PEDRAS NEGRAS – The Black Rocks of Pungo

One of the Wonders of Africa…  the Black Rocks at Pungo are a series of mystical rock formations standing 350 feet (107 meters) high above Angola’s African Savanna. Believed to be the location of the Kingdom of Ndongo in 1618-1619 when the kingdom was raided by the Portuguese contracted Imbangala. The survivors, stripped of their belongings and bound, are marched to the Port of Luanda and sold as slaves. Three hundred fifty (350) are sold to Don Manuel Mendez de Acuna, Captain of the San Juan Bautista. By chance, two English warships pirate the San Juan Bautista and the stolen Africans are brought to the English settlement of Virginia arriving the latter part of August, 1619.
The attached pictures shows the mapped location of Ndongo along with a current picture of the mystical Black Rocks at Pungo Andongo.

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Free Africans of Northampton County, Virginia 1662-1677

Free Africans living in Northampton County in 1660’s are listed in the Northampton County Virginia Tithables 1662-1677 as Heads of their own Household:

Bastian Cane and his wife Grace.

Emanuel Driggers

Bashaw Ferdinando and his wife Susan, and Hannah Carter.

King Tony and his wife Sarah.

John Francisco and Christian Francisco.

William Harman and his wife Jane.

Anthony Johnson and John Johnson, his son

John Kinge

Philip Mongon and his Wife.

Francis Pane

King Tony and his wife Sarah.

 

Our DNA has Memory

In the beginning, I didn’t understand where the desire came. I just knew it was there.  The desire quickly became a passion and consequently an addiction.

Nine years ago, looking for my husband’s ancestors, I came across a woman whose allure was irresistible. As a genealogist, I find many significant people with vital stories throughout history.  Why was this one so overwhelmingly important?

Her name was Margaret Cornish.  She was one of the first Africans to arrive in the English settlement of Virginia in 1619.  The desire to understand where she came from and how she found herself in an English settlement became intoxicating.  Every hour of every day filled with questions overwhelming my senses.  My husband’s 9th generation great-grandmother had captured my mind like she was captured by the marauders of her kingdom almost four-hundred years ago.  Some 20,000 + hours of research turned into a series of novels with the first book winning a national gold medal.  But, the grandest surprise was yet to come.

As my own 97-year-old grandmother’s health began to fail, and with her tireless urging, I collected her DNA.  Then in June of 2014 her spirit passed into the land of our ancestors and I said goodbye to a woman of unwavering faith.  Simultaneously, I received her DNA results and the explanation of my addiction quickly became crystal clear.  Margaret Cornish wasn’t only my husband’s ancestor, but mine as well.  With tears of joy streaming down my face I began to understand. The addiction I felt was a scream from within myself.  A memory from within my own DNA begging to be heard.  Finally, I understood my fate was deep within my own DNA.  A story of an ancestor begging to be told.

Join my journey as I take you down the path of Margaret Cornish’s life, one of FATE & FREEDOM.

1619 Genealogy – Descendants of the first “Twenty and Odd”

In August 2019,  the New York Times published the 1619 Project, establishing their views on 1619. 1619Genealogy was not consulted or involved in their production and does not support or endorse their opinions.  1619Genealogy only relies upon primary documents and recordings to recreate and tell the story of the first Africans to arrive in English America in 1619-1625.

As it was in 1619, it is today.  A political storm continues to shroud the true story.

The legal and political storm surrounding the African cargo pirated from the underbelly of the San Juan Bautista by two English corsairs in 1619 lends to King James establishing America’s first colony.

JOIN THE JOURNEY as 1619 GENEALOGY names the first “twenty and odd” Africans to arrive in the small English settlement of Virginia.

Lawnes Creek Parish Tithables 1668-1669 Surry County, Virginia.

Lawnes Creek ParishFirst African Woman to Pay her Own Tithes!

I visited Surry County, Virginia this past week to locate Lawnes Creek Parish.

Listed in the Surry County Tithables 1668-1669, Lawnes Creek Parish is Margaret Cornish. The first AFRICAN woman to pay her own tithes/taxes and own her  home. What an amazing accomplishment in 1668-1669, just one year after slavery is legalized in Virginia. This historic marker locates the Lawnes Creek Church.

 

1619 Genealogy – The Descendants of the First “Twenty and Odd”

After a recent trip to Virginia, meeting with several Professors and Community Leaders, I’ve decided to start 1619 Genealogy – the Descendants of the first “Twenty & Odd.”  A genealogy bank that will be documenting and identifying the descendants of the first Africans to arrive in the English settlement of Virginia in 1619.  Many of these Africans married into the English and Native Indian communities. Could YOU be a descendant? Please LIKE the FB page below – 1619 Genealogy – Descendants of the first “Twenty and Odd.”

Join the Journey! #Project1619, #TwentyandOdd, #1619TheMakingofAmerica, #KinfolkDetective

https://www.facebook.com/1619GenealogyBank?ref=hl

NOTE:  The 1619 Genealogy website is currently under construction.  Please be patient as this is quite the task.  As soon as website is up and running, we will update you through the facebook page listed above.  Thank you for your interest!

Two Angolans in the Depths of Somerset

Manchester Papers, page 252, London, England – PRO.  Courtesy Author – Benjamin Woolley, Savage Kingdom, The True Story of Jamestown.

Two Angolans were not specifically named in the Manchester Papers, filed in the Public Records Offices in London.  The evidence is an accumulation.  The naming of the “White Lyon (Lion) was not coincidental.  These Angolans were pirated from the San Juan Bautista in the summer of 1619.  As you follow, it will be determined, the two Angolans were Margaret Cornish and John Gowen/Graweere.

 

Manchester Papers – Rich Letters  1621

Three other Angolans, pirated from the San Juan Bautista, would also visit England via the English ship, James, from Bermuda.  They landed at the Port of Southampton where they were taken to Leez (Leighs) Priory, Robert Rich II, Earl of Warwick’s estate.   Their names were – Anthony, Mary, and John Pedro.

 

 

The Chosen Ones – A Genealogy Poem

The Genealogist

The Genealogist

The Chosen Ones
In each family we hear the call to find our ancestors.
To put flesh on their bones and make them live once again,
To tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve.
To me, genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts,
But instead, breathing life into all who have gone before.
We are the story tellers of the tribe.
We have been called as it were by our genes.
Those who have gone before cry out to us:
Tell our story.
So, we do.
In finding them, we somehow find ourselves.
How many graves have I stood before and cried?
I have lost count.
How many times have I told the ancestors?
You have a wonderful family, you would be proud.
How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me?
I cannot say.
It goes beyond just documented facts.
It goes to who I am and why I do the things I do.
It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever,
To weeds and indifference and saying I can’t let this happen.
The bones here are bones of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
It goes to doing something about it.
It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish.
How they contributed to what we are today.
It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up.
Their resoluteness to building a life for their family.
It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us as a nation.
It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us,
That we might be born who we are.
That we might remember who they were.
So we do.
With love and care we scribe each fact of their existence,
Because we are they and they are us.
It is up to that one called in the next generation,
To answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers.
That is why I do Genealogy,
And that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones.

Author: Della M. Cumming ca. 1943

Forgotten sayings of yesteryear

The meaning behind the old sayings……

wash tub baths

wash tub baths

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house always had the privilege of the nice clean water, then the sons and other men. Next the women and finally the children, with the babies last. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it….Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!”

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof….Hence the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and the guest got the top, or the “upper crust.”

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a “wake.”

Returning a family album to its rightful owners

Family of Dr. John Harland Paul

Family of Dr. John Harland Paul

Recently, I came into the possession of a very old and beautiful family album. It is in very good condition for its age. The photos seem to range from 1900 to 1910. The family names noted are Coffin, Hauk, Norman and Paul. Also, there is a letter written by Ellen Coffin of the Parker Coffin family of the Wayne County Coffin Quaker Pioneers, stating that they are of Norman-French descent. Total, there is probably 30-40 very old photographs. The following are just a few. If a notation is added, it is what someone has written on the back of the photo. Please let me know if you recognize any of these, so that the album may be returned to its rightful owner.

John Harland Paul and Kathryn Paul, Shanghai, China 1905  (siblings)

John Harland Paul and Kathryn Paul, Shanghai, China 1905 (siblings)

Harvey Hauk

Harvey Hauk

Florence Hauk, age 8 yrs. old  1903 possibly 1908

Florence Hauk, age 8 yrs. old 1903 possibly 1908