 4

Hello Jaki,

Thank you for asking. The answer is yes. We are making contact with each other and they are us.

For example, I am descended from both slaves and slave owners. What I don't know and cannot prove is whether or not my known ancestor(s) "owned" at least one of the slaves from whom I am descended.

The slave ancestors on my father's side came to the Bahamas, either directly from Africa or indirectly to North America and/or the Caribbean prior to going to the Bahamas. I am not, to my knowledge, descended from slaves in the United States. However, I could be descended from slave owners in the United States. It's a matter of documenting whether or not my ancestor(s) who practiced farming did so with the help of slaves.

I'm not sure that this answers your question, but this is what I know.

Comments

Thank you, Marion.  It's a complicated history for sure.  Good luck in your search.  :-)

Answer 5

I have been researching property in SC (along the SC side of the Savannah River very near Savannah and Levy, SC) that my family now owns which has a large burial ground of enslaved people on it. While my family didn't own this particular piece of property before 1865, they owned plantations nearby and this burial ground likely served as a burial ground for other plantations around it. Through friends of friends who are descendants of enslaved people from this area, I have begun to meet descendants - and in some cases have found people through ancestry.com through their family trees. (I have a list of people enslaved at Fife from 1850 and have been working from that list "forward" to find descendants). A few weeks ago I met one of the families and we visited the burial ground together. I have alot more work to do on the wiki page and I hope descendants will find me through that page, eventually. But most of the connections we are making have been through family networks rather than online. So far. Here's the Fife Plantation page. I have created profiles for many people but have not done the research on all of them yet.  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Fife_Plantation%2C_Beaufort_County%2C_South_Carolina

Comments

That's amazing!  What a gift to your community.

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Amazing work on that plantation, Eleanor! Thank you!

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Nice work on the Fife plantation and the "bonus" graveyard. It is truly a challenge to find initial, post emancipation appearances of the formerly enslaved in 1870 and later census years, especially when some of them may have died before 1870.

In other cases, we also occasionally encounter the formerly enslaved who were given their freedom through manumission and wills, which we have documented did happen before the Civil War even happened for some. Some of these free people of color can show up in 1850 and 1860, if I am not mistaken.

Congratulations on your concerted effort.

Essentially, under the USBH Project efforts, connections between formerly enslaved and their former slaveholders, but also by documenting the formerly enslaved as well as we can, their descendants have a greater chance of locating their direct ancestors. Adding DNA, when clues emerge for any kind of connection is also sometimes fruitful.

Thanks again for your work. Having the plantation categorized as you have done also is a great tool. It is difficult, but lays the groundwork towards the ultimate goal of helping descendants find their ancestors.