Reuters project: politicians' enslaver ancestors

Appreciate the resources,this might help me! I know I am related to Obama in a few ways. We share three sets of Grandparents. My hotspots in Africa are Nigeria firstly than Kenya,North Africa ,West and Southern Africa. The Stanley,Hart,Fuller lines out of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania off the top of my head,once in Colonial America. I've been working on a side project on Catoctin Furnace of the Enslaved. I have like 200 names to add to the project.A lot of my Ancestry was in Maryland too,so an interest of mine as I believe I have relationship to the enslaved at the furnace based on research and records. The Zulu tribe is where I believe one of my Ancestors came from as we're referred to as the "Black Dutch". They'd go to Germany and Colonial America. You can read about one,named Jack,as he spoke German and was Enslaved. I've been documenting another line through the Stanley line and have provided pictures of well dressed and educated members of the family that were of Nigerian descendants and also enslaved people. See "John Stanley". I'm not sure if all 200 of my Nigerian matches in Africa are from this Stanley line but some are possible.

My direct Stanley line has changed to a Pleasant Stanley on Familysearch for my second Grandfather's line and heads to the Hart line. On Geni that line shows as an Aunt and Uncle but could be the lost line in Colonial America. I am related in six ways to the Stanley line.

Morgan Freeman is my sixth cousin as in the Actor. This line has Cherokee and African Ancestry. My 58 matches of broadly West African or my 72 matches in Sierra Leone are strong suspects based off researching online of his Ancestory.I don't believe all of them belongs to this line but provided link.I do know online it says he has Cherokee Ancestry as well.

Another line my Ireland line of my Grandfather that was kidnapped at 7 with other boys and sent to Maryland,you can read link in bio I've added,his son was also taken on a ship and imprisoned and killed,in the war. This line is the Whites and Africans from Ireland and Africa,that I believe were trafficked for another line and others I'm working on...

My Ashurst line married the Kennedy line and the had 11 enslaved. My foster Uncle was in Soth Africa and I have ship records in Google Documents of enslavement ship records Im working on. This is where the Ashurst line and Catoctin Slaves came in,I believe. The Zulu tribe is strong suspects. I appreciate the chat and hope you enjoy my little stories off the top of my head. Usually I work Solo but appreciate links like this... Much appreciated!

John Carruthers Stanly

https://www.geni.com/path/John-Fuller-of-Baltimore+is+related+to+Ba...

https://www.geni.com/path/Annber-Collins+is+related+to+Morgan-Freem...

https://www.geni.com/projects/Catoctin-Furnace/4489180

Jack, Enslaved of John Brien

FamilySearch:

Plasant Stanley

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/LBQ1-SM9

Dr. John Kennedy, Sr

John Morgan O'Kennedy, SV/PROG

Thanks for linking the article, which is quite interesting. Out of curiosity, I tried to find the Geni profile for the Thomas H. Randle who is said to be the slaveholder ancestor of President Biden. Couldn't find it, either in a name search or by tracing back President Biden's family tree. Maybe I'm just missing it. Or maybe the Geni tree isn't complete/correct. It would be great if we could access to the detailed documentation that went into preparing the article.

Found him! Thomas Heising Randle, born about 1803 in Maryland. Thomas Heisling Randle

Stephen Daniel Harper

Thank you for linking that! I was at a brickwall for my Lydia Shoemaker and she's related to that line and it needs more expanding.Another Maryland find! Honestly, I wasn't even going to look at the link, as I was reading and trying to find records for another project. 🙏

Also to clarify on the Morgan Freeman Native American Ancestry. He was told verbally Choctaw but I found it to be Cherokee. Rather it was a mix of both,I cannot be sure. I know on the DNA test it didn't show up but mostly likely wouldn't as it was 8 or 9 generations ago. 1 percent at best.

Private User, thanks for this post. It was an interesting read. I totally agree that something could be done with this. Reuters is an amazing investigative organization. Their mantra is that they only report the facts. It would be nice to see the trees.

This related article provides some insight into how Reuters researched the previously linked article. Not surprisingly, a lot of work seems to have been involved.https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-slavery-met...

Private User, please let us know when you start the project by posting here. I would like to join. There are several that I think I may be of help in filling out trees, or at least I hope that I can. My goal is that once I get a few other things finished that I can start going through the wills in profiles that I manage and create profiles for all who were listed as "slaves." Maybe it will be one way to help their families.

In our county, we have a "Remembrance Project" and on Juneteenth several genealogists who work on African American lines, specifically spoke. I think there are some good tutorials on Youtube. While looking, I found this on the Reuters project -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLGsTPZfrPg

Thanks for the other link on how they conducted their research. Please invite me as well,as I'll help too!

Looks like Rep. Majorie Tayler Greene should also be added to the list. According to the 1860 Slave Schedule for Georgia, her 4th great grandfathers Joel Bacon and Walter Washington Lee were slaveholders. Possibly Reuters wasn't able to find sufficient corroborating evidence to confirm this.