ROAD MAP TO FINDING AN ANCESTOR IN AFRICA
Searching Africa (Ai generated image)
African Genealogy Expert/Writer
John Peter-Brown
(Cape Coast Genealogist)
In my volunteering role as Africa online genealogy specialist for FamilySearch, I can identify clients who seek their ancestry in Africa in four groups:
- The first group includes African Americans and Africans abroad who discover their specific African ethnicity through advanced lineage tracing methods such as DNA.
- The next group encompasses those who recently migrated from Africa with their extended families still in Africa.
- Another group involves people whose ancestors migrated to Africa in the colonial era and intermarried Africans.
- Lastly, there are Africans who are increasingly becoming aware of the need to compile their genealogy and preserve it for generations.
This article will provide a road map to finding an African ancestral lineage in Africa. Take note that methodologies can change depending on the availability and access to records in a specific area of interest. Currently, this is what can be considered a useful approach to solving genealogical mysteries in Africa.
FIRST GROUP: AFRICAN AMERICANS AND AFRICANS ABROAD
During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, slaves lost their names during the transit. They were only numbered. For this reason, there is no way African Americans can trace their root to their original lineage.
African American genealogy is an extension of African genealogy. Today, African Americans and Africans abroad are actively tracing their roots beyond the arrival point of their enslaved ancestors to Africa where the journey began. One way they have been successful in their quest is through DNA. Although DNA can project one's ancestry origins, it doesn't immediately identify one's family lineage. DNA testing can be used to trace lineage by analyzing specific segments. Here's a simplified explanation:
- Inheritance of DNA: You inherit 50% of your DNA from each of your parents, who in turn inherit 50% of their DNA from each of their parents, and so on. This pattern of inheritance allows geneticists to trace your lineage back through generations. Inheritance DNA explained
- Autosomal DNA Testing: This type of DNA testing looks at markers from your maternal and paternal lines, covering your entire family tree. It does not separate the inheritance of your maternal or paternal line. Over 700,000 of your DNA markers are compared to a reference panel of individuals from over 150 regions around the world Autosomal DNA explained.
The ethnicity results produced from a DNA test are usually presented as percentages (%). This represents your genetic makeup from different regions around the world. These percentages can give you an idea of where your ancestors likely came from. As science improves and samples in databases increase, there can be a time when the actual linkage to true family lines can be detected for African roots seekers.
Currently, Africans who can trace their roots to Africa can be grafted into existing family lineage and are associated with names that relate to their ancestry by taking through simple customary rites. African Americans and Africans abroad who go through such rites will be associated with a name that resonates with their day of birth such as "Kofi" for a Friday born, "Ama" for a girl born on Saturday, and so forth. Usually, other traditional names of great significance to a specific region are added to the names given. E.g. An African American who had gone through such a ceremony may be called "Kofi Nkrumah". “Nkrumah” is the name of a great African figure. So that identifies the bearer of such a name as an African. This practice has become common in West Africa and eventually by all those who deem it fit.
As it stands, Africans do not know the essence of preserving their DNA today to contribute to something big happening in the world. Thus, the “gathering of all humanity”. Perhaps there hasn't been much education on why it is necessary to be actively engaged in connecting all humanity.
In a recent conversation with Adjoa Ulzen Setrakian, the Founder & Owner of Human Temple Therapeutics LLC and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists with a specialty in the African diaspora. She stressed the essence of preserving the DNA of Africans today for the next generations. She emphasized that, if Africans become actively engaged in DNA testing, this would help them stop their growing challenge of unorganized genealogy and would help many to link with their original lineage for centuries to come.
Africans simply are not cognizant of where and how to access DNA resources such as Ancestry DNA, Ftdna, 23andme, and others to save and connect with other matches. The cost of obtaining DNA kits is also another factor for the majority. There is a need for massive genealogical education in Africa to create awareness of the need to correct the menace of yesterday's generation; who didn't have the chance to keep records and compile histories due to their handicaps.
SECOND GROUP: AFRICANS WHO MIGRATED ABROAD
The number of people who have migrated from Africa abroad is hard to quantify considering those who went through legal means and the others who took the risk of using several dangerous means to reach their destination. Their extended family remains in Africa; therefore, they can trace their lineage using the correct methodology. This connection links the family they have established there which in most times involves generations of descendants to the collateral family in Africa.
Lately, Africans in this category are using the free online consultation services offered by FamilySearch Free online consultation to seek guidelines on researching their family history.
THE THIRD GROUP: IS PEOPLE WHOSE ANCESTORS MOVED TO AFRICA AND INTERMARRIED AFRICANS IN THE COLONIAL ERA.
There are people of mixed race of African descent whose ancestors were merchants and part of the people who were actively engaged in the business of the colonial era in Africa. Most of these people are the citizens of the countries that colonized African countries. This involves Great Britain, the Netherlands, the Dutch, the Portuguese, the Americans, and more.
FOURTH GROUP: AFRICANS
The day dawn is breaking for Africans to become more united and also preserve their histories. Historians are telling the stories of their past with passion and inspired awe. When Africans learn the histories of their progenitors, it will help them to understand the world they lived in and the challenges they faced. This knowledge often inspired greater love for the choices they made.
Oral histories are an important record group essential for the African ancestor quest. A good sense of cultural traditions, customs, and oral histories will increase one's ability to make wise research plans, analyze data thoroughly, and reach correct conclusions. As Africans become increasingly educated and their governments become aware of the benefit of genealogy, records of genealogical importance will be made available to the citizenry to research their ancestors.
Genealogists understand the world we live in today will become a story for our descendants tomorrow. The challenges we endure, and the choices we make will become a mystery to be solved by our descendants in years to come.
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STEPS TO CONSIDER WHEN RESEARCHING ANCESTORS IN AFRICA.
Note: Methodologies can change depending on the availability and access to records in a specific area of interest. At the current moment, this is what can be considered a useful approach to solving genealogical mysteries in Africa.
Consider this when approaching African research:
- Record known oral histories in your own family. Begin by speaking with the oldest existing members in a family line for oral histories or available records.
- Create an online family tree to save research and look out for hints to grow the tree.
- Check for newly uploaded African genealogies and oral histories online.
- Attempt to request records from the government and religious bodies at a fee for further research.
- Seek the assistance of a specialist when faced with a brick wall.
African genealogy is greatly needed to complement world histories. In my next article, I will explore “SAVING THE DNA OF AFRICANS”
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