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From: Liza Mahjhrin <>
Subject: [POCSOUTH] Discovering my African ancestry
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:28:11 -0800 (PST)


In researching my family history, I have discovered a
surprising information and I wonder if anyone can help
point me in the right direction to discover more.

My great-grandfather's cousin did some research years
ago on his family tree and discovered that his
grandmother had changed her surname from Jones to Reid
with no explanation. I then found out that her sister
did the same thing (from Jones to Reed). This sparked
my curiosity as to why a name change.

Then I found their family in the 1850 census of
Cincinnati, Ohio and discovered that the family was
recorded as Mulatto! After that, they had always
listed themselves as being White - which I presume is
something that sadly many mixed race people did.

My great x 3 grandmother, Maria Jones was born in
Kentucky. According to her daughters, her maiden name
was Maria Maxwell. She married a Thomas Jones.
My great x 2 grandmother, Isabella Jones was probably
born in Tennessee in 1939, although in some documents
she is noted as being born in Ohio. Her father died a
few months after her birth. I am not sure where he
was born, as they changed his birthplace in the
different census from Virginia to Tennesee to England.

In Ohio, they lived with another Mulatto family,
Jessie and Margaret Beckley - Margaret was from
Tennessee and Jessie was from Virginia.

I understand that it all seems complicated, but I am
hoping that there is some way in which I can find more
about them and trace my African ancestry.

This is very new to me as though I now live in
Maryland, I was born and brought up in Malaysia. I am
mostly Asian - so this discovery is very exciting to
me and I want to learn more.

I appreciate any information! Thank you!

Liza



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