Daughters of the Governor

Donna Haymore May 15, 2012

I just finished watching your documentary with Wanda Sykes and John Legend. Being an African American, I’m fascinated by genealogy. I have been able to trace my mother’s family back to 1865 in Barnswell, South Carolina with some help from an online geneologist who helped me discovered that my family could have been owned by the Governor of South Carolina at the time. This did not sound right…as there are no family stories recounting this…My family remained in Barnswell, South Carolina and then Allendale South Carolina after Barnswell was burned to the ground during the Civil War…Until my grandmother came to NYC in the 1940′s. I would love to have some professional help to bring truth to our story. Can you point me in the right direction? I have been on ancestory.com and I have hit a wall…Help.

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Jocquavien Coby

June 15, 2012 at 5:24 pm

My Dunbar ancestors came from the plantation there in Barnwell during slavery. Yes, it is true that we were owned by a racist man by the name of Strom Thurmond. We even have cousins today who descend from Strom. The slave families of Barnwell lived on a plantation with freedmen, slaves, and mulattoes. I can direct you to one of our cousins whose ancestors stayed in Barnwell after slavery. My branch of the family were sold, or inherited by Young Claredge Dunbar whom brought our family to Alabama. We have our ties with some Alabama families, including Coretta Scott King’s family. From Alabama we were taken to Kentucky, then lastly to Freestone County, Texas.

Each slave family of Barnwell and surrounding areas has their own family history, but are all connected to each other.

My family history dates back to Scotland with Gospratric.

About the Series

The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the new 10-part PBS series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the 12th series from Professor Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Filmed on location across the United States, the series premieres nationally Sundays, March 25 – May 20 at 8 pm ET on PBS (check local listings).