New Hampshire Public Radio
By Jackie Harris
Genealogy can reveal surprises in our family tree. A few years ago, a collection of old family letters led to a discovery that connected two strangers across the country who learned their family histories were connected by slavery in New Hampshire: one, the descendant of a man who was enslaved in Portsmouth; the other, a descendant from the family that enslaved him.
Tonya Ward Singer, who lives in California, traced her history back to the Moffatt and Whipple families, who were prominent New Hampshire business people in the 1700s. Through old letters, she learned that her ancestors enslaved people, including a man named Prince Whipple. She traced down one of his descendants, Laurel Guild Yancey, in Georgia, to offer her genealogy research. Guild Yancey said she had no idea of her ancestry until Ward Singer contacted her, but she is proud of her family tree.
“They were pioneering people,” Guild Yancey said.
Prince Whipple fought in the Revolutionary War. In 1779 he and 19 other men who were from Africa and enslaved in New Hampshire petitioned the Legislature for their freedom and an end to slavery in the state. His wife, Dinah Chase Whipple, started the state’s first school for Black children in the Black Whipple home, and a University of New Hampshire program is named in her honor.
“So her legacy of being a pioneering woman and also a leader in the community goes forth into the 21st century,” Guild Yancey said.
Ward Singer says her work with national organizations Coming to the Table and Our Black Ancestry taught her not only how to do genealogical research on her ancestors, but how to reckon with her family’s history. She hopes that other white families like hers will also preserve, and make public, documents about their ancestors who enslaved people.
“In a lot of families, the Black history, the African American ancestors of people in our nation – it’s hidden in a family box. And sometimes the white family will burn it or hide it or give it away out of shame. Don’t do that,” Ward Singer says. “In the same way that it’s meaningful for any of us to connect to ancestors, you have precious information about somebody’s ancestors. And making that public is really, really important.”
NHPR’s Morning Edition producer Jackie Harris spoke with Guild Yancey and Ward Singer to learn more about their experiences and what lessons they’ve taken away from this journey into their family history.
I wish that the Fleming family who owned/ enslaved my maternal great grandmother would share their knowledge with me. The Fleming family name still appears in articles about the Lee family. This article gives me hope.