January and February have been quite a busy couple of months for me in my research and personal life. I did however make the time to watch the most recent episode of the NBC television series 'Who Do You Think You Are?'. The episode, which aired on Friday February 24th, I have to say that this was one of the best episodes of the show I've watched since it began airing. Blair Underwood's maternal family is traced to manumitted Africans in the state of Virginia in the 1790's and his paternal family is traced through dna to a man in modern day Cameroon. In case you missed this episode, you can watch online at Hulu. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Monday, February 27, 2012
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Family Names
I was initially going to start off this month of August to discuss my Lanier family line. I'm still doing research on that line and will have a posting next week with the initial results. However, while meeting with my genealogy group online we became involved in a discussion briefly about family names and how this can be a useful tool in connecting seemingly unrelated families and relatives.
I'd like to share an example from my own research to illustrate how this worked for me.
My example is the connection of my great-great-great grandmother Milly McFarland b. 1837 Mexico, m. Peter McFarland and her siblings, Thomas and Ned (Edward). First, I found her daughter Roxie Earls living with her husband and four (4) daughters Kate, Milly, Lucy and Mary in the 1880 census. Once I located, Roxie and her parents on the Mississippi 1870 census, I began to look around at the neighbors and noticed that she lived near some other blacks born in Mexico with the surname Henyard. Because their marriage was before 1866, I was unable to locate a maiden name through available online records. One of my family's tradition is to name children after a close relative. I drew upon this information to make a determination on if Millie was related to the Henyards. I located several girls named Milly who were descendants of Thomas, Ned and Milly. They are Milly Earls (granddaughter of Milly McFarland), Milly Henyard (daughter of Thomas), Milly McFarland (granddaughter of Milly McFarland). Milly McFarland named a son Thomas, presumably after her brother, Thomas Henyard. I used this method as one way to establish their family relationship.
Another technique that I used was to research my unique family names and do an online search for their origins or homonyms. This is relatively easy to do because of the abundance of Baby Name web sites on the internet. I was able to find African origins for all of the names I researched. Alfy (pronounced by family as Afi), origins in Asante feminine for "Born on Friday". Lela (pronounced Lee-Lah) Kiswahili meaning (Black/swarthy Beauty), also variation on Laila in Arabic with the same meaning. Candy (anglicized version of the name Kehinde), is the mascaline form of Yoruba for second born twin. Candy is a family name for a line of males in my maternal family, was previously spelled Kendy.
This is one of my most used techinques and has helped me quite a bit in my research.
I'd like to share an example from my own research to illustrate how this worked for me.
My example is the connection of my great-great-great grandmother Milly McFarland b. 1837 Mexico, m. Peter McFarland and her siblings, Thomas and Ned (Edward). First, I found her daughter Roxie Earls living with her husband and four (4) daughters Kate, Milly, Lucy and Mary in the 1880 census. Once I located, Roxie and her parents on the Mississippi 1870 census, I began to look around at the neighbors and noticed that she lived near some other blacks born in Mexico with the surname Henyard. Because their marriage was before 1866, I was unable to locate a maiden name through available online records. One of my family's tradition is to name children after a close relative. I drew upon this information to make a determination on if Millie was related to the Henyards. I located several girls named Milly who were descendants of Thomas, Ned and Milly. They are Milly Earls (granddaughter of Milly McFarland), Milly Henyard (daughter of Thomas), Milly McFarland (granddaughter of Milly McFarland). Milly McFarland named a son Thomas, presumably after her brother, Thomas Henyard. I used this method as one way to establish their family relationship.
Another technique that I used was to research my unique family names and do an online search for their origins or homonyms. This is relatively easy to do because of the abundance of Baby Name web sites on the internet. I was able to find African origins for all of the names I researched. Alfy (pronounced by family as Afi), origins in Asante feminine for "Born on Friday". Lela (pronounced Lee-Lah) Kiswahili meaning (Black/swarthy Beauty), also variation on Laila in Arabic with the same meaning. Candy (anglicized version of the name Kehinde), is the mascaline form of Yoruba for second born twin. Candy is a family name for a line of males in my maternal family, was previously spelled Kendy.
This is one of my most used techinques and has helped me quite a bit in my research.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
MtDNA Test Results. . .
Back in April, I sent my DNA to be tested by African Ancestry for analysis to determine my Mitochondrial DNA (MtDNA). After what seemed to be one of the longest waits of my life, the results were returned to me yesterday. The maternal ancestry of the Rounds Family originates from the Balanta people mainly of Guinea-Bissau. These results confirm the oral family history of the Rounds family's origins in Guinea.
