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Ancestry dot com blessed me today. I knew my paternal great grandmother (Monserrate) in Puerto Rico, but my great grandfather was dead 21 years before I was born. I found not only his death record but his parents names, Nicolas Padilla and Amalia Marquez. My great great grands.
On my mother's side, today's discovery is the handwritten marriage record of James and Hannah Cowan, my 3x great grandparents, who were previously owned by the Cowans. As of 1866, they had lived together as man and wife for 15 years. An enslaved couple freed together.
Additionally, on my mother's side, another set of 3x great grandparents. James (b. 1822) and Millie (b.1824) Rankin. Millie's father's name was Geo (my 4x great grandfather). All were enslaved.
This morning, I felt compelled to look back. I wanted names. It feels necessary to speak the names today.
Anyway, my mother's family history has proven much easier to navigate. She's a Cowan and Rankin through her father. I'm now diving into the Whites specifically though, my mother's maternal lineage. The name I carry.
It’s 4pm. I’ve found almost all of my 3x great grandparents. In North Carolina on my mother’s side. The wildest discovery is that our family church is on land that was the plantation where my ancestors worked. That’s enough for today.
