i have always wondered this and i really want to know which part of africa i came from!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>Genealogy> How can i trace my heritage if my ancestors were slaves?Question: How can i trace my heritage if my ancestors were slaves!? i have always wondered this and i really want to know which part of africa i came from!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: You can trace them up to the 1870 census!. Note their ages of themselves and their children!. Note where they were born!. Go to the 1860 slave census for the area they lived in 1870 and search for slave owners with their same last name!. Slaves are not listed by name on these census, just age and sex so deduct 10 years from the ages you noted from the 1870 census and look for owners with slaves having males and females with these ages!. You can probably narrow it down to one owner, if you are lucky!. You can then look on the 1850 slave schedule census and try again to match your people to an owner (should be the same owner as 1860)!. Once you feel you have them, trace the owner back!. This might not work all the time as slaves were bought and sold!. You can also read the Slave Narratives written in the early 1900's!. search google for the narratives for the state your relatives lived in!. If you find a story, this is a gold mine of information!. Now back to the early years!. You can contact the courthouse for the state and county the slave owner lived in and look for deeds where he is buying slaves!. It will mention the slaves name!. also look for wills, as the owners died and willed the slaves to their children!. I can't guarantee you will get back to the country of origin because a record has to exist for you to find it and slave ships would not have had a passenger list like they do today!. In the mean time, have a male relative (brother, father, uncle) take the DNA test for 32 to 64 markers!. This will tell you their real last name and match others that have taken the test!. It's possible they got further than you and know the origin of your line!. If genealogists in Africa could become involved it would be nice to have their DNA in the database as "control" results!. Meaning, if you match one of them, then you know about what area your ancestors came from!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Your heritage could have origins in many parts of the world!. Just think about it!. You have two parents!. Each of them have two parents, that leaves you with four grandparents, eight great-grand parents, 16 great-great-grand parents, 32 great-great-great-grandparents!. Each of them could have had ancestors from different parts of the world!. Most African Americans have European, American Indian, and Oriental ancestors as well as a mixture of ancestry from numerous African tribes!. You are part of the American melting pot, be proud of who you are!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Yes is is difficult!. If they were brought to America they might have intermarried into the Indians as they were bought and should as property!. You can start out on Ancestry!.com and of course your immediate family and cousins to see if anything has been done yet!. also if you want to know your geographic region a DNA test (about 150!.00) could be done and thy can tell what part of the countries your from!. I believe it is the "Y" chromosones in the male that tells the most information!. Have at it!. also Cyndi's List might have a listing of black heritage websites!.Www@QuestionHome@Com YOU CAN ONLY GO BACK AS FAR AS WHEN THEY WERE FIRST BOUGHT ------NO ONE IN AFRICA EVER HAD ANY RECORDS OF WHICH TRIBES SOLD THERE YOUNG OR THE ONES THEY RAIDED FROM OTHER TRIBES TO SELL !.-----IF IT HELP ANY YOUR CHANCES OF BEING BORN AT ALL ----HAD NOT YOUR ANCESTORS CAME OVER HERE WOULD BE LESS THAN 1 IN 100,000 !. NOT TO MAKE LIGHT OF A BAD POLICY OF SLAVERY BUT YOU ARE FAR LUCKIER TO BE A AMERICAN THAN A TRIBES PERSON-----WITH ALL THE PLAGUES , FAMINE , GENOCIDES , AND GENERAL BAD HEALTH OF THE HARD LIFE OVER THERE !.Www@QuestionHome@Com I am having a similar problem as you!. I am white but my 3rd great grandpa had 2 slaves, John and Mary!. The last name is the same as his!. They inherited the farm when he died but no African last name!. I was trying to trace them!. I will not give up tho!. Just have to dig a little deeper!. Good luck to youWww@QuestionHome@Com I'm not too sure many ancestral wesbites trace that far back!. also, slaves did not have documents so the website probably do not have any info regarding this situation!. Sorry!. Www@QuestionHome@Com they would have to have a blood sample and trace your DNA as far back as they could!. but this will only happen if your ancestors have blood samples that they can compare to yours!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I don't think you can because I don't really think slaves had computers!.!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |