The Haitian Roots of Sonny Rollins (RIP)

Sonny Rollins, who recently passed away, was widely celebrated as one of the greatest saxophonists in jazz history. Less known was his Haitian heritage, something he was himself only dimly aware of — a grandfather named Dr. Solomon, glimpsed through interviews but never fully traced. The genealogical record, it turns out, tells a richer story. Through interviews, it was clear he was aware of a Haitian grandfather named Paul Solomon or Dr. Solomon. Well, it turns out there was a Haitian doctor named Paul Salomon who was rather prominent in Haitian medicine in the early decades of the 1900s. Exactly how the grandmother of Rollins met Dr. Paul Salomon is unclear, but it was likely during a time when the Haitian was in St. Thomas. Indeed, the 1905 baptism entry for Sonny's mother, Valborg Solomon, indicates her parents were Miriam Walcott and Paul Solomon, the latter a doctor in Haiti. Thanks to the genealogical records digitized on Ancestry, one can find the baptismal data for Valborg Solomon, Sonny's mother. 

We cannot read Danish and haven't found clear evidence of Paul Salomon in Saint Thomas yet. However, one court record in Danish from Ancestry's database does indeed name a Paul Solomon, possibly the same person) before 1905. We were unable to find any evidence of Miriam Walcott residing in Haiti, so it's likely she met Paul Salomon when he spent time in St. Thomas. 

But who was Paul Salomon? Dr. Salomon was born in Coteaux, Haiti to Salomon fils and a mother surnamed Brejot, a widow. Thanks to digitized natal records at the Family Search website, one can date the registration of Paul Salomon's birth to the year 1871. His father was not yet the communal magistrate of Coteaux. Moreover, due to how common Salomon as a surname was, we have not yet been able to confirm any relationship between Salomon fils and the Salomons of Les Cayes, who are ultimately descendants of a noir from Martinique (see L'état haïtien et ses intellectuels by  Délide Joseph). 

The parentage of Paul Salomon is also confirmed by his marriage in 1901 to Louise Momplaisir in Port-au-Prince. Interestingly, the young doctor was married to a politically connected wife who was also related to the Salomon of Les Cayes. Louise Momplaisir's mother, Antoinette Salomon, may have been a relative of Paul Salomon's father. 

Indeed, the earlier marriage record for Maximilien Momplaisir and Antoinette Salomon named her father as Pierre Etienne Lusimond Salomon of Les Cayes. This makes Paul Salomon's wife a descendant of the Salomons of Les Cayes. Once again, evidence for Paul's father hailing from the same family is lacking but possible. 

Records from Port-au-Prince also show that Paul Salomon fathered "natural" children with women he did not marry. The above case is for a child named Jean Joseph Paul Arthur. He also recognized a daughter born in 1894 named Marie Françoise Alice Salomon, born to the same mother. 

Some of Paul Salomon's children in Haiti served in the government, too. One of his children,  René Salomon, even ran for president in the elections of 1957. We believe this man, Dr. Paul Salomon's son, was therefore not a grandson of President Salomon. This child of Dr. Salomon appears in articles in Haiti Sun, currently available for browsing at the Digital Library of the Caribbean. We suspect this man was the one involved with the PSH, a group that mingled noirisme and socialism. 

Lastly, despite Paul Salomon traveling to or through New York City a number of times, Sonny Rollins apparently never met him. Indeed, one must assume that there was no contact at all between Valborg and her father, even after she had permanently moved to New York. 

Luckily, a group photo from the Medical School in Port-au-Prince does show what Paul Salomon looked like. He appears to have been the second from the right in the front row of this picture, next to Justin Dorsainvil. Although it seems unlikely, one wonders if Sonny Rollins ever looked up his maternal grandfather and identified him. It is almost certainly this Paul Salomon who was named in the baptismal record for his mother. 

23andMe Chromosome Segment Sharing

Since hearing about 23andMe finally bringing back the chromosome browsing feature that allows one to see one's matches with DNA Relatives on the site, we checked it out for our account (and that of our Haitian parent). For us, unfortunately, 23andMe still maxes out one's DNA matches at 5000. This means that the overwhelming majority of matches I have on that site are those sharing my "Hispanic" roots. For African matches, our Haitian parent has more luck. We were able to browse a number of them and see the shared segments with people from Nigeria, Congo (via South Africa), Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, and other places. 

