Folk art of my Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors

Detail from Twenty-Four Original Barn Stars, Surveys of Berks, Lehigh, Schuylkill, and Montgomery Counties. Photo: of Patrick J. Donmoyer.

One of my favorite things about learning about my ancestors is discovering ones with whom I share similar traits. For example, my 10th great-grandfather, Dirck Goris Storm, was a skilled writer who penned a history of the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Last year, I discovered a creative streak on another branch of my family tree. 

It started with a little zine from Leodrune Press that mentioned Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, particularly barn stars (often called “hex signs” by outsiders). I knew that a number of my ancestors immigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania; although some of them were Mennonites who probably wouldn’t have engaged in barn decoration, not all of them were. So, I thought it would be interesting to see if there were any barn star motifs particular to my ancestors or the places they lived. 

I quickly learned that barn-star styles are determined much more by the artist than by the family that hires someone to paint their barns. There’s a popular misconception that these stars were painted on barns to keep witches away (hence “hex signs”) and protect the livestock inside. Instead, they’re more likely inspired by celestial themes that were common among the Pennsylvania Dutch, both before and after they came to the United States. Other patterns of shapes, such as flowers and hearts, are also common. 

(That being said, farmers did hire folk magicians — practitioners of Brauche/Braucherei or “Powwow” — to bless and protect their barns and livestock, and to perform healing spells for sick cattle and other animals. Petitions written on small slips of paper were occasionally found tucked into barn walls and other places, reflecting this practice.)

John Bieber. Chest over Drawers, 1789. 01.13.18.

I didn’t find any barn stars specifically associated with my ancestors, but did find something else: An intricately carved and detailed dower chest made by one of my ancestors’ brothers and nephews. 

My 6th great-grandfather, Conrad Bieber, was born in 1725, probably in Germany. He immigrated to Pennsylvania sometime before 1743. Conrad’s father, Johannes, was also born in Germany and arrived in Pennsylvania in 1739. Conrad had a brother, Jacob, born in 1731 before the family immigrated. 

While Conrad moved to the Shenandoah Valley in the 1750s to join a Mennonite community there, along with his wife, Maria Magdalena Kneisley, Jacob remained in Pennsylvania, specifically in the Oley Hills area of Berks County, and began a woodworking business with his son, John. I knew I had ancestors from the Oley Hills area, and when I searched for the location and the name Bieber, these beautiful wooden chests popped up. 

An article in Reading Eagle about one of the chests reads, “Thinking that John or Jacob Bieber made a mistake with his compass drawing of a perpendicular hex sign, we noticed that this unusual designed chest had six edelweiss flowers sprouting from three white flat hearts on each corner of the dower chest with the elaborate tulip shaped escutcheon design in the middle. They were not barn stars, but an edelweiss flower theme which spread their flower like petals standing upright in each cheek of the flat hearts! A native Rhineland symbol of love used by John Bieber in the 1780s on his dower chests.”

Jacob Bieber, Johann Bieber. Chest over Drawers, 1776. 01.24.22.

A very similar chest is in the Barnes Foundation Collection in Philadelphia. Another similar one, made for Magdalena Leabelsperger, is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (I have a 6th great-grandmother named Magdalena Lionsberger, but her birth and death dates are different from the ones associated with this chest). The Barnes collection also has this Bieber chest, which has some different motifs but is clearly from the same makers. 

Although I’ve never been a woodworker, seeing this level of artistry and skill makes my heart glad. It’s an honor — and also reassuring — to know I come from people who enjoyed making beautiful things with their hands. 

Discovering my "archaic DNA" matches

I recently discovered that GEDmatch allows you to match your DNA against samples from different “archaic” DNA finds, such as Ötzi or the Kennewick man. I thought it would be fun to try it and see what came up.

Before I talk about my results, let me first explain something about how DNA is measured. Bear with me. 

There’s a unit of measure, the centimorgan*, that you may have heard if you’ve had your DNA analyzed by 23andMe, Ancestry or another service. According to Wikipedia, “One centimorgan corresponds to about 1 million base pairs in humans on average. The relationship is only rough, as the physical chromosomal distance corresponding to one centimorgan varies from place to place in the genome, and also varies between men and women since recombination during gamete formation in females is significantly more frequent than in males. Kong et al. calculated that the female genome is 4460 cM long, while the male genome is only 2590 cM long.” 

I know that’s dense, but it’s helpful to understand, because services like 23andMe and GEDmatch figure out who you’re related to based on how much your DNA overlaps with others, and how long your matching segments are. For example, I share 50% of my DNA with my father, across 23 segments (the 23 chromosomes I inherited from him). In total, our shared segments are 3720cM long. By comparison, I share 10% of my DNA with one of my paternal cousins. She and I share 24 segments of DNA, but those shared segments total just 760cM. 

As relations grow more distant, the number of shared segments – and, more significantly, the length of those segments – goes way down. This can be distance across the population (say, how closely related I might  be to Kevin Bacon), or across time (how closely related I am to my 6th great-grandfather, Johannes Harbard Winegardner, who was born in Germany in 1718, immigrated to thee U.S. in 1752 and died in Virginia in 1779). 

Any match below about 10 cM is dubious (Ancestry uses 8cM), less so if you can trace your and your match’s family tree back to a common ancestor. So the fact that GEDmatch begins matching your DNA against archaic samples at a threshold of .5cM should raise some eyebrows. But these matches allegedly don’t indicate direct lineage – a match with Ötzi doesn’t mean he’s your direct ancestor. Instead, it may just be chance, or it may indicate common migration patterns, meaning your ancestors lived in the same place, at roughly the same time, as these people whose remains we’ve sampled millennia later. 

When I looked at my “Archaic DNA” matches at .5 cM, I had lots and lots of matches. Knowing they were dubious, I slowly increased the threshold until I still had some matches with several matching segments, and picked out several of those, the ones with the most overlaps, to research further. Here’s what I found, from oldest to most recent. 

1. Ust-Ishim, Siberia, 45,000 years ago

This DNA comes from a femur found in western Siberia, and is the oldest genome for homo sapiens on record. It belonged to a male hunter-gatherer who likely descended from a group who left Africa more than 50,000 years ago to populate other regions, but later went extinct. About 2 percent of his genome came from Neanderthals. You can see an image of the femur here.

Bichon man’s skull. Picture by Y. André / Laténium. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

2. Bichon, Switzerland, 13,700 years ago

This DNA comes from the skull of a man found in the Grotte du Bichon, a cave in the Jura Mountains on the French-Swiss border. I love all the detail on this one. His bones were found “intermingled with the bones of a female brown bear, nine flint arrowheads and traces of charcoal.” Evidence suggests that the bear was wounded by arrows and retreated into the cave. The man followed, and made a fire to fumigate the bear from the cave, but was killed by the dying animal. 

He belonged to the Western European hunter-gatherer lineage, based on comparisons to other fossils from the European mesolithic period. He was about 5-foot-five, 130 pounds, muscular, probably right handed, and had a mostly meat-based diet. 

3. Kotias, Georgia, 9,700 years ago

This DNA comes from a man who was buried in Kotias Klde cave in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia. He was one of a previously unknown group of hunter-gatherers in the Caucasus, and their DNA survives in many of today’s Europeans. He shares some DNA with the later Yamnaya culture across Europe, a semi-nomadic people known for burying their dead in pits with stelae and animal offerings, and often covered in ochre. You can see the Kotias skeleton here. 

4. Loschbour, Luxembourg, 8,000 years ago 

This man’s skeleton was found in 1835 under a rock shelter in Mullerthal, in eastern Luxembourg. He was part of European hunter-gatherer culture, and represented a transition between the dark skin of our African forebears and the light skin of many modern Europeans. His DNA reveals an “intermediate” skin tone, brown or black hair, and probably blue eyes. He was 5-foot-3, about 130 pounds, and was lactose-intolerant. He died in his mid-30s. Flint tools were found with his remains, and the cremated remains of another person, probably an adult woman, were found nearby. Her bones showed signs of scraping, suggesting that her bones were defleshed before burning. You can see the man’s skeleton here. 

5. Stuttgart, Germany, 7,000 years ago

This DNA belonged to a person who was part of the Linearbandkeramik (Linear Pottery Ceramic) culture that was prominent in Germany during the Neolithic period. This culture – and this individual – were farmers, growing emmer and einkorn wheat, crab apples, peas, lentils, flax, poppies and barley. They raised some animals, including cows and sheep, and lived in small villages of longhouses near waterways. 

Skull of a Neolithic woman found in Ballynahatty, Northern Ireland.

6. Ballynahatty, Northern Ireland, 5,200 years ago

This DNA comes from the remains of a Neolithic woman found in a tomb chamber in Ballynahatty, near Belfast, in Northern Ireland. Her genes are similar to modern people from Spain and Sardinia, but her ancestors likely came to Europe from the Middle East. She was lactose-intolerant and carried a genetic variant for hemochromatosis, which can cause excessive iron retention. 

7. Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland, 4,000 years ago

This DNA comes from one of two male skeletons found on Rathlin Island, just north off the coast of Northern Ireland. Unlike the woman found in Ballynahatty, these Bronze Age men could digest milk and their genetics are more aligned with modern Irish, Scottish and Welsh peoples. A third of their DNA came from ancient cultures who lived in the Pontic Steppe, a region now divided between Russia and Ukraine. Both men carried a variant for hemochromatosis, but a different one from the Ballynahatty woman. Ireland’s modern population has one of the highest frequencies of lactase persistence, as well as hemochromatosis. I’m partly Irish – 4%, according to Ancestry, and 79% British and Irish, according to 23andMe – and carry both of these variants.

If nothing else, this exploration has allowed me to learn more about some early DNA finds, as well as what they mean for the migration patterns of my ancestors before they turned into the Northwestern European residents I can trace through genealogical records. It’s fascinating, and as always, I’m tempted to visit some of these places to see what it feels like to stand on the same ground.

*Named after American biologist and geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan, born in 1866, part of a line of Southern plantation owners and enslavers on his father's side. He was a nephew of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan.

Top photo: Linearbandkeramik Culture farmhouse, photographed by Hans Splinter. (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Ancestors: Puritan minister Stephen Bachiler, from birth to Bedlam, with separation of church and state (and Hester Prynne) in between

Puritan lawyer and politician John Winthrop.

One of the fun things about tracing one’s family tree is occasionally coming across well-known people who shaped our cultural history in some way. Of course, you have to be careful; genealogy sites are full of crowdsourced information, much of it duplicated across family trees without fact-checking. But if you follow the actual documentation, occasionally you find you’re related to someone people write Wikipedia articles or even books about. 

I discovered recently that D. is distantly related to Stephen Bachiler, who was D’s 10th great-grandfather. What first caught my attention was discovering that one of D’s ancestors was buried on Halloween, 1656, in the infamous Bedlam Burial Ground in London. I have deep interests in London, cemeteries and historical treatments for mental illness, so discovering something like this makes my brain all kinds of curious. But when I looked Bachilor up online, I learned a lot more. 

Bachiler was born June 23, 1561, attended Oxford University and was one of its early graduates. In 1587 he became the vicar of Wherwell, Hampshire, England, but was kicked out in 1605 because he was too Puritanical for the changing tastes of the British monarchy. He married four times. The first was Ann Bates, in 1589; they had six children together, including Theodate Bachiler (D’s ninth great-grandmother), who married Christopher Hussey and became one of the early settlers of New Hampshire. Christian Weare became Bachiler’s second wife in 1623; she died three years later, and then he married Helena Mason in 1627. I’ll get to his fourth wife in a moment. 

In 1630, Bachiler was a member of the Company of Husbandmen, in London. They formed the Plough Company and secured a 1,600-square-mile land grant in Maine. They named it Lygonia, after Lygonia for Cecily Lygon, mother of New England Council president Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and Bachiler was going to be its leader and minister. He and Helena sailed to North America in 1632 and landed in Massachusetts, but by then the plans to establish Lygonia had already been abandoned. Puritan lawyer and leader John Winthrop later said that once the Plough Company families arrived and got a look at the land for themselves, they didn’t like it and settled elsewhere.

Bachiler bounced around New England for several years, establishing a church in Lynn (then Saugus), Massachusetts, where he managed to piss off the Puritan theocracy in Boston, apparently because of "his contempt of authority” and some sort of church “scandal.” Back in England, Bachiler and his son Stephen were sued by a local clergyman after they allegedly wrote “scandalous verse” about him and had been singing these songs around the village. But the scandal in Massachusetts was over something that eventually became a core American value: the separation of church and state. From his early days in England, Bachiler called for a “holy house without ceremonies,” a church free from the state’s control. In October of 1632, Winthrop was the governor of the state (the literal opposite of a separation between church and state) and had Bachiler arraigned for his stance on the church and state issue, forbidding him from “exercising his gifts as a pastor … until some scandles be removed.”

Hester Prynne and Pearl before the stocks, from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter.”

Bachiler later moved to Newbury, New Hampshire, with Theodate and Christopher, where they established a plantation at Winnacunnet. Bachiler named the town Hampton when the town was incorporated in 1639, and is credited as its founder. In 1644, Bachiler was invited to become minister of a new church in Exeter, Massachusetts, but that fell through when the state’s General Court postponed the establishment of a new church there. He returned to New Hampshire, working as a missionary in Strawbery Banke (now Portsmouth) and, in 1648, he married Mary Beedle. Three years later, she was indicted and sentenced for adultery with a neighbor, potentially inspiring the character of Hester Prynne in “The Scarlet Letter.”

Even so, the courts would not grant Bachiler a divorce. He returned to England in 1653, where he died on Oct. 28, 1656. He was buried three days later in what was then called the New Churchyard, a municipal cemetery in London next door to Bethlem Hospital, known for housing and (debatably) caring for the mentally ill. An estimated 20,000 people were buried in this plot of land in the 16th and 17th centuries, but city development eventually overtook the area. Headstones were removed and a few graves were relocated, but many more remain. Today this cemetery is located beneath the Liverpool Street Crossrail station, about a half-mile north of the Tower of London. 

If you enjoyed this and would like even more detail on the life of Stephen Bachiler, check out this 1961 article by Philip Mason Marston, Professor of History and Chairman of the Department at the University of New Hampshire.

The house (and tunnels) that Thomas Midgley built

My dad and uncles grew up in an unusual house in Worthington, Ohio, located at 382 West Wilson Bridge Road. It was more than large enough for my grandparents and their five boys, and provided ample room to run around and explore. Just before the property was torn down to make way for a freeway, Columbus Dispatch reporter Bill Arter and photographer Jack Hutton visited the property to capture images of the unusual series of caverns and tunnels under the property, built by inventor Thomas Midgley. Read the full article below.

Worthington house tunnels, mid-level exit.

MAN-MADE CAVERN 
By Bill Arter 
Photos by Jack Hutton
Columbus Dispatch Magazine
Sunday, October 31, 1965

THERE'S this big stone wall with a great big solid-oak door with great, huge iron hinges and iron all over it, right down at the bottom of the bluff in the woods." Thus, all in a rush and with little by way of introduction, began my young son. At least he was young then; it's been more than 20 years ago. Having caught my interest, he proceeded from allegedly observed fact to hearsay: "The kids say it leads into a cave that runs all around and has big stone rooms and everything and finally runs right up into that rich guy's basement.". "What rich guy?" I asked, more or less idly, being convinced that young Bill had been having his leg pulled. "The guy that invented Ethyl gas," he replied. “You know, the big white house with the swimming pool that sets way back from Wilson Bridge Road."I began to feel a flicker of interesting hope that this wonderful tale might be true. 

Certainly our neighbor, Tom Midgley, could afford a private cavern, if he wanted it. And, as it turned out, he had wanted it and he did have it every bit as grand as the description. Thomas Midgley came by his inventiveness naturally. His father, born in London, England, was an inventor and natural mechanic who contributed a great deal to the development and manufacturing of bicycles. He came to America at an early age and was living in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania when Thomas was born May 19, 1889. The family soon moved to Columbus where his father became superintendent of the old Columbus Bicycle Company. Young Tom grew up here; he attended Hubbard and Fifth Avenue schools and graduated from old North High School.

He went on to graduate from Cornell in 1911 with a degree in mechanical engineering. Surprisingly, his most significant inventions were in another field altogether--in chemistry. 

Tom's first job was with the National Cash Register Company in Dayton. Then he and his father took a flyer--establishing the short-lived Midgley Tire & Rubber Company in Lancaster. The enterprise was not a success but it left Tom with a life-long interest in rubber--and in chemistry. Years later (and well before the critical, wartime need) he did tremendously significant work toward developing synthetic rubber. He was working at the time for the General Motors Chemical Company. 

In 1916 he joined Charles Kettering at General Motors Research. It was to be a lifelong association and “Boss Ket" shares the glory for some of Tom's greatest developments. Tom's two most celebrated (and personally profitable) inventions were tetraethyl lead additive to make the familiar. Ethyl gasoline and freon, the first safe refrigerant. In his short career he was granted more than 100 patents, including one for extracting bromine from sea water--to break a bottleneck in the production of Ethyl gasoline. He was showered with professional honors. He became president of the American Chemical Society, received honorary doctorates from two universities and won five important medals for scientific achievement. 

The house Thomas Midgley built, and my grandparents purchased in 1945.

In 1929 he came back to Columbus. Up along Wilson Bridge Road, between High Street and the Olentangy River Road he built a stately Colonial home. In spite of its immense size be installed a complete air-conditioning system, perhaps not the first such in all the land. He intended it for a retirement home for his father but made it his own home, too.  He was there very little, dividing most of his time between Dayton, Detroit, Washington and New York. 

The house was hardly completed when the great depression began. Midgley hired as many men as he could possibly use, building roads, landscaping and otherwise furbishing his estate. But, finally, everything was complete. The distress of the jobless still worried him. Then he had his great idea.  

He had shared with most boys a feeling of fascination for caves. As he cast about for ways to make work, the old lure beckoned. The very immersity of what he envisioned was its chief advantage. It would take a lot of men a long time to dig and line with stone a system of caverns and rooms ranging inside the big bluff behind his house.  And it would take a lot of money, which Midgley had. He lost no time getting on with the project. 

Ted Severance, who now lives on nearby Worthington-Galena Road, was Midgley's estate manager. He became superintendent of what a lot of people thereabout considered the craziest project of all time. Some of them criticized Midgley for pouring good money into a "gigantic anthill." But most were gratefully aware that it was Tom's way of sharing his wealth--that the cavern was, in truth, a byproduct.

Ted recalls that the job took more than a year to complete, and that as many as 50 men at a time burrowed and dug to create two separate caverns (that were finally joined) and special rooms. The vaulted ceilings, the walls and floors were all built of limestone, blue and white, from nearby quarries. Ted and his father laid it all with meticulous care. The wrought-iron hardware – hinges, straps, bolts and candle sconces--were made by Mr. Kirker, a skilled Worthington blacksmith. At last the great undertaking was completed and things were back to normal. 

Tom Midgley, it is said, got his money's worth out of the astonishment of his guests. It was his custom to invite them to the baronial-size recreation room and then swing open a heavy door at one end. Inside was a stone-lined room with a candle guttering in a grinning skull. With guests trailing in open mouthed wonder, he'd lead the way through another great door and, via vaulted passageways and endless steps, start the tour by candlelight. Visitors from all parts of the world came away wondering if they had really seen it or only dreamed of those tombless catacombs beneath peaceful Ohio soil. 

Midgley continued his ceaseless professional activities until suddenly, in 1940, he contracted polio. Soon his legs were practically useless. Even so he continued to be the scientist. In 1942 he addressed the National Inventors' Council on behalf of the war effort from his home, via closed-circuit radio. For himself he invented a system of harness and slings so that he could move from bed to wheelchair with the strength of his arms. It was his final and fatal invention. 

Thursday morning, November 2, 1944, his wife found him strangled by his own device. Thomas Midgley died at 55. 

In 1945, the beautiful Midgley estate was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Gail Winegarner. They had fallen in love with its spacious grounds and house but, even more importantly, they saw in it the perfect place to raise their five active sons. It has proved to be everything they desired. 

More than a year ago I was passing the estate and, on sudden impulse, drove back its long, curving driveway to the house. I was received most kindly by Mr. Winegarner. I told him how much I always admired the place and said I'd like to make a painting of it. To my dismay he answered that I'd have to get on with it; that it would all be destroyed when the north Outerbelt went through. The distressing news brought to my mind the never personally confirmed story of the caves. Somewhat diffidently I asked if the famous “catacombs” really did exist. He assured me that they did and asked me if I'd  like to inspect them. I jumped at the chance. 

The pictures tell of what I saw. But they can't possibly convey the weird and wonderful sensation it was to step from the brilliantly lighted home into a gloomy cave, lighted by a glinting electric torch ahead, with inky blackness closing in behind. We traversed all of its many levels and explored all the passageways and rooms before returning to the house. Once there I asked eagerly if I might do a story about the caves for The Sunday Magazine. Mr. Winegarner smiled a rueful smile and said, “Not until the bulldozers are at our door." Then he explained why: Years ago the Winegarners became aware that the huge door to the cave at the foot of the bluff had been forced. They learned it by investigating noises from the caverns. They learned that boys (strong, well equipped boys) had been unable to resist the challenge of thię mysterious door. It developed that they had grown bolder and bolder, roistering in the caves and even trying to force their way into the house. A final blow came during a court hearing. It concerned a youthful gang that was accused of stealing. There was testimony that the gang had made the cave their headquarters and had hidden their loot in it. 

Stronger bars on the bottom door didn't stop the intrusions. It was literally destroyed. The best estimate Mr. Winegarner could get for building a duplicate was $400. And then the bidder backed out. 

Determined to stop the prowling, the Winegarners closed the lower entrance with a masonry wall. To their utter amazement and chagrin, the new wall was attacked with crowbars and sledgehaṁmers before the mortar was dry and soon pulled down. A second and far more formidable wall, at last, foiled the would-be trespassers. Not long afterward the family investigated noises down in the ravine and discovered evidence that an especially determined gang had been attempting to blast through the new wall. The presence of the alluring novelty became a real tribulation. 

When Jack Hutton and I returned to the cave to take these pictures, Mrs. Winegarner added a new chapter to the vandalism saga. Quite recently she smelled smoke in the house and traced it to the rapidly filling recreation room. She then discovered that a second level door to the cave, halfway up the bluff had been forced (the door literally torn from its hinges) and that kids had built a roaring fire in one of the passageways. She insisted that a deputation of them come up to the house and see what was happening to the smoke. 

With the second door gone, uninvited visitors have prowled the caves at all hours. Jack and I noted, just inside the forced entrance, a cache of matches and candles tucked between the stones. The Winegarners, before final destruction of the house, almost gave up trying to keep out trespassers; their concern being the danger of someone's being hurt. For that reason, primarily, they wanted no further publicity for the catacombs before roadwork began. 

I could, of course, understand their feeling. Thus I kept my peace until now. The bulldozers will have started laying bare Tom Midgley's caverns by the time this appears in print and one of the strangest examples of privately financed welfare projects will be gone for good. 

The Storms of Sleepy Hollow

Philipsburg Manor, Sleepy Hollow, New York, photographed by Daderot in 2005, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

One branch of my family tree includes many folks who were among the first settlers of the legendary town of Sleepy Hollow in New York. Even better, their family name was Storm. 

A side note before we get started: Sleepy Hollow wasn’t always called Sleepy Hollow. The little village north of Tarrytown was most often called North Tarrytown from its incorporation in the late 19th century until 1996, when it officially changed its name, staking its claim to the Washington Irving story. 

One of my earliest ancestors to settle in Sleepy Hollow (in Haudenosaunee territory) was my 10th great-grandfather, Dirck Goris (or Gorisszen) Storm. He was born in 1630 in Leiden, in the Netherlands. He married Maria van Montfoort in 1655, and they had a son, my 9th great-grandfather, Gregoris Storm, in 1656. The family, including two other children, traveled to North America in 1662; Maria gave birth to a daughter during the journey. 

Before arriving in North America, Storm had served as the Town Clerk for Oss, in the Netherlands. When they arrived by boat -- at the foot of Wall Street in Manhattan -- Storm became involved in local affairs right away. He owned property, including a tavern on Beaver Street, and later served as Town Clerk for communities in Brooklyn. In 1670 he became Secretary of the Colony. In 1691 the British sent him north to Tappan, where he became the first Secretary and Clerk of the Sessions for Orange County, New York. Later that decade, Dirck and Maria were recorded as members of the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, not long after the church was built. 

The Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, built in the 1690s and seen here in a postcard from 1907.

He was also a skilled writer, and the church members asked him to write the history of the church, dating back to 1697. His book, Het Notite Boeck der Christelyckes Kercke op de Manner of Philips Burgh, offers a rare look at early colonial life. He died in 1716, and is buried in Sleepy Hollow. 

The original village was quite small, with several large and active families that sometimes intermarried. My Storm ancestors married Van Tassels at least three times: Pieter Storm, son of Dirck, married Margaret Van Tassel in 1696, and Elizabeth Storm married Lt. Cornelius Van Tassel in 1756. A third marriage played a small role in one of the spookiest stories of all time.  

Sleepy Hollow was well established by 1820 when Washington Irving -- who had lived in nearby Tarrytown and socialized in Sleepy Hollow -- wrote his famous short story about the Headless Horseman. The character of Katrina Van Tassel was inspired by a flesh-and-blood daughter of the Van Tassel family. Although historians believe the actual girl was Eleanor Van Tassel; her aunt, Catriena, inspired the name. Eleanor’s grandparents were Jacob Van Tassel and Aeltie Alberts Storm. They married in 1724 in the First Reformed Church of Tarrytown. 

Dirck Goris Storm’s descendants remained in and around Sleepy Hollow for generations. Gregoris lived in North Tarrytown much of his life and is also buried in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery. Likewise his son, Derck Storm, who was born in 1695 and died in about 1762. His son, Hendrick, was born in 1709 and lived until 1793; his son, Gregorus, was born in 1731, baptised in North Tarrytown, and lived until 1807. Most or all have headstones in Sleepy Hollow. (So does Washington Irving.) 

The latter Gregorus Storm and his wife, Jannitje Williams, had at least three children, including my 5th great-grandmother, Mary Storms, who was born in 1760 in Haverstraw, just up the Hudson River (and on the other bank) from Sleepy Hollow. It’s unclear to me why she went by Storms instead of Storm; her brothers, Jacobus and Johannis, didn’t. Mary married Joseph Allison in 1781 and they had 11 children together. Mary died in 1829. The Allison lineage carried down to my grandmother, Frances Allison Nesbitt, whose middle name comes from that line. 

As with the other ancestors I’ve written about, I’d love to visit Sleepy Hollow, walk the streets they may have walked, visit their bones at the Sleepy Hollow cemetery, and find out just how haunted the village really is.

The People My Ancestors Enslaved

Blacks who are descended from enslaved people face unfair challenges when they try to trace their ancestry. It wasn’t until the 1870 census, in the United States, that many enslaved black Americans were counted as free people, and by their first and last names. Before that, the genealogical path becomes one of piecing together the 1860 and 1850 slave schedules and the wills or sale receipts of their enslavers, who may have listed them only by first name and age. 

Much of my maternal line came over from Western Europe and settled in the Southern part of the U.S. by the early 1700s, and almost every branch includes one or more enslavers. I’ve done my best to document these enslavers, and the people they enslaved, in the hope that it might make the road easier for their descendants, hoping to find out more about where and who they came from. 

The information in this post is everything I have been able to find, to date, on these people, but please reach out if you have questions. 

For more help researching enslaved ancestors, I highly recommend the Facebook group I’ve Traced my Enslaved Ancestors and their Owners.

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The names of the following enslaved people are listed in this document:

Adaline (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Alexander (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Alice (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Ami (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Anderson (baby; unclear if this is a first or last name) (William Gann will, 1852, Clarke County, Georgia)
Ann (Isaac Bradley will, 1848, Greenville County, South Carolina)
Betsey (Amos Banks will, 1843, Lexington County, South Carolina)
Caroline  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Cato (Thomas Kimbrough will, 1777, Caswell County, North Carolina)
Caty (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Ceeser (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Chaney Gann (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Charity (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Charlotte (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Ciciro (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Clary (Abraham Bradley will, 1823, Greenville County, South Carolina)
David (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Dick (Mary Polly Thomas will, St. Peters, Pennsylvania)
Elic  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Emeline (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Emily (Isaac Bradley will, 1848, Greenville County, South Carolina)
Emily  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Esther (George Long will, 1815, South Carolina)
Flora (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Frank (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Gabe (Thomas Kimbrough will, 1777, Caswell County, North Carolina)
George  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
George (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
George (Thomas Kimbrough will, 1777, Caswell County, North Carolina)
Hannah (Jeremiah Jackson will, 1825, Greene County, Georgia)
Harry (Jeremiah Jackson will, 1825, Greene County, Georgia)
Hegor (woman) (Mary Polly Thomas will, St. Peters, Pennsylvania)
Henry (Isaac Bradley will, 1848, Greenville County, South Carolina)
Henry (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Henry (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Isaac (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Isaac  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Jane (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Jenny (Thomas Kimbrough will, 1777, Caswell County, North Carolina)
Jesse (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Jim (Isaac Bradley will, 1848, Greenville County, South Carolina)
Jim (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Joe  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
John (William Gann will, 1852, Clarke County, Georgia)
Jude (girl) (William Kimbrough will, 1803, Greene County, Georgia)
Julia (William Gann will, 1852, Clarke County, Georgia)
Kezia (Isaac Bradley will, 1848, Greenville County, South Carolina)
Lewis  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Lewis (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Linda  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Lucy (William Gann will, 1852, Clarke County, Georgia)
Lucy (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Lydden (Thomas Kimbrough will, 1777, Caswell County, North Carolina)
Margaret (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Martha (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Mary Gann (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Micah (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Milly  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Mimi (William Kimbrough will, 1803, Greene County, Georgia)
Mira (George Long will, 1815, South Carolina)
Monica (Isaac Bradley will, 1848, Greenville County, South Carolina)
Ned (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Nancy (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Oliver  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Parker (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Patience  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Peter (Jeremiah Jackson will, 1825, Greene County, Georgia)
Peter (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Phebee (Thomas Kimbrough will, 1777, Caswell County, North Carolina)
Polly (Amos Banks will, 1843, Lexington County, South Carolina)
Rachel (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Rebeckah (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Ritty/Rithy (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Sam (George Long will, 1815, South Carolina)
Sam (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Sam (Thomas Kimbrough will, 1777, Caswell County, North Carolina)
Sandy (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Sarah (George Long will, 1815, South Carolina)
Serlla (John Gann will, 1858, Clarke County, Georgia)
Silas (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Silvey (William Kimbrough will, 1803, Greene County, Georgia)
Solomon  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
Suiey (Thomas Kimbrough will, 1777, Caswell County, North Carolina)
Susanah (Amos Banks will, 1843, Lexington County, South Carolina)
Thomas (Thomas Gillespie will, 1838, Rowan County, North Carolina)
Tom (a blacksmith): sold by Amos Banks to Michael Long on May 23, 1843, Edgefield, South Carolina
Tom (William Gann will, 1852, Clarke County, Georgia)
Vilda (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)
William (William Gann will, 1852, Clarke County, Georgia)
Willis  (Ignatius Nathan Gann will, 1854, Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia)

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Listed in this document are the following enslavers. Details are below: 

Amos Banks, 1777-1843, Lexington County, South Carolina
Charles Banks, 1747-1830, Charleston, South Carolina
Abraham Bradley, 1737-1823, Greenville County, South Carolina
Isaac Bradley, 1785-1847, Greenville County, South Carolina
Daniel Ashley Bruce, 1807-1891, Greenville County, South Carolina
John T. Frey, 1802-1854, Lexington County, South Carolina
Henry “Granser” Gann, 1816-1914, Clarke County, Georgia
Ignatius Nathan Gann, 1785-1854, Clarke County, Georgia
John Gann, Sr., 1770-1856, Clarke County, Georgia
Nathan Gann III, 1821-1900, Paulding County, Georgia
William Gann, 1794-1853, Clarke County, Georgia
Malachi Green, 1790-1879, Martin County, North Carolina
Thomas Gillespie, 1770-1838, Abbeville County, South Carolina, and Gordon County, Georgia
Daniel E. Jackson, 1796-1869, DeKalb County, Georgia
Jeremiah Jackson, 1760-1828, Greene County, Georgia
John H. Jones, 1802-1886, DeKalb County, Georgia
Thomas Kimbrough, 1690-1777, Caswell County, North Carolina
William Kimbrough, 1735-1803, Caswell County North Carolina
George Long, 1758-1815, Edgefield, North Carolina
Hugh McLin, 1749-1843, Abbeville County, North Carolina
John Henry Segars, 1733-1806, Wake County, North Carolina and Darlington County, South Carolina
John Summers, 1762-1848, Hillsboro, North Carolina and Clarke County, Georgia
Mary Polly Thomas, 1694-1771, Chester County, Pennsylvania

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My fifth great-grandfather, Amos Banks, was born May 11, 1777 in Lexington, South Carolina and died February 6, 1843 in Lexington, South Carolina.

• In the 1820 census, he is listed as enslaving one person, a man between the ages of 26 and 44 in Lexington, South Carolina.

• In the 1830 census, he is listed as enslaving 13 people: one boy between the ages of 10 and 23, three men between the ages of 24 and 35, two men between the ages of 36 and 54, one girl under 10, two girls between the ages of 10 and 23, two women between the ages of 24 and 35, and two women between the ages of 36 and 54, in Lexington, South Carolina. 

• In the 1840 census, he is listed as enslaving 11 people: two boys under age 10, two boys between the ages of 10 and 23, two men between 24 and 35, one man between 36 and 54, one girl under 10, one girl between 10 and 23, one woman between 24 and 35, and one woman between 36 and 54, in Edgefield, South Carolina.

The March, 1843, slave records say that Amos Banks sold a black man named Tom, a blacksmith, to Michael Long for $375. The sale took place in Edgefield, South Carolina, on May 23, 1843. Michael Long was likely the brother of Amos Banks’ wife, Catherine. 

In his 1843 will, Amos Banks left his wife, Catherine (maiden name Long), “one negro girl named Polly,” and his son, Thomas, “consideration of two negroes, Susanah and Betsey, which I sold to Drury Fort.”

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My sixth great-grandfather, Charles Banks, Jr. was born June 10, 1747, in Prince George, Virginia, and died January 26, 1830, in Lexington County, South Carolina. He was the father of Amos Banks. 

• In the 1800 census, he is listed as enslaving 7 people in Charleston, South Carolina. 

• In the 1810 census, he is listed as enslaving 9 people in Charleston, South Carolina.

• In the 1820 census, he is listed as enslaving 7 people in Charleston, South Carolina.

• In the 1830 census, he is listed as enslaving 2 girls between 10 and 23 years of age, two women between 24 and 35 years of age, and one boy under age 10. 

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My sixth great-grandfather, Abraham Bradley, was born in 1737 in Orange County, Virginia and died on October 23, 1823, in Greenville, South Carolina. He was the father of Isaac Bradley.

• In the 1790 census, he is listed as enslaving one person in Greenville, South Carolina. 

• In the 1800 census, he is listed as enslaving 4 people in Greenville, South Carolina.

• In the 1810 census, he is listed as enslaving 8 people in Greenville, South Carolina.

• In the 1820 census, he is listed as enslaving 4 people: one boy under 14, two men between the ages of 26 and 44, and one woman 45 or older, in Greenville, South Carolina.

In his 1823 will, he left his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Bradley (maiden name Lane), “one negro girl named Clary and a child.”

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My fifth great-grandfather, Isaac Bradley, was born in 1785 in Orange, North Carolina and died in 1847 in Greenville, South Carolina. He was the son of Abraham Bradley, listed above. 

• In the 1820 census, he is listed as enslaving one person, a boy between age 14 and 25, in Greenville, South Carolina.

• In the 1830 census, he is listed as enslaving one person, a boy between age 10 and 23, in Greenville, South Carolina. 

• In the 1840 census, he is listed as enslaving three people, two girls under 10 and one girl between 10 and 23, in Greenville, South Carolina. 

In his 1848 will, he left his wife, Sarah Armstrong (my fifth great-grandmother), two girls named Emily and Monica. He left Daniel Bruce (his son-in-law, and my fourth great-grandfather) a girl named Ann. He left James McAdams a woman named Kezia and her child (no name recorded). To TJ Dean he left a boy named Jim, and to ES Irvine he left a boy named Henry. 

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My fourth great-grandfather, Daniel Ashley Bruce, was born March 3, 1807, in Wolfcreek, Pendleton County, South Carolina and died in 1891 in Greenville County, South Carolina. He served in the Confederate Army. 

In the 1850 slave schedule, he is listed as enslaving a 5-year-old girl. This may be Ann, the girl he inherited from his father-in-law, Isaac Bradley, listed above. 

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My fourth great-grandfather, John T. Frey, was born October 2, 1802, in Lexington, South Carolina, and died June 27, 1854, in Lexington, South Carolina.

In the 1840 census, he is listed as owning one slave, a man between age 24 and 35, in Lexington, South Carolina. 

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My fourth great-grandfather, Malachi Green, was born April 16, 1790, in Bertie County, North Carolina, and died April 9, 1879, in Martin County, North Carolina.

In the 1860 slave schedule, he is listed as enslaving one person, a 56-year-old man. 

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My fourth great-uncle, Henry “Granser” Gann, was born February 28, 1816, in Georgia, and died on February 24, 1914, in Cobb County, Georgia. He served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and was discharged in November of 1862 for an unspecified disability. His father was my fifth great-uncle, Ignatius Nathan Gann, who’s listed below. 

In the 1850 census, he is listed as enslaving seven people, including a 10-year-old boy, a boy between the ages of 10 and 23, two men between 24 and 35, two girls under 10, and a girl between 10 and 23, in District 240, Clarke County, Georgia.

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My sixth great-uncle, Ignatius Nathan Gann, was born in 1786 in Athens, Georgia, and died June 5, 1854, in Dallas, Georgia. His wife was Nancy Summers, daughter of my fifth great-grandfather, John Summers, who is listed below.  

In the 1830 census, he is listed as enslaving 10 people, including a boy between the ages of 10 and 23, two men between 36 and 54, two girls under 10, two girls between the ages of 10 and 23, two women 24 to 35 and one woman between 36 and 54, in Clarke County, Georgia. 

His 1854 will includes the sale of the following people:

Chaney, a woman about 36 years old*
Isaac, a man about 40 years old
Mary and her child Henry**
Vilda
Patience and her infant Lucy**
Milly and her child Willis
Linda
Joe
Caroline
Solomon
Oliver
Ned
Emily
George
Lewis
[and a few names I can't read]

*Chaney was written about after she was freed; she lived to be more than 110 years old.
**The Mary mentioned here was likely Chaney's daughter, and Patience is Mary's daughter (Chaney's granddaughter)

In a separate bill of sale, it says:

Chaney was sold to William D. Gann
George was sold to John Gann
Lewis was sold to George Rice
Elic was sold to William Adair

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My fifth great-grandfather, John Gann Sr., was born in 1770 in North Carolina and died in 1856 in Clarke County, Georgia. He was the father of William Gann (1794-1852).

• He is listed in the 1830 census as enslaving five people, including two boys aged 10 to 23, two girls aged 10 to 23, and a woman aged 24 to 35, in Clarke County, Georgia. 

• He is listed in the 1840 census as enslaving three people, a boy between the ages of 10 and 23, a man between 36 and 54, and a girl between 10 and 23, in Vinson, Georgia. 

In his will, which was probated in September of 1858 in Clarke County, Georgia, the following people are listed for sale: 

• Ami & son George

• Jane & children Lemis, Micah, Serlla

• Kate & five children, Martha, Henry, Jim, Ciciro, & infant Frank

• Adaline 

• Charity 

• Peter 

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Nathan Gann III, the son of my sixth great-uncle, was born October 17, 1821, in Clarke County Georgia and died sometime after 1900, likely in Saint Clair County, Alabama.

In the 1860 slave schedule, he is listed as enslaving a 39-year-old mulatto woman in District 1080, Paulding, Georgia. 

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My fourth great-grandfather, William Gann, was born in 1794 in Athens, Georgia, and died in 1853 in Clarke County, Georgia.

In the 1840 census he is listed as owning seven slaves, including a boy between the ages of 10 and 23, a man between 24 and 35, three girls under 10, one girl between 10 and 23, and one woman between 24 and 35, in District 240, Clarke County, Georgia. 

In his 1852 will, a number of people are listed for sale, including:

• Julia and her child, Anderson                                    

• John, 10 years old                                                           

• Lucy, 8 years old                                                                

• William, 4 years old                                                            

• Tom, about 55 years old                                             

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My fourth great-grandfather, Thomas Gillespie, was born in 1770 in Abbeville, Abbeville County, South Carolina and died September 7, 1838 in Gordon County, Georgia.

• In the 1800 census, he is listed as enslaving one person in Abbeville County, South Carolina.

• In the 1820 census, he is listed as enslaving a girl under the age of 14 in Abbeville County, South Carolina.

According to Thomas Gillespie’s 1838 will, however, he enslaved more than 20 people. He had sorted them into “lots” and left them to the following individuals: 

• “Lot 1”: Thomas, Caty and Silas to Richard Gillespie

• “Lot 2”: Rachel and Jesse to Flora Gillespie

• “Lot 3”: Isaac and Emeline 

• “Lot 4”: Sandy and Rebeckah to John Gillespie

• “Lot 5”: Parker and Margaret to McCoy Gillespie

• “Lot 6”: Ritty/Rithy and Alexander to George Gillespie

• “Lot 7”: Alcie or Alice and Alexander to Archibald Gillespie

• “Lot 8”: Nancy, Ceeser/Ceaser and Robert to William Gillespie

• “Lot 9”: Charlotte, Sam and David to Christopher Graham

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My fourth great-grandfather, Daniel E. Jackson, was born January 5, 1796, in Georgia and died August 11, 1869 in DeKalb County, Georgia. He was the son of Jeremiah Jackson, below.

• In the 1820 census, he is listed as enslaving two people, a man between the ages of 26 and 44, and a girl between the ages of 14 and 25, in Captain Allen’s District in Greene County, Georgia.

• In the 1830 census, he is listed as enslaving a girl under 10 and a girl between the ages of 10 and 23 in Walton County, Georgia. 

• In the 1850 slave schedule, he is listed as enslaving a 23-year-old mulatto woman, a 12-year-old black boy, a 10-year-old black girl and a one-year-old mulatto boy, in the Andersons District of DeKalb County, Georgia. 

• In the 1860 slave schedule, he is listed as enslaving a 31-year-old mulatto man, a 21-year-old black man and an 11-year-old mulatto boy in DeKalb County, Georgia. 

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My fifth great-grandfather, Jeremiah Jackson, was born August 18, 1760 in Bedford County, Virginia and died September 21, 1828 in Greene County, Georgia. He was the father of Daniel E. Jackson, above. 

In his 1825 will, he leaves “to my little daughter Sarah ... a negro woman named Hannah and her two children, Harry and Peter,” and “to my children Daniel E., Nelson, Diana, Irene and Elizabeth ... the balance of my negroes stock.” His will was probated in Greene County, Georgia. 

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My third great-grandfather, John H. Jones, was born August 8, 1802 in South Carolina and died January 12, 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1822, he married Polly Gillespie in South Carolina. Her father, Thomas Gillespie, is listed above. 

• In the 1830 census he is listed as enslaving a boy between the ages of 10 and 23 in DeKalb County, Georgia. 

• In the 1860 slave schedule he is listed as enslaving a 57-year-old black woman in DeKalb County, Georgia. 

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My seventh great-grandfather, Thomas Kimbrough, was born in 1690 in New Kent, Virginia, and died September 20, 1777, in Caswell County, North Carolina. He was the father of William Kimbrough, listed below.

A number of people he enslaved are listed in his wills, which were probated in 1777 in Caswell County, North Carolina: 

• Sam 

• George

• Cato

• Suiey 

• Phebee

• Jenny

• Gabe

• Lydden and infant

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My sixth great-grandfather, William Kimbrough, was born in 1735 in Caswell County, North Carolina and died in 1803 in Caswell County, North Carolina. He is the son of Thomas Kimbrough, listed above. 

In the 1800 census, he is listed as owning two slaves in Hillsboro, Caswell County, North Carolina. 

In his 1803 will, which was probated in Greene County, Georgia, William Kimbrough left his wife, Mary (maiden name Gracey) a girl named Silvey; he left his son, William Jr., a girl named Jude, and his grandson, Thomas, a girl named Mimi. 

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My 6th great-grandfather, George Long, was born in 1758 in Newberry County, South Carolina, and died July 6, 1815 in South Carolina (probably in Edgefield).

• In the 1800 census, he is listed as enslaving two people in the Newberry District in South Carolina. 

• In the 1810 census, he is listed as enslaving five people in Edgefield, South Carolina. 

In his 1815 will, he leaves a man named Sam and a woman named Mira, along with two children named Esther and Sarah, to his wife, Catherine (maiden name Moyers).

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My fifth great-grandfather, Hugh McLin, was born in 1749 in North Carolina and died on November 7, 1843, in Abbeville County, South Carolina. His daughter, Anna McLin, married Thomas Gillespie, listed above. His granddaughter, Polly Gillespie, married John H. Jones, also listed above. 

He is listed in the 1830 census as enslaving a boy between the ages of 10 and 23, in Abbeville County, South Carolina. 

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My 6th great-grandfather, John Henry Segars, was born January 17, 1733 in Raleigh, North Carolina and died November 26, 1806 in Darlington County, South Carolina.

• He is listed in the 1790 census as enslaving three people, genders and ages unknown, in Wake County, North Carolina. 

• He is listed in the 1800 census as enslaving six people, genders and ages unknown, in Darlington County, South Carolina. 

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My fifth great-grandfather, John Summers (Somers), was born May 26, 1762, in Fairfax County, Virginia, and died September 23, 1848 in Cobb County, Georgia. His wife, Mary Kimbrough, was the daughter of William Kimbrough, listed above. His daughter, my fourth great-grandmother Elizabeth “Dolly” Summers, married William Gann, listed above. 

• In the 1800 census, he is listed as enslaving four people in Hillsboro, Caswell County, North Carolina. 

• In the 1830 census, he is listed as enslaving two boys between the ages of 10 and 23 in Clarke County, Georgia. 

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My seventh great-grandmother, Mary Polly Thomas (maiden name Griffiths) was born in 1694 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and died on September 30, 1771, in St. Peters, Pennsylvania.

In her 1771 will, she left a man named Dick to her son, William Thomas, an unnamed “negro lad” to her son, Benjamin Thomas, and to her daughter, Sarah Marin, a woman named Hegor.