SNGF -My Ancestral Birth Chart

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver. The challenge is to create a five or six generation ancestor chart that shows your ancestor’s birthplaces .

As I was looking at the ancestral birth charts on Randy’s Genea Mussings blog, I was struck by the participants ability to identify 5 generations. I took note of the various countries labeled; and the flow from one generation to the next. It appeared with each generation born, the families would settle in a different state.

Knowing my ancestors basically remained in one country or one state. I had second thoughts about developing and sharing a birth chart. Simply put, my ancestors’ birth place is either the US Virgin Islands or Savannah Georgia. Shaking the family trees has not yet produced five generations. Still, I decided to join the fun and create my ancestral birth chart.

ancestrial chart

The five generations chart of my maternal lineage begins with an ancestor that was born in Barbados, who settled in the Danish West Indies; to the descendants of my generation, who were born in New York.

The five generations chart of my paternal lineage begins with ancestors born Georgia or in the low country of South Carolina, settling in Savannah Georgia; to the descendants of my generation, who were born in New York.

The 1917 transfer of the Danish West Indies to the Virgin Islands of the United States played a significant role in the migration of Virgin Islanders to the city of New York. Change was in the air; our people saw the same opportunities in the North as southern blacks, who were leaving states below the Mason-Dixon Line en mass. In creating the chart I recognized, both paternal along with maternal ancestors all had a common goal: making their lives and the lives of their families better in an environment that promoted freedom and possibility.

By shelley dewese

As I continue to search out my history, I am discovering how much I did not know. The more information disclosed about my ancestry, the more I learn and understand how I am the person that has evolved today. My family's research efforts have taken me on an enlightening journey back through the past in the U. S. Virgin Islands (formerly Danish West Indies) and Coastal Georgia. As with most people of Afro-Caribbean descent, my ancestry stems from peoples brought together by colonialism and conquest; it stems from people thrown together, albeit forcibly, by the throes of enslavement. As a result, my DNA tells me that my people originate in Africa, Europe, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Lesser Antilles, and Leeward Caribbean Islands. Two collections made my dream to research my ancestors in the Danish West Indies a reality. I have conducted extensive research using the St. Croix Population Database 1734-1917, a St. Croix African Roots Project product, and a research and document transcription effort sponsored by the Virgin Islands Social History Associates (VISHA). The other catalyst has been accessing the extensive photo, manuscript, and microfilm collections at the Library and Archives of the St. Croix Landmarks Society at Estate Whim in St. Croix. My heartfelt thanks go to all my cousins, extended "cousin-family," friends, and research colleagues from the St. Croix-based Virgin Islands Ancestry Discovery Group, for their input and collaboration. I also want to thank the UJima Genealogy Group in Coastal Georgia and GlynnGen.com; webmaster Amy Hendrick has introduced me to Southern History and its people. This site allows you to transform yourself to a time during the Danish period (1734-1917) when life was both complex and straightforward. If you have any questions, comments, or need assistance searching for a Danish West Indies ancestor, I invite you to drop me an email. Its.sheldew@gmail.com I especially appreciate the followers' encouragement.

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