Faded memories - African American genealogy that uncovers white ancestry - excerpt from the book 'Black Genealogy'

American Visions, August-Sept, 1994 by Charles L. Blockson

Most blacks involved in genealogical research will simply have to come to terms with the high degree of miscegenation that has occurred in America. Sooner or later, your family tree will reveal a couple of white members. If it does, you'll often find that their family records will turn up valuable clues.

Some of the success I have had in tracing my family, for example, can be directly attributed to the records I found concerning the white branch of the family. From a book on the genealogy of the white Blocksons, I learned that they came to this country from Scotland early in the 17th century and founded the town of Bloxom in Accomack County, Va. The town still exists today. One branch of the family went to Seaford, Sussex County, Del., where they became seamen, doctors and farmers.

John Blockson moved from Virginia to Delaware and in 1790 owned seven slaves and 361 acres of land. My family, which is listed among the oldest black slave families in Sussex County, descended from slaves owned by the white Blocksons. So far, after extensive research in the Delaware Hall of Records, I've been able to trace them back five generations.

As another example, there are many black Lee families in Virginia, since so many blacks took that surname after Gen. Richard Henry Lee, the Revolutionary War hero and an ancestor of Robert E. Lee. Blacks researching this name would have to do quite a bit of research covering the white Lees in order to trace their own family.

Although whites might well have avoided admitting the possibility of Negro blood in their veins, black families often reminisced about their famous white relatives. Such reminiscing was sometimes written down, giving us an excellent source for tracing our families through the white branches. Because of such records, for example, many black families still living in Pennsylvania can trace their ancestry directly back to the slaves of William Penn, the state's founder. Biographies of whites, too, can often fill in gaping holes in your research.

Ties between some black Americans and Europe, while strong, are difficult to trace. The Latin Maurus, a poetic term for someone from North Africa, occurs in European languages as Moor, More, Mor, Mohr, Maure, Moro, Morian, Morien and many other forms, and the term "blackamoor" was long used to mean Negro. Black Americans today have links to these early Moorish people. Many existing black coats of arms in Europe depict black faces and include a name that was some derivative or variation of the word Moor. In fact, many Americans, white or black, whose name is in the Moor family - such as Murray, Morris, Morel, Morelli, Moreel, Morrison, Moreau, etc. - can assume there's Moorish blood somewhere in their ancestry.

Similarly, black Americans with Irish names - or those who know that Irish names were once part of their family - may be able to trace their families back to mid-17th-century jamaica. When Admiral William Penn captured jamaica for the British in 1655, Oliver Cromwell, then the Lord Protector of England, saw the possibility of supplying people for the settlement of jamaica while at the same time ridding England of some of its "undesirable" population. Irish vagabonds, condemned persons, and poor prisoners were shipped to Jamaica during the following years. While the Irish were not the only Europeans to occupy Jamaica, records of the period indicate that they became a majority. The ensuing years brought a good deal of intermarrying, resulting in a large population of black Jamaicans with Irish names that many Jamaicans still bear.

Overall, mixed marriages often weakened black family ties, and the resulting rejection or destruction of records erected one more barrier for descendants in search of family. It is a painful subject for blacks, but one we need to face if we are to pull our family histories together. if you have unearthed any hints that lead you to suspect an unknown white relative or family branch, don't hesitate to take advantage of the probably abundant records they have left behind. Finding such white ancestors is certainly nothing to be ashamed of - it happens in some of the best families.