Every Family Has a Story

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post in which I asked the question, who do you think you are?  That question had never been more relevant than in the weekend I wrote about last week about attending the Nansemond Indian Nation’s Pow Wow. https://www.facebook.com/NansemondIndianNation/

As I looked around and spoke with people there, it was quite apparent that we had all come from descendants of Bass-related persons. In other words, we were all cousins, no matter the color of our skin. And our skin tones varied from very dark, to those like me with blond hair and blue eyes. Yet, we can all trace our heritage back to one or two people from whom we descend. My family’s story is old and rich. And it is multi-ethnicity.

DNA Testing

As DNA tests become more prevalent and as more and more people are tested, I think it will become even more apparent just how closely related most of us in these United States are. This is even more so for those of us whose ancestors weren’t born here, but who came on one of the earlier ships. We are part of those people who came from all corners of the old world and left a Europe who refused to allow freedom of ideas and freedom of worship. My European family came very early in the 1600s. That was one side. Another side was already here.

They were the indigenous people of these lands. People who were forced from the lands they had called home for generation upon generation. That they managed, somehow, to find common ground (no pun intended) and to get along, even marry and have families with one another, to me is nothing short of a miracle.

Learn the Truth

We must read again the histories of how this country was formed. The story we’ve long held to be true, the one we were taught in school about Pocahontas, has now been proven to be false in great part. How many have bothered to learn the true story? And this is just one story. How many others must there be?

Just this past week, the descendants of The First Twenty and Odd, celebrated the four-hundredth commemoration of the arrival of their ancestors. How many even know who the First Twenty and Odd are? I must say, I didn’t know until about two to three years ago. Again, part of our history never taught in our schools. How many of us are descendants of those people? How would you know if you’ve not been told? https://www.facebook.com/1619GenealogyBank

Find Your Story

What is your family’s story? Were you a part of the indigenous peoples? Were your ancestors on one of the early ships to arrive on these shores? Did your first ancestors here come in the great wave of immigration in the 1800s? Unless you delve deeply into your lineage either via a DNA test, a paper trail, or both, you may never know of your rich heritage.

Not everyone will have come early. Some are recent arrivals, and they have a story. They have families and histories. We all came from somewhere.

Have you traced your ancestry? Did you find surprises? Share your story with us. 

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