My friend Aaron has made an incredible find that I wanted to share because it is such a rarity. Many people researching former slaves have encountered interracial children in their family trees. Enslaved women frequently had children with white men. Enslaved women did not own their own bodies and were commonly sexually abused.
Sometimes the names of these men are passed down through oral history. Other times, only the knowledge of an “unknown white man” survives in the history.
Henry DorseyThe Dorsey Family
Henry Dorsey, Aaron’s ancestor, was from Texas. Henry had two brothers named Texas and Richard Dorsey. Oral history provided their white father’s name as John Dorsey. John lived with his three sons and their wives in the 1880 census for Smith County, Texas:
1880 Smith Cty TexasIn John Dorsey’s 1888 will, incredibly, he named his three black sons. He used strong language illustrating that he 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 to find direct evidence of a white man naming and claiming black children, especially in Texas in the 1880s!
John apparently never married or had any white children. He named his “best friend” as executor to carry out his wishes.
His estate was worth about $1000. The brothers later paid the taxes on his land, which implies that they did inherit the land.
Here is Texas Dorsey’s death certificate, which names John as his father:
Texas DorseyThe will of John Dorsey’s father, Benjamin Dorsey, revealed the name of the enslaved mother of Henry and his brothers. Her name was Ann. Aaron just added a 4th great grandparent to his tree.
There are always surprises in store for us in this genealogical journey!
I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. I have been a researcher, writer, lecturer and teacher for over twenty years. This blog is where I share family history methods, resources, tips and advice, with an emphasis on slave research, slavery and its aftermath. This lifelong quest has helped me to better know my family’s past. I’ve taken back– reclaimed– some of that lost memory, especially that of my enslaved ancestors. I hope you’ll sign up to receive my posts—if you do, you’ll get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! And please do share posts that interest you.
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?
It appears that Ann died while the Henry, Richard and Texas were young.
Truly wonderful… thanks for sharing. Best of wishes, Catherine.
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.
What a great story! I wonder what happened to Ann?
Thank you for sharing. What a find…
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.
Wow! That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Renate
That is an incredible find! Finding documentation like that is rare indeed. Great post and thanks for sharing!
This is an incredible find indeed! WOW! And the fact that it’s documented makes it even sweeter!
WOW!! Thank you so much for sharing the Dorsey story and documentation. I wish the same for others of us,especially with Virginia roots.