DNA test results from two of the major DNA testing companies estimate that my paternal line has at least one 18th century ancestor from West Africa. This is a trace amount of DNA that has remained consistent, so far, through all of the updates. When examined together with results from other family members, this DNA leads back to my father’s maternal grandmother, Martha Tallulah “Lula” Swindler McGuinn Brennan Bradshaw (1879-1952) and her parents, James Monroe Swindler (1853-1946) and John Benjamin “Momma Benny” Elizabeth Campbell (1864-1931).

Because this is a small amount of DNA and because it is estimated to have entered our family in the 18th century, this trace amount may have originated with ancestors of either Lula’s mother or her father. Or it may have originated through West African ancestors on both sides of Lula’s family.

In early 2022, David Anthony Taylor invited me to join a group of people who have DNA connections to his mother, Lula Mae Burns (1931-2020). Coincidentally, one of my first cousins is also a member of this group. She had previously been in contact with David, but he did not know that she and I were closely related and knew each other.

Lula Mae, David’s mother, was an African-American woman from Arkansas, who was descended from enslaved persons of color and white slave holders. DNA tests showed that Lula Mae and I shared a small amount of West African DNA, most of it originating in Nigeria. We do not know the identity of our common ancestor of West African descent nor do we know the identity of our common ancestor of European descent. What we do know is that this connection to Lula Mae is through her father, George Nelson Burns (1886-1961) and his parents, Kill Burns (1882-1961) and Minnie Germany Burns (1890-1944).

Identifying common ancestors of any ethnicity from approximately two to three hundred years ago can be extremely difficult, if not impossible. The strategy, in our situation, is to search for a paper trail back to a common geographical location in our family histories. Because Lula Mae Burns’ family tree does not show any ancestry in South Carolina, finding a common location where our families intersected will require further research. I do not currently know where my great-grandmother’s ancestors lived before they settled in South Carolina in the 1700s.

If we can find a common location, we will try to identify a possible common surname. From there - if we can get that far - we will try to identify a white slave holder or a member of their family as a potential ancestor. A potential ancestor who was enslaved and of West African descent would likely have to be identified through legal records such as slaveholder wills, probate records, and bills of sale.

Although Lula Mae’s African ancestors were enslaved, it is possible that our common ancestor of West African ancestry (identified as black or mulatto in legal and private records) was a free person of color. However, our current expectation is that we are searching for an enslaved person.

Researching ancestors who were enslaved is challenging because, in most cases, enslaved people were not recorded by name in the slave schedules of the US censuses from 1790 to 1860. Consequently, many descendants of enslaved people hit a brick wall when they attempt to find information on their ancestors before the 1870 federal census.

Because enslaved persons were legally considered property, however, they were named in the wills and probate records of their slaveholders. For this reason, slaveholder wills and probate records are two of the most important sources of information for descendants seeking to locate and identify their enslaved ancestors.