My Genealogical Ancestry

My Genealogical Ancestry

I am a multicontinental American that is highly multiethnic, and I am related to many of my fellow Americans in many different ways.  I am a 4th generation born Californian on my mother's side whose ancestry is mostly European. My African American father was a 7th generation born Louisianian. 

The following is a breakdown of my ancestry by great grandparents.

My paternal grandfather's father was an African American born in Louisiana.  He had some European ancestry. His other American roots were in District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

My paternal grandfather's mother was an African American born in Louisiana. Her other American roots were in Georgia and Virginia.

My paternal grandmother's father was an African American born in Louisiana. He had some European ancestry.  His other American roots were in Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia.

My paternal grandmother's mother was an African American born in Louisiana. She had some English, Acadian (French in what now known as Nova Scotia), Polish, Swiss, and German ancestry. Her other American roots were in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

All of my paternal 3rd great grandparents were African American slaves in Louisiana with the exception of my paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather's father who was a European American son of an English American plantation owner born in North Carolinia and a 3/4 Acadian woman born in  Louisiana. 

My maternal grandfather's father was a Cape Verdean (Portuguese and Sub-Saharan African) American born in California.  His parents were immigrants when Cape Verde was still a Portuguese colony.

My maternal grandfather's mother was born in California. Her ancestry was Puerto Rican (Spanish, Sub-Saharan African, and Taino) on her father's side and Madeiran (Portuguese with Sub Saharan African) on her mother's side. Her father was born in Puerto Rico. Her mother was born in Hawaii when it was still a kingdom. Her maternal grandparents immigrated to Hawaii. 

My maternal grandmother's father was born in Oregon and was of Colonial European American that was mainly English ancestry with some German, Swiss, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, and Frisian. His American roots were in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut.

My maternal grandmother's mother was an Ashkenazi Jewish American born in Nebraska. Her father immigrated from Romania and her mother immigrated from an area in the Russian Empire that became Latvia. 

Because of the Transatlantic Slave trade, I know very little about my African ancestry. Africa has over 3,000 ethnic groups, and that includes Nigeria having over 400 ethnic groups. My African ancestry is highly likely to consist of many African ethnic groups. I have some Indigenous American segments on my paternal chromosomes and not just my maternal chromosomes and X Chromosome. I have some Danish paternal DNA relative matches. From examining my European American paternal DNA relative matches, I learned that my father was a descendant of John Turner and his wife Patience Smith. John was the son of English American slaveowner Thomas Weathersbee and an unknown enslaved African American woman. Patience was the daughter of a European American woman named Rachael who had Irish ancestry and a man that was the son of a African American man and European American woman. Her husband John Turner was the son of English American plantation/slave Thomas Weathersbee Sr. and an enslaved African American woman. John was a slave due to his mother's status. Patience purchased John's freedom from his father for 60 pounds in Halifax County, North Carolina in 1769. They were already common law-married with sons at the time. Patience's free status made it possible for The Turner family to live as free people of color in Marion County, South Carolina. Most of John and Patience's children (including three sons and three or four daughters) had European American spouses. Through one of his enslaved African American 2nd great grandparents that were all slaves in Southern Louisiana, my father descended from one of John and Patience's three sons and his European American wife. I share segments with some of John and Patience's European American descendants that consist of what 23andme shows as being predominantly Southeastern African with a little Filipino/Austronesian. A French man with a paternal grandmother born in the Southeastern African island Madagascar matches me in the location that is Filipino/Austronesian. 23andme shows him as having Southeastern African and Filipino/Austronesian ancestry. His paternal grandmother was part Malagasy.

My highly mixed, diverse ancestry is reflected in my DNA relative matches at AncestryDNA, 23andme, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, and GEDmatch.