I spent about 10 minutes trying to wrap my head around the notion of actually knowing what ethnic group I belong to. Its an amazing and indescribable feeling. These results excited me so much and I began to search out information on the internet about. What I found out was so incredible to me because it made me so proud! It also created an entirely new set of questions about the connection between how my ancestors came here and if there were others who shared the same connection between Guinea-Bissau, Virginia and Adams County, Mississippi.
This is what I found on WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanta):
The Balanta (same spelling in Guinea-Bissau Creole and Portuguese, balante in French transliteration), meaning literally "those who resist", are an ethnic group found in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Gambia. They are the largest ethnic group of Guinea-Bissau, representing more than one-quarter of the population. But despite their numbers, they have remained outside the colonial and postcolonial state because of their social organization. The Balanta can be divided into four subgroups, (three of which are Balanta Kentohe, Balanta Ganja, and Balanta Brassa) the largest of which are the Balanta Brassa.
Archaeologists believe that the people who became the Balanta migrated to present-day Guinea-Bissau in small groups between the tenth and fourteenth century C.E. During the nineteenth century they spread throughout the area that is presently Guinea-Bissau and southern Senegal in order to resist the expansion of the Kaabu kingdom. Oral tradition amongst the Balanta has it that they migrated westward from the area that is now Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia to escape drought and wars. Today, the Balanta are mostly found in the south and central regions of Guinea-Bissau.
Video introducing Balanta language:
Video of Balantas Dancing
Balanta Dance
I spent about 10 minutes trying to wrap my head around the notion of actually knowing what ethnic group I belong to. Its an amazing and indescribable feeling. These results excited me so much and I began to search out information on the internet about. What I found out was so incredible to me because it made me so proud! It also created an entirely new set of questions about the connection between how my ancestors came here and if there were others who shared the same connection between Guinea-Bissau, Virginia and Adams County, Mississippi.
This is what I found on WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanta):
The Balanta (same spelling in Guinea-Bissau Creole and Portuguese, balante in French transliteration), meaning literally "those who resist", are an ethnic group found in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Gambia. They are the largest ethnic group of Guinea-Bissau, representing more than one-quarter of the population. But despite their numbers, they have remained outside the colonial and postcolonial state because of their social organization. The Balanta can be divided into four subgroups, (three of which are Balanta Kentohe, Balanta Ganja, and Balanta Brassa) the largest of which are the Balanta Brassa.
Archaeologists believe that the people who became the Balanta migrated to present-day Guinea-Bissau in small groups between the tenth and fourteenth century C.E. During the nineteenth century they spread throughout the area that is presently Guinea-Bissau and southern Senegal in order to resist the expansion of the Kaabu kingdom. Oral tradition amongst the Balanta has it that they migrated westward from the area that is now Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia to escape drought and wars. Today, the Balanta are mostly found in the south and central regions of Guinea-Bissau.
Video introducing Balanta language:
Video of Balantas Dancing
Balanta Dance
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
My MtDNA. . .
Today, I recieved my DNA testing packet from African Ancestry by mail and I'm truly excited.
For the past few years, I have been struggling with the decision to take this test. The source of my struggle was emotionally based. The test I'm taking will trace my maternal lineage from my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and through to my great great grandmother Dinah Brown-Rounds. The source of my conflict lies in the stories of my great-great grandmother's heritage. My mother's family is very racially mixed with caucasion and possibly Native American ancestry. According to family oral history, Dinah Rounds was bi-racial and has native American heritage in her lineage. I honestly don't believe that she has a Native American background because this is a common coping mechanism within the black community to pyschologically deal with the violence committed against our women by white men. Another topic for another posting. I am truly hoping that my great-great grandmother's mitochondrial DNA will reflect an African ancestor. I'm not exactly sure what ethnic group that branch of my family will originate from. This is what makes this new discovery I'm about to embark on the more exciting. The uncertainty of it all. The discovery of who my women folk are, the knowing of who my kinfolk are beyond the shores of America hopefully into the continent of Africa.
Spiritually speaking, my belief is that this discovery will lead to another level of my own spiritual development. I believe that knowing my African heritage of both my parents families will enable me to understand, connect and become more aligned with my spirituality and my purpose in this life. It will also help me to understand some other spiritual things that I see in my family that I may have inherited. This is a path I have been actively journeying for the last two years.
It will be sometime before I can share the results of my tests on my blog because I will be sharing the results with my family first. Look for an update in July 2009. Until then. . .
Family Griot
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