Interestingly, we saw that our Haitian parent shares a segment of DNA on their X chromosome that overlaps with that of a Fulani person (judging from surname) who is likely from Sierra Leone and someone else from Sierra Leone who is possibly Temne (inferring from surname). And through our Haitian parent's account, we saw that we share the Temne person as a match (even though 23andMe doesn't actually list this person in my DNA Relatives). In any case, the shared segments were always small (11.37 cM for the Temne, 11.58 cM for the Fulani). So, through our Haitian parent's side, we appear to have a female ancestor who was possibly from a Temne-like (or adjacent group) background who was trafficked to Saint Domingue. We assume the Fulani shares this Temne-like ancestry with us. But to make things more surprising, our parent did share a segment of DNA with another Fulani on the second chromosome that was assigned as "Senegambian and Guinean."

In terms of the paper trail, the colonial parish registries, runaway slave ads and notarized contracts or plantation inventories list a number of "nations" from what is now Sierra Leone and Liberia. Some examples include the Timbou, Mamou, Susu, and Mende. Cangas, Mesurades, Miserables, Bouriquis, and more from the Liberian and Ivory Coast regions were also present in the colony, according to Moreau de Saint-Mery. 

We will likely keep exploring this new shared segment viewing feature to explore our Haitian parent's matches with Liberians, Nigerians, and Ghanaians. It is just unfortunate that the Historical Matches feature doesn't allow for this. Nor can one see specific shared segments used by 23andMe to assign the African Genetic Group matches that appear in the Ancestry Composition breakdown. Adding these features would make the site more useful and important for genealogical research. 

Ancestry Timeline Feature

 

Although it obviously can't be interpreted literally, the timeline feature of 23andMe shows you the possible most recent ancestor who fell into one of the assigned categories. Most of these are plausible for Caribbean people with roots in Haiti and the Spanish Caribbean. And as indicated here, the indigenous ancestry is from far deeper in time. The South Asian here is probably noise while "Swedish" is presumably due to overlap with western European or Iberian populations. In addition, the Senegambian & Guinean being dated earlier in time is also consistent with the large numbers of Senegambian captives brought to Saint Domingue earlier in the French colonial period.

23andme Sub-Saharan African Ancestry

Since hearing mostly positive things about 23andme's new African Genetic Groups, we decided to finally do it. Since our African ancestry is mainly inherited through our Haitian parent, our results were, unsurprisingly, similar to theirs. However, we are about 50% sub-Saharan African and all our African Genetic Group matches are distant (our parent had a very close one with the Igbo). Nonetheless, it was interesting to see how 23andme's overall regional estimates are similar to Ancestry's. We are mainly of West African ancestry with an emphasis on Nigeria (southeastern and southwestern) and Ghana, Sierra, Leone, Liberia. Since 23andme lacks a Benin and Togo region, our results are split in a slightly different way for the Bight of Benin-derived ancestry so many Haitians have. 

Moving on to the Genetic Groups, they are broadly consistent with the matching patterns we noted for ourselves and our Haitian parent on Ancestry. They are mainly consistent with Igbo and Yoruba Nigerians, Ewe, Ga and other Ga-Dangme, Sierra Leone (mainly for our Haitian parent), and Liberia. Since, again, 23andme does not yet have reference samples for more populations in Benin and Togo (and many other regions), our Ewe, Ga-Dangme peoples and Ga people matches are probably hinting at ancestors who were trafficked to the coast from this general vicinty. 

Likewise, the Yoruba people match for our Nigerian Genetic Groups is perhaps another reference to Bight of Benin-derived ancestry from populations not well-represented in 23andme's database. The Igbo people match is also hardly surprising since we shared an Igbo match with our Haitian parent for a higher than average amount of cM on Ancestry. Unfortunately, we did not receive any genetic groups for Central Africa or Senegambia and Guinea. Hopefully future updates will add more populations.

Dunama Dibalemi and Kaday b. Dunama

 

Although much stronger evidence is required, possible hints as to Dunama Dibalemi (r. 1210-1248) before his ascent to the throne may be found in a mahram. Translated in Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan, this "Mahram of the N'Galma Duku" was first issued during the reign of Dunama Dibalemi's father, Salmama (r. 1182-1210). Included within the mahram is a list of witnesses (p. 20. This very list contained a yerima named Dunama ibn Tsilim. Tsilim is actually another variant for Salma, or Salmama, referring to this ruler's dark skin. However, this charter of privilege for the descendants of Abd ul Lahi Dili ibn Bikuru likely dates to the 18th or 19th century. It was allegedly renewed several times by later Sayfawa maiwa, the last one named as the Ali ibn Dunama (r. 1747-1792). Consequently, it is dangerous to make too many assumptions about this document without seeing an original Arabic text and other possible copies, if any survived. Nonetheless, if the list of witnesses to the original act is accurate, it suggests Dunama Dibalemi may have first served as a yerima. Since this position in later centuries always went to a free-born son of a princess and encompassed responsibilities for northern territory or defense, Dunama was likely well-equipped to handle trans-Saharan and northern affairs by the time he became king.

Unfortunately, another problem exists: if Dunama Dibalemi's father was named Salma ibn Bikuru in the mahram, would his name later be given as Tsilim? According to later sources, Salma's name was sometimes rendered Tsilim, leading us to suspect the list of witnesses to the original act may have been based on oral traditions or a later copy used the variant Tsilim instead of Salma. Nachtigal's list, for instance, uses the name Tsilim. Salma is also referred to as Tsilim multiple times in Palmer's Sudanese Memoirs and Bornu Sahara and Sudan. If the mahram really was a 19th century or 18th century copy, perhaps the list of witnesses was adapted to fit their later rendering of Salma (or Salmama) as Tsilim. Alternatively, Salma (or Salmama) may not have originally been linked to the word for a dark-skinned person. Lange, in his study of the Diwan, suggests another etymology linking the name to the Arabic word for peace. 

One also worries about the other son of Tsilim listed among the witnesses: Mabarlad ibn Tsilim. Since the position of tegoma appears to have disappeared, we cannot figure out what his responsibilities were. However, it is interesting to note that Mabarlad's name slightly resembles the son of Salma named earlier in the mahram: Mabradu. Is this a possible example of names garbled in later copies of the mahram or a possible error in Palmer's translation? Again, we would love to see copies of the original or any variant manuscripts to check the name. If we are indeed speaking of the same person as a witness, which is not impossible since the benefactor, a learned imam, had taught the Mabradu, then this could be further evidence that Dunama ibn Tsilim was indeed the yerima. Of course, the mystery is why the chiroma, or heir, was named Nigale ibn Sa'ad. If the chiroma was usually a son or brother of the mai, one would expect another ibn Tsilim or perhaps ibn Bukur.

Despite these aforementioned problems, the Diwan does suggest the list of witnesses for the mahram included people significant during the reigns of Dunama Dibalemi and his sons. Thus, Kaday b. Dunama, who reigned likely in the years 1248-1277, was said to be the son of M.t.la, or Matala, in the Diwan. His maternal grandfather was named Yun.s of the M.gh.r.ma tribe (p. 72). Well, this tribe, which Lange saw as the Magumi, were said to have also been the tribe of Dabali, the mother of Dunama Dibalemi. Furthermore, in the list of witnesses, a talba was present whose name was Yunus. The talba was a chief magistrate and important official in the Sayfawa court. Furthermore, he was of the same tribe or clan as Dunama Dibalemi's mother. Dabali, whose father was Batku, may have been the daughter of the Batku who was a brother of Abd Allah Bakaru, who likely reigned from c.1166-1182. If so, then Dunama Dibalemi's father was related to his mother. Then, in the next generation, Kaday b. Dunama's parents may have been related. Since Kaday b. Dunama's mother was the daughter of a talba in the court of Dunama Dibalemi's father, it was likely easier for her to ensure his succession in c.1248. Unfortunately, we know little about Matala, though Muhammad Nur Alkali believed she was essential in preparing him for leadership (p. 74). 

Unfortunately for Kaday b. Dunama, a rival son of Dunama Dibalemi likely contested his authority and succeeded in establishing his own descent group. The Diwan does not give the full tale, but Kaday was assassinated by someone named Dunama, likely a dignitary or person in government. Afterwards, the throne went to Bir b. Dunama, a son of Dunama Dibalemi with Zaynab. According to the Lange translation, Bir b. Dunama died at Njimi in c.1296 (p. 73). His successor was a son, Ibrahim, whose mother was a "Kunkuna." He was violently murdered and thrown into a river or stream by a yerima. Then a son of Kaday was able to ascend to the throne. Named Abd Allah b. Kaday, he actually ordered the execution of the people near Diskama who saw the naked corpse of his cousin. Descendants of Abd Allah b. Kaday held the throne until c. 1342, when Idris b. Ibrahim became mai. Several of his predecessors had short reigns and died in conflicts with the Sao (p. 75). Thus, from c.1248 to c. 1342, power was contested between two descent groups originating among Dunama Dibalemi's 2 sons. The last direct descendant of Kaday b. Dunama to reign was Muhammad b. Abd Allah, who only reigned for a year after dying in a war against the Sao.

Although our own speculative reading of the "Mahram of N'Galma Duku" offers possible clues to the origins of Dunama Dibalemi's rise to political power and how his son Kaday was favored for succession, further evidence is required. It nonetheless suggests that a consolidation of the Magumi royal clan took place during this period (late 12th century and early 13th century). Furthermore, the function of yerima held by Dunama Dibalemi before coming to the throne would have prepared him well for governing the northern lands of Kanem. This would have meant contact with traders from the north through secure routes as well as moments of tension or collaboration with Tubu and (Tuareg?) Berbers. The central role of Kawar in Kanem's trans-Saharan trade and ensuring security may have been part of his remit. Furthermore, by ensuring his successor was also a Magumi through his mother and possibly a talba in the court of his father who was a relative, Dunama may have believed he was ensuring power remained in a close-knit descent group. Sadly, it did not last very long as dynastic conflict arose among the descendants of his two sons for nearly a century. It has been suggested that Dunama may have placed his sons or many descendants in posts of authority around the empire, which may have initially worked when a strong, dynamic father could exert some influence. But once he left the scene, squabbles over the throne and wars with the Sao plagued Kaday's descendants. 

Haitian African Updates (2025)

 

Our Haitian parent's updated results in Ancesty are essentially unchanged. Benin & Togo increased by 2% while Nigeria, Ivory Coast & Ghana, and Western Bantu Peoples each declined by 1%. They retained their minor estimates of new regions from last year (Yorubaland, North-Central Nigeria, Nigerian Woodlands). Our African ancestry through Haiti seems to largely consist of captives sold to Europeans from the Slave Coast and Bight of Biafra. 

Ancestry 2025 Update (Africa)

Although we knew Africa was not the focus of the 2025 update for Ancestry, we still thought there might be some changes. Instead, with the exception of a decrease of 1% for Senegal, our sub-Saharan African estimates are essentially the same. For our Haitian parent, nothing changed either except for a minor increase in their Benin & Togo estimate (up by 2%). They retained their minor estimates for various smaller regions while we still have a division of "Nigeria" into Central Nigeria, North-Central Nigeria and Nigeria. 

None of this is too surprising. It looks like the 2025 update is largely unchanged from the 2024 update. And as we already expected, we are more West African than Central African In fact, it would appear that our Haitian parent and I harbor substantial ancestry derived from the Slave Coast and Bight of Biafra, which is also backed by the records of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Saint Domingue (colonial Haiti). I personally find it intriguing that so little sub-Saharan African ancestry was passed on through the Hispanic side.

The only real change to our African ancestry was the inflated North Africa estimate of 4%. The first time we got our results, the estimate was 2%. Then, following the update, it dropped to 1%. Inexplicably, it shot up to 4% this year. While we did see an estimate of 1% Canary Islands, we doubt we have substantial :Guanche" ancestry that might explain this. It seems like the creation of new areas for Spain and the Iberian peninsula altered or created problems for other nearby regions or categories. Indeed, this might be why we suddenly see a 2% Sephardic Jewish estimate while previous updates never included that. Of course, we do have very distant Sephardic Jewish matches from the eastern Mediterranean or North Africa as well as North African Muslim matches...

On the Pedraza (Pedrasa)

Although the documentary trail is incomplete, it looks like one of our forebears was a descendant a family that frequently married cousins in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Pedraza. The earliest one we can find is a Lorenzo Pedraza, who died in 1812. His wife, Rafaela de Arroyo, passed away in 1800, in Caguas. We also know that a son of this couple, Hilario Pedrasa de Arroyo, married a Dorotea de Sierra Pedrasa in 1788 (also in Caguas). Since Dorotea's mother was a Juana Pedrasa and Hilario's father also a Pedrasa, we think the two were probably related. 

We believe that Hilario Pedrasa and Dorotea de Sierra were the parents of the Ramona Pedraza we are interested in. According to the parish books of San Lorenzo, a Ramona Pedraza, daughter of Hilario and Dorotea, married Domingo Montanez (son of Juan and Maria Reyes) in 1813. The Montanez and Pedraza have a long history in the 18th and 19th centuries, at least in the area of Caguas and San Lorenzo. We believe the daughter of Domingo Montanez and Ramona Pedraza, married a Montanez who likely descends from the same lineage. 

This daughter, Isabel or Ysabel Montanez Pedraza, married a Guillermo Diaz of Guayama. According to the little we could find in the parish books, Guillermo Diaz was a hijo natural of a Isabel Diaz. We know both were pardos or morenos. Fortunately, a number of documents assert that the parents of Ysabel Montanez Pedraza were Domingo and Ramona Pedraza, pardos libres. Ysabel's death certificate from the late 1800s also identifies her father as a Domingo Montanez. 

To make things even more confusing, a Maria Ramona Pedraza was said to have married a Ramon Benitez in 1821. Get this, Maria Ramona Pedraza's parents were listed by the parish priest in San Lorenzo as Hilario and a Teodora (Dorotea?) Sierra! Perhaps Ramona remarried then or there was a mix-up  on the part of the parish priest.

If our theory is correct, then Domingo Montanez's parents were Juan Montanez and Maria Reyes. Now we need to find out the origins of Isabel Diaz, Guillermo's mother. The Pedraza and Montanez appear to have been related and marrying each other since the second half of the 1700s, but the origins of the Diaz line remains a mystery. Furthermore, we were unable to determine the origins of Lorenzo Pedraza, the father of Hilario. 

Igbo DNA Matches

One thing we have been interested in ever since our Haitian parent's 23andme results came in was the Igbo connection with Haiti. As we have indicated through our exploration of notarized records mentioning slave origins in the Sud-Est of Haiti, the "Ibo" were a consistent presence among the enslaved African population in Bainet in the 1700s. Perhaps many if not most were acquired via smuggling with the British in Jamaica, since the coast of southeastern Nigeria was not frequently used by the French slave traders of the 18th century. One also notices that Igbo matches are the most frequent sub-Saharan group for both our parent and myself. Indeed, my parent and I even share one Igbo match, the only sub-Saharan African we match with at least 20 cM of shared ancestry among our matches. Intriguingly, our Haitian parent likewise matched 4 members of a single Igbo family on Ancestry. 

An additional plus of Ancestry's match features is the ability to view posted family trees. Perusing these trees indicated that most of our parent's Igbo matches have roots in 3 parts of Igboland: Abia, Imo and Anambra. Unfortunately, some family trees were not public or were not posted at all, but the results are suggestive enough as is. These three regions, all contiguous or nearby each other, may suggest our Igbo forebears hailed from the same region. Of course, people have moved around since the 1700s and there could be other factors at play here. However, some of these matches appear to have deep roots in these areas, particularly 4 matches from a single family with roots in Abia. If their family tree, which seems to stretch back into the 1800s, is a reliable indicator, they likely have roots in this part of southeastern Nigeria in the 1700s. 

On 23andme, Our Haitian parent only had 5 Igbo matches we could find (plus 2 individuals whose surname suggests Ibibio origins). We foolishly did not keep a record of birthplaces for specific areas or regions of southeastern Nigeria, but the Ibibio matches appear to have roots in Akwa Ibom and were higher matches than any of the Igbo. We wonder if this could also indicate Ibibio ancestry, although we lack any matches with chromosome browser features to explore the connection. 

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.

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."

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. 

23andme African Matches

Our Haitian relative's African matches are quite similar to their results on Ancestry DNA. One conspicuous difference is that she now has fewer (obvious) Yoruba matches. She also had fewer Upper Guinean matches, the only example here being someone with a Fulani surname (common in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Gambia) who she shares 0.17% of her DNA (she also matches another Fulani with 0.12% shared DNA). That person's results were 53.6% Senegambian & Guinean, 29.6% Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone and 7.6% Nigeria, so we cannot say with greater certainty where exactly in West Africa they hail from. The few matches from Central Africa (Congo) were also consistent with her matching patterns on the other site, too. Intriguingly, there were a few "exotic" matches, including one with a North African or Egyptian who harbored significant sub-Saharan African ancestry (including 12.5% Nigerian). The other match was with a half-white Kenyan Kikuyu, but we did not include them in the results since the match could be due to shared European ancestry. For similar reasons, a half-Yoruba British person was excluded, since the shared DNA could also be partly due to European ancestry.

What was a surprise to see here was matches with people from Calabar and other parts of southern Nigeria outside majority Igbo areas. Nonetheless, they were mainly clustered in southeastern Nigeria, which seems to match the Ancestry Composition report identifying Igbo as a "Very Close" genetic group (including various Nigerian ethnic groups, however).  As for the one obvious Yoruba match, it was with someone bearing a Muslim name. We suspect one of the unspecified Nigerian matches was also Yoruba. As for her Ghanaian match, it was with someone likely hailing from the Ga-Adangme group. The Congolese matches were with people whose exact ethnic background we could not determine based on surnames alone. 

As one might expect for a Haitian looking at distant genetic matches with modern African individuals, the amount of shared DNA is usually low. Surprisingly, the closest match was with someone at 0.54% shared DNA, with roots in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. It does seem rather likely that captives imported into Saint Domingue's southern coast (many likely smuggled by the British) included a large number from the Bight of Biafra and today's southeastern Nigeria.

African Ancestry in Bainet and 23andme

A very close Haitian relative born in Bainet recently received their 23andme DNA results. In some ways, it's a confirmation of our likely Igbo ancestry. Indeed, the Igbo people were the only specific African ethnic group detected as a very close match in our relative's results. This was not a surprise since our closest African DNA match on Ancestry DNA was with an Igbo Nigerian. Furthermore, the "Ibo" were a consistent and major part of the enslaved African population in Bainet and other areas of Haiti during the colonial period. 

An attempt to show how our relative's African ancestry is broken down in Ancestry's 2024 Update.

Thus, the genetic evidence as well as the historical records (notarial records mentioning slaves by nation, the patterns of the French slave trade, and the smuggling of captives from Jamaica to Haiti's southern coast) point to ancestry among Igbo and/or closely related peoples in southeastern Nigeria. However, just as on Ancestry DNA, our relative also had Yoruba Nigerian DNA matches with various customers. We likely descend from a plethora of individuals from various ethnolinguistic backgrounds across what is Benin, Togo, and Nigeria.

Sadly, the lack of a Benin/Togo category on 23andme leads to a more inflated Ghanaian score for our close relative. The 2024 Update for Ancestry DNA pointed to very strong "Benin & Togo" as well as "Nigeria" scores. Indeed, Ancestry DNA's problematic update even suggested or pointed to ancestry in the East-Central and northern Nigeria for our relative. But 23andme, however, only detected a close match with the Igbo. 23andme's algorithm also gave our relative a higher Senegambian/Upper Guinea score, which we suspect may be due to possible "Bambara" or "Mandingue" ancestry that may be registering as Sierra Leone and Liberia. Lastly, the overall 23andme scores suggest ancestry in West Central Africa is a rather small part of our African origins. And this is in spite of the ubiquitous presence of captives from West Central Africa in Saint Domingue. I guess people with roots in the South really do, on average, harbor less Central African ancestry.

An attempt at showing the regional breakdown of sub-Saharan African ancestry. The general patterns are similar to those observed via Ancestry's results.

One of the benefits of 23andme for understanding African ancestry is seeing assigned mtDNA haplogroups. Our relative's haplogroup, L1b1a, is common in sub-Saharan Africa. This is no surprise and seems consistent with the African ancestry of Haitians. The maternal ancestry of our people, after all, is undoubtedly an African affair. One only wishes 23andme could have indicated some possible distant matches for West and Central Africa to shed more light on our African ancestry. Perhaps a better idea of the distribution of L1b1a would have also helped here. Ultimately, we find some broad commonalities between Ancestry DNA and 23andme here, and both companies estimated our close relative at about 89-90% sub-Saharan African ancestry, overwhelmingly West African. 

North-Central Nigeria and Hausa Ancestry in Haiti

After reading Fonte Felipe's insightful comments on the 2024 Ancestry Update and its relevance for Afro-descended populations, like Haitians, we were inspired to check our matches through our Haitian side. I wanted to gather a very rough idea of how many Haitians who are matches (close and distant) received the new North-Central Nigeria category in their estimate. Since they used a large reference panel population that seems to be centered on the Hausa people (as well as some smaller groups in northern Nigeria), this is a step in the right direction for Ancestry to begin distinguishing between Northern Nigeria and southern Nigeria. Who knows, perhaps one day they will also have better data and include northeastern Nigerian groups like the Kanuri for full coverage of the vast Northern region. As for now, we at least know the North-Central Nigeria category includes Afizere, Anaguta, Atyap, Berom, Ham and Hausa. 

What strikes us in our brief attempt at tracking this new category in our Haitian matches was its rarity. Perhaps this was due to the update including other new categories that created more problems and hindered a better understanding of the West and Central African ancestry in African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Afro-Latin American populations. Nonetheless, the North-Central Nