My friend Aaron has made an incredible find that I wanted to share here because it is such a rarity. Many enslaved African-American women had children with white men, men whose names are sometimes passed down through oral history in the black family. But many times, only the knowledge of an “unknown white man” survives in the history.
Henry Dorsey
Aaron’s ancestor in Texas was a man named Henry Dorsey, and Henry had 2 brothers named Texas and Richard Dorsey. The oral history gave their white father’s name as John Dorsey, and John was living with the three brothers and their wives in the 1880 census for Smith County, Texas:
1880 Smith Cty Texas
The amazing thing is that in John Dorsey’s will, probated in 1888, he named his three black sons and used strong language showing that he clearly had a close relationship with them:
“It is my will …that whatever may remain [of my estate]…be equally and fairly divided between my beloved sons Henry Dorsey, Richard Dorsey, better known as Dick Dorsey, and Texas Dorsey, better known as Tex, these are three (colored) but bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and my rightful heirs.”
It is rare indeed to find direct evidence of a white man naming and claiming black children, and in Texas no less, in the 1880s! John apparently never married or had any white children, and he named his “best friend” as executor to carry out his wishes. His estate was valued at around $1000, and the fact that the brothers later pay the taxes on his land imply that the land was indeed passed to the three sons. Here is one of the son’s death certificate where he names his father:
Texas Dorsey
A later examination of the will of John Dorsey’s father, Benjamin Dorsey, reveals that the name of the enslaved mother of Henry (and his brothers) was the enslaved woman “Ann.” Aaron just added a 4th great grandparent to his tree, and is now tracing back through John’s roots in Georgia.
There are always surprises in store for us in this genealogical journey!
WOW!! Thank you so much for sharing the Dorsey story and documentation. I wish the same for others of us,especially with Virginia roots.
This is an incredible find indeed! WOW! And the fact that it’s documented makes it even sweeter!
That is an incredible find! Finding documentation like that is rare indeed. Great post and thanks for sharing!
Wow! That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Renate
Great blog post Melvin. It’s these kinds of genealogical finds that help to encourage each of us to continue to seek evidence of our family mysteries which often times end up as skeletons in our ancestral closest. I too had such a tale passed down several generations about how “they” would not allow us to use daddy’s last name according to a part of the family’s oral history. Like your friend, I too went on a search to discover answers as to why and discovered an amazing story part of which is now documented as a PBS segment titled the Galvez Papers. see here:http://video.pbs.org/video/1918385492/ No one can’t dispute the fact that I now have proof in the form of several documents that shade new light on a much biggest family story.
Thank you for sharing. What a find…
What a great story! I wonder what happened to Ann?
This is so heartening. I don’t remember another example of a white man expressly naming and claiming “colored” children, as in a will. I think there is one example in Gates’s series “Finding Your Roots” of private acknowledgement–but there are plenty of examples of privately providing for mixed-race children, even in my own family.
If only more white fathers had done this, on a regular basis. That might have been some small step towards healing the long, traumatic wounds of slavery.
Truly wonderful… thanks for sharing. Best of wishes, Catherine.
It appears that Ann died while the Henry, Richard and Texas were young.
Interesting and a great find. I thought that in Texas at that time a law forbid a negro from inheriting from a white father. Or was it okay if it was not challenged?