Case Study: Two Negro Boys Named Elijah and Frank: The Search for My Slave Roots
Initially my motives were less than noble—I wanted money for school. Because my family’s oral history claimed that we descended from Cherokee Indians, I thought that if I documented my family’s roots, I might be able tap into scholarship funds for Native American descendants.In December 1999, I started my quest.
I knew that my ancestors with possible Cherokee roots were from my grandmother’s family. My uncle, a man who eventually became my mentor as I developed the same passion for genealogy that he had been nursing for some time, gave me some names to go on: Franklin and Rachel Dale from Carlisle, Nicholas County, Kentucky. He also recommended that I start my research with a visit to Auntie Me—a veritable storehouse of family information—and talk to my cousin in Denver who had been tracing the family’s history.I started with my cousin. He was the kid who had always enjoyed talking to the old folks in the family while the rest of us were climbing apple trees or playing hopscotch. When we were young, he could be found with my grandparents at their house, deemed “The Big House” by my grandmother, or with my granduncles at their house just down the road. It was ultimately those conversations from his childhood that fueled his interest in researching our family roots.
My cousin updated me on his research at the Salt Lake Family History Library where he had located the name of our great-grandfather, George T. Dale, in the 1880 and 1900 censuses for Nicholas County. George’s mother, Rachel Dale, was also listed on the 1880 census. But my cousin had not searched for any earlier records. Based on a number of circumstances associated with our family, we were pretty certain that both Franklin and Rachel were slaves. My cousin, therefore, urged me to visit Nicholas County to examine slave records such as bills of sale. My heart skipped a beat at the prospect of touching the shores of Africa. Most African American genealogists probably secretly dream of tracing their slave roots back to Africa in the tradition of Alex Haley or Dorothy Spruill Redford. Even my interest in finding a tie to scholarship money waned as I contemplated researching slavery.
After two telephone conversations with my cousin, I felt a strange sense of jealousy. I surely would have traded some hopscotch time for a few family history chats with my grandmother and her brothers. One of Grandma’s brothers, I learned, had told my cousin that Rachel Dale was American Indian and French. Since Grandma and her brothers were no longer living, my cousin advised me to c heck with Auntie Me—the wife of one of Grandma’s brothers—for more family history information.
Urged now by both uncle and cousin, I visited Auntie Me. At the time, Auntie Me was ninety-three years old, but her mind was still sharp. She had been a church treasurer for over forty years and she evidenced that attention to detail as she recounted dates, events, names, and places. She recalled that my great-grandfather George T. Dale looked like he was part American Indian. But the vagueness of that information did not frustrate me because Auntie Me had given us so much more. She talked freely, and her loving memories of “Pappy” (George) made me wish I had known him.
Picking up where my cousin’s research left off, I searched for Franklin and Rachel. I started with the Internet and located indexed transcriptions of the 1810 through 1850 censuses for Nicholas County, Kentucky.
I assumed my ancestors were slaves during those years, and I knew that slaves were listed as property, not by name, but I searched for Franklin anyway. Shocked, I found a Franklin Dale on the 1840 census as the head of a household of four children and three adults, all listed as “free colored persons.” If this was my Franklin, and he and Rachel were not slaves in 1840, how long had they been free?
I had learned that the 1850 census listed the names of all members in the household, so I nervously approached the 1850 census index, hoping to find Rachel listed with Franklin. My eyes were glued to the screen as the page opened. There she was: Rachel Dale and children, in the same household with Franklin Dale. The race for each family member was “M” for mulatto. I had found Franklin and Rachel.
That’s when I sent an e-mail to everyone on our family reunion list, giving the Internet addresses for the census transcriptions and inviting anyone interested to travel with me to Nicholas County for further research. Our Genealogy Group was born right then. We planned our first trip for March 2000, and I began to prepare further for our visit.
I contacted both the librarian in the Carlisle Library and the genealogist at the Nicholas County Historical Society. Among other documents, the genealogist provided me with a copy of the will of Franklin Dale, dated 22 August 1860, that turned out to be a treasure trove of information.
Franklin’s will contained a reference to fifty acres of land to be conveyed to Azariah Dale, a person the genealogist told me was the ancestor of a white family. I began my own search of the Internet for Azariah. I located Azariah in a number of family trees posted by people researching the Dale surname. These trees, however, were posted by white families, and had I not known that Azariah Dale had a connection to my Dales, I probably would never have investigated these families any further.
I responded by e-mail to a RootsWeb posting seeking information on the spouse of Isaac Dale who was, according to the post, the brother of Azariah. The person who made the post informed me that her sisters had extensive websites outlining Dale family history. A link to wills on one of those websites led me to the will of Mathew Dale, dated 15 January 1813. It was here that I found the first connection to link Franklin, Azariah, and Isaac—“Also I bequeath to my son Isaac two negro boys named Elijah and Frank . . .”
I held my breath as I read and reread the phrase “two negro boys named Elijah and Frank.” I knew in my heart that this Frank was probably my Franklin Dale, but I also understood the importance of evidence—something I desperately needed. Fortunately, the will contained a footnote stating that deeds of emancipation indicated Isaac Dale gave “these negroes their freedom.”
I went in search of the deeds of ema ncipation, contacting the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives for assistance. The paperwork arrived at my home after my first trip to Nicholas County, where I had also obtained copies of the deeds of emancipation, along with census pages, Mathew Dale’s will, and other information about our ancestors—all located through the tireless efforts of the Genealogy Group poring over records in the Nicholas County Courthouse.
The deed of emancipation for Franklin Dale indicated that he was manumitted (set free) on 25 February 1833. As I touched this actual document that Franklin had to carry to prove he was a free man, I was filled with emotion. He was twenty-three years of age and he was a mulatto. His owner at the time of manumission was Isaac Dale.
Franklin’s age and race, as reported on the deed of emancipation, matched the information on the census records. Working backwards, this meant Franklin would have been about three years old at the time Mathew Dale’s will was created, bequeathing him to Isaac. It was sobering to think that my great-great-grandfather was a three-year-old mulatto slave boy. I shuddered at the possible circumstances surrounding Franklin’s mixed parentage.
Although my research has yet to touch the shores of Africa, finding a negro boy named Franklin brought me closer than I imagined was possible, especially given the atrocities of slavery that obliterated huge chunks of my heritage. I am so very grateful to the Dale descendants who posted Mathew Dale’s will on the Internet. It makes me wonder how many more African American genealogists might be helped if other descendants of white slave owners would do the same.
As for me, I still do not know whether we have Cherokee ancestors. But for now, my need to know is just little more than a curiosity.
Jacquelyn Wright Palmer is a college management instructor and researcher who has been exploring her family history since 1999 with her mentor uncle, Walter L. Wright. They presented a chapter in the story of their search for their slave roots at the Ohio Genealogical Society Annual Conference in 2005 and will present another chapter at the 2006 conference. You can learn more about Jacquelyn and Walter’s research at www.wrightfamily.com.
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