French and European Matches

Although we are mainly interested in the African origins of the Haitian people, it is so much easier to look into European or European-descended DNA matches. In order to explore the French ancestry of Haitians, we focused on shared French-descended (or French Canadian, Belgian, and one Dutch person who appears to be of Belgian or French origin) individuals on Ancestry and My Heritage. Sadly, Ancestry does not have features that allow one to see where exactly and on which chromosomes user are aligned with their matches. My Heritage, however, has that feature. One can even triangulate quickly and easy for shared matches on the same segment. Thus, using My Heritage, Gedmatch, DNA Painter, and Ancestry, we compiled a quick table breaking down the French-affiliated matches.

Unsurprisingly, most are from France. And most of the matches were aligned on a segment of Chromosome 2 designated as "France" by Ancestry. Interestingly, this very same segment is something we share with a distant cousin whose ancestor was a brother or cousin of my great-great-grandfather. We suspect some of this French ancestry can be correlated with the Gaury or other free people of color who lived in Bainet in the 1700s. However, many of the other French matches shared a segment with us categorized as "Spain" by Ancestry. Most of these fell on Chromosome 4, a segment we also share with a Haitian with roots in the valley section of Bainet. We suspect the "Spain" category is misreading "France" but there is undoubtedly some overlap between Spain and France on these types of tests. What was more surprising was the presence of Belgian and a single Dutch match, although one can see genetic overlap between France and Belgium for myriad reasons.

Overall, the matches are usually small. But, this is to be expected when speaking of Haitians whose last French ancestors lived in the 1600s and 1700s. Since we share these matches with our Haitian parent, we assume most of these matches are Identical by Descent, too. Sadly, we lack something similar for African matches to fully explore that far more relevant and significant part of the Haitian origin story. Nonetheless, we have some theories now about the French ancestry of Haitians.

Peruvian Indigenous Match

Although our shared DNA segments with Peruvians and South American Indians are usually rather small, one of the larger, more reliable ones with with a Peruvian (judging by the Quechua surname and their other matches, although Bolivian origin is also possible, perhaps). Moreover, this person's shared segment with us is actually along a segment identified as "Indigenous Puerto Rico" by Ancestry, not Indigenous Bolivia and Peru. Although only 6.8 cM, we suspect it is picking up on the deeper, shared ancestry between the indigenous people who populated the Caribbean and their South American mainland cousins found in parts of Andean and lowland tropical South America. Our other matches above 6 cM with South American indigenous people had lower SNP counts and densities, so we suspect this Peruvian match is somewhat more reliable. Checking the matched segment on Gedmatch's chromosome compare features and DNA painter also points to the shared segment falling along our "Indigenous Puerto Rico" segment on part of Chromosome 14.

Francisque dit Omore of Borno

We are always on the hunt for more information on Borno and its Diaspora across the world, especially before the 19th century. Whilst perusing digitized French National Archive records of the 18th century slave and free people of color population living in metropolitan France, we encountered Francisque dit Omore. He was, by 1777, a free man, married to a white laundress, and working as a domestic in Paris for the marquis de la Solard. Unfortunately, piecing together more of his life and origins in Borno is difficult. However, it is exceedingly likely that he was a victim of the trans-Saharan slave trade. However, unlike many black Africans trafficked to Tripoli, he did not end up shipped to the Levant or Turkey. Instead, he was sold or transported to Malta, where a Frenchman, Pons-François de Rosset de Fleury, purchased him. This European man brought him to France by 1757, where he continued to work for Fleury until his death in 1774. By 1777, it is clear that Francisque was a free man, married to a European woman, and could sign his name. Intriguingly, he chose to sign it as Omor instead of Francisque or Francois. If Omor was an attempt at writing his name in Borno, perhaps Umar, then he still preferred to identify by his original name despite 20 years of living in Europe as a baptized man.

Sadly, trying to uncover more of Francisque dit Omore's Bornoan origins will be very difficult. His age is difficult to establish with certainty. If he truly was 39 years old in 1777, then perhaps he was born in 1738. Alternatively, if he was registered in 1762 as "Francois" of "Borno" as a "lackey" and slave of Fleury, he may have been born in or around 1734. It is probable that he was indeed from Birni Gazargamo, Borno's vast capital city with an even vaster district that encompassed many settlements. Regardless of when in the 1730s he was born, Francisque dit Omore was lived through troubled times in Borno. According to Nur Alkali, a drought that lasted several years coveredthe period of 1738-1753. With drought came famine, including one remembered during the reign of Dunama Gana (r. 1744-1747). Moreover, the drought led to population shifts of nomadic populations like the Jetko, Tubu, Koyam, and Fulani. Undoubtedly, a period of continued drought, famine, and pressure on both nomadic and sedentary agriculturalists probably triggered conflicts, including some that led to slave raids and kidnappings. When one considers the signs of weakness in the face of Tuareg and other raiders or the eventual loss of Borno control of the salt trade at Bilma by 1759, it is perhaps understandable how Francisque dit Omore of Birni Gazargamo may have been captured or sold into slavery during such an unstable time.

Bengal, Saint-Domingue, France

An example of how Asian Indians moved to colonial Haiti can be found in the life of a Bengal native, René Marie Antoine Zamor, Indien, du Bengale. France's National Archives contains digitized collections of the declarations of enslaved and free people of color in France, including a number of Saint Domingue blacks or mixed-race people. But let's return to the topic at hand. Only 14, the young Indian man was brought to France in 1773. He then went to Saint-Domingue, where his "owner" was in the military. He later returned to France in 1776. One can see here how Asian Indian slaves sometimes arrived in Saint-Domingue. 

Further Explorations of Bainet Matches

Looking into shared matches with roots in Bainet on My Heritage has been interesting, too. What became immediately apparent when looking at surnames is the shared ancestry of multiple families with roots in the valley sections of Bainet and Jacmel. This is no surprise, but it was intriguing to see how we are related to different people with the last common ancestors living in the 1700s or 1800s. For instance, our parent, born in Bainet, has a match with a surname common in the valley section of Bainet. Moreover, they share 34.9 cM of DNA on a segment of the fifth chromosome assigned to "Spain" and "Western Bantu" peoples. The very same segment overlaps with shared DNA with another person from Bainet, who also has roots in the valley section of Bainet. 

Our Haitian parent likewise matches a number of other people through shared European ancestry classified as "Spain" by Ancestry. Indeed, that shared segment connects myself, our parent, and 5 others with roots in Bainet. However, this shared segment of common European ancestry is usually rather small, ranging from 12.3 cM to 18.5 cM. Looking at the surnames in posted genealogies, they all point to families from the valley who must descend from free people of color in the 1700s. Surnames like Boursiquot, Payen, and Dure support this. Naturally, on 23andme, this segment is more correctly identified as "French & German" rather than Spain. Similarly, a shared match with roots in Bainet has a segment of shared DNA on Chromosome 20 that is identified as "French & German" on 23andme instead of the "Spain" category used by Ancestry. 

African Matches on My Heritage

Although we are by no means fans of My Heritage, their features at least allow one to see where on their chromosomes they share segments of DNA with others. Using this feature allowed us to see where and how our Haitian parent matched different Africans. Regrettably, we could only find a few on their My Heritage DNA matches (and none were shared by me). Surprisingly, one was a match on 23andme, too (Yoruba 2) while the others were unknown. The overall results are consistent with the general pattern of African DNA matches observed previously. More than half are of Nigerian origin (Yoruba and Igbo) with 1 representative of Central Africa and one from Upper Guinea. The Bight of Benin and southeastern Nigeria are clearly major sources of her ancestry. However, we did not expect the Yoruba match to be the closest one (perhaps this is an issue with the user base including fewer Igbo Nigerians?). 

Overall, the segments of shared DNA as classified by Ancestry and mapped with DNA Painter meet expectations. The lone Congolese match shared a segment of DNA with her that was assigned "Western Bantu Peoples." The "Igbo" match, unsurprisingly, shared a segment assigned to "Nigeria." The Wolof match was somewhat ambiguous since the person appears to be only half Wolof. However, the most probable shared segment was assigned to "Mali" by Ancestry. The Yoruba matches appear to be most likely matches on Benin & Togo assigned segments. This is no surprise, although somewhat ambiguous since Yoruba are used for both "Nigeria" and "Benin & Togo" by Ancestry. However, the largest segment of shared DNA, with Yoruba 2, is almost certainly along a segment assigned to "Benin & Togo."

L’empire du Wagadu: état de la question

Boubacar Séga Diallo's L’empire du Wagadu: état de la question was rather underwhelming. We were expecting a condensed version of his thesis that draws more heavily on Soninke oral traditions, linguistics, and archaeology to sketch a fuller picture of the historical state of Ghana (Wagadu) known from external Arabic sources. However, the reader mainly receives a summary on the history of Wagadu with occasional references to oral traditions, archaeological evidence from Kumbi or Mali, and some undefended assertions about topics like the antiquity of caste or the prevalence of slavery in ancient Soninke society. Perhaps, if Diallo's thesis is published, the reader can benefit from a West African scholars deep exploration of Soninke tradition in light of other types of evidence. Without that, we are sadly left with a very brief summary that also repeats the typical line of Almoravid victory over Ghana. It would also have been interesting if the author tried to speculate about the magico-religious powers of the rulers of Wagadu and how that shaped the political structure of the state.

"Berber" Ancestry

A feature Ancestry and 23andme must (re)introduce is a chromosome browser that shows the user where exactly their DNA matches another user's. MyHeritage, which is less accurate, already offers this feature for free. However, since their DNA estimates are less accurate, we are forced to use DNA Painter's features to copy the chromosome breakdowns from 23andme or Ancestry to see the assigned "ethnicity" for sections of each chromosome. This convoluted process creates more work, and should be something available for free on Ancestry and 23andme. Doing so would illuminate how exactly one shares DNA with other users. This feature on My Heritage shows us, for instance, where we share DNA with North Africans. In the above example, with someone of Algerian heritage, we share 9.3 cM of DNA on a section of my third chromosome assigned to "North African" by Ancestry. This suggests that we likely harbor small amounts of "Amazigh" ancestry that can still be matched with random people from Morocco and Algeria. In our case, since we do not know of any recent admixture, we assume this is from one (or two) of 2 scenarios: ancient "Guanche" admixture from ancestors who came to the Caribbean via the Canary Islands or via ancient "Berber" admixture in parts of the Iberian Peninsula which contributed to the early peopling of the Spanish Caribbean. Either way, the fact that we have found multiple matches who share segments of DNA on parts of our chromosomes assigned to "North Africa" suggests "Berber" admixture. We need this feature to facilitate understanding of our West and Central African matches from places like Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and other countries. It would also be very useful when looking at matches who are a mix of different African nationalities.

North African Ancestry Via Chromosome Painting

Using DNA Painter and North Africa matches on My Heritage, we have been able to locate distant matches on segments classified as "Northern Africa" by Ancestry. Naturally, all the matches are quit distant (8.2 cM to 9 cM), but it confirms that some of these matches we found on Ancestry probably are due to shared North African ancestry, even if it is most likely identical by state matches. Three of the matches are assigned to Chromosome 3, but one is on Chromosome 1. In addition, two other North Africans are DNA matches based on shared segments assigned to "Spain" or "Portugal" on Ancestry.

Most of the North Africa matches shared segments assigned to "Northern Africa" on our third chromosome. All three appear to be Moroccans living in Europe. With two of them, we share the same segment of DNA while the one who shares 9cM has a somewhat longer segment in common, encompassing most of the "Northern Africa" segment on the chromosome. Since we do not have any known Canary Islander ancestry, we suspect the North African admixture here is a testament to the centuries of North African interactions with the Iberian peninsula, probably dating back to medieval times. 

If Ancestry one day gets its act together and shows users which segments they match others on, searching African DNA matches will be even more informative and useful. Our hope is to one day pursue this with West and Central African matches. It would be amazing to explore this with the West African ancestry of Haitians.

Pocos Indios en Puerto Rico (1563)

A 1563 letter by the governor of Puerto Rico complained that the few Indians left on the island refused to work for whites. Part of the correspondence of colonial governors of Puerto Rico compiled by Alvaro Huerga in the first volume of Cartas de Gobernadores, one can surmise that the few Indians left on the island of Puerto Rico sought to live and work independently of the colonial elites. Unsurprisingly, they refused to work for whites for the meager wages offered. The only problem here is that one is left unsure if most of these "few Indians" were locals or emancipated Indian slaves still on the island, or perhaps a combination of the two. 

Shared DNA Segments with Bainet Kin

One thing we are only novices with is using DNA painter and chromosome browsers more effectively. For instance, trying to use it to gain possible insights into our Bainet ancestry is something we have only just begun to investigate. Doing so has been made possible by using close Haitian DNA matches on Ancestry who are also present on Gedmatch to see on which chromosomes we share DNA. One example to came to us via a very distant cousin who appears to descend from a brother or cousin of our great-great-grandfather. We are still waiting for confirmation of exactly how our great-great-grandfather was related to the ancestor of this distant cousin. We know both our great-great-grandfather and this cousin's ancestor were born in the 1860s and late 1850s (c.1857), and both were artisans at least at one point in their lives. Moreover, they also shared the same surname. However, we are still waiting for confirmation of exactly how the two men were related (brothers or cousins?).

Nonetheless, both myself and my Haitian parent match this same Haitian woman with roots in Bainet. Indeed, she descends from the same man related to my great-great-grandfather as my godmother. Unsurprisingly, my Haitian parent shares even more DNA with this woman (85 cM versus my 23 cM on Ancestry). Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that the areas of my 2nd, 4th and 9th chromosomes which match this woman are all assigned to Benin & Togo, Senegal and France by Ancestry DNA. The longest segment, at 14.2 cM on Gedmatch, is Benin & Togo on the 2nd chromosome. This information may contain clues to the deeper origins of our main lineage in Bainet. It would appear that Benin & Togo, Senegal, and French heritage are part of that deeper origin of our great-great-grandfather (and, to some unknown extent, another great-great-grandparent who was a Francois). Our great-great-grandfather was only 2 generations removed from colonial Saint-Domingue. The French ancestry likely came from his father's mother's family, the Gaury. But the "Senegal" and Benin & Togo likely reflect both his mother and father's lineages. What was more interesting was the shared segment of DNA between this person and our Haitian parent on another chromosome, assigned to "Nigerian Woodlands" by Ancestry DNA. Since Ancestry uses Tiv samples for that category, we assume that might, perhaps, be an indication of an eastern Middle Belt Nigerian lineage. 

Looking at another distant DNA match with roots in Bainet sheds light on our roots in the valley section. First of all, we noticed that the previous match does not share the second match with my parent and I. Also important is that the next match is someone with a father not from Jacmel, but a mother who hailed from the valley section of Bainet. Intriguingly, our longest segment of shared DNA, on chromosome 5, is along segments identified as Spain (also the same on 23andme's Chromosome Painter), Western Bantu Peoples, Indigenous Bolivia & Peru, and "Mali" by Ancestry. The next longest segment of shared DNA was on chromosome 7, for a segment assigned to "Indigenous Bolivia and Peru" by Ancestry. Finally, on chromsome 14 we shared a segment of DNA assigned to "Spain" by Ancestry. Since France is sometimes reported as Spain by Ancestry, we wonder to what extent we actually share French ancestry rooted in the valley section of Bainet among descendants of free people of color. A similar question arose for us when comparing a shared DNA match between myself and our Haitian parent with a white American with roots in Louisiana and another with a Haitian with roots in the valley of Jacmel. 

Wayuu DNA Match

Whilst playing around with Gedmatch, we came across some more recent kits for Wayuu peoples of South America. Since they appear to have been in contact or at least interacted with the Taino (or the ancestors of the Taino) based on linguistic evidence, we have always wondered if any Wayuu would match Caribbean peoples with indigenous ancestry genetically. Well, we seem to have encountered one we share 6.1 cM of DNA with on a segment of our second chromosome. Assigned to "Indigenous Puerto Rico" by Ancestry, this seems to suggest the indigenous component of Puerto Rican ancestry is similar to the genetics of the Wayuu and other Arawakan speakers of this part of South America. In order to confirm our findings, however, one must thoroughly check the segment and see if any other matches can be found there for indigenous segments in Puerto Ricans and Wayuu. Of course, one must also consider the large-scale slave trade of indigenous captives from the circum-Caribbean into the Caribbean by the Spanish during the 1500s. From the limited tools of Gedmatch, the shared segment appears to be "Amerindian" if one trusts admixture chromosome painting tools. However, there is only one Wayuu sample we share at least 6 cM of DNA with. 

On the Corner / New York Girl / Thinkin' of One Thing and Doin' Another / Vote for Miles

Although we have long appreciated "Black Satin" from this period in the music of Miles Davis, listening to all of On the Corner was a pure delight. This is Miles masterfully embracing new sound possibilities and creating some ethereal funk. Somehow, all the funk elements, Indian ornamentation, and unstoppable rhythm to combine to create a cosmic stew. 

Slaves of Jean Celin Cangé & Marguerite Butet

From the notarized records of Saint-Domingue, we were able to finally see an inventory for members of one of the very large families of free people of color. In this case, the Cangé. In 1773, after the death of Jean Celin Cangé, an inventory was written listing the goods of his estate. Obviously, their human property were also enumerated in the document. Alas, some of it is difficult to read due to the handwriting of the notary. Nonetheless, we were able to construct a quick table showing the numbers of slaves held by Cangé and his wife. Through our great-great-grandmother, we are probably descendants of members of the Cangé family and/or their chattel. 

We suspect Jean Celin Cangé was baptized in 1694, born to a presumably white father of Spanish origin and a black woman, Marie Therese Damelide. The latter may have been from one of the Spanish colonial territories (Santo Domingo? Veracruz?). In 1703, a census for the Jacmel area listed the father of Jean Celin as the owner of only 2 female slaves. Well, by 1773, the estate of the son held 14 slaves, only 3 children. Creoles were the largest group, but they were clearly not the wealthiest, most important planters in the Jacmel quartier. Indeed, some of their slaves were quite old, and the habitation only held 4 houses/shacks for the slaves. 

We will, obviously, need to see inventories and other records of property owned by different members of the Cangé to see to what extent members of the family became wealthy. One branch, at Petit-Harpon, was able to produce the Pierre Cangé who later fought in the Haitian Revolution. That branch built a coffee plantation with slave labor. Here, however, at the habitation situated near the rivière Gauche, the plantation ran by Celin and Butet grew cotton. We need to find more detailed notarized records for coffee plantations and other types of farms in the hills and valleys of the region, closer to our ancestral "roots" in the Bainet-Jacmel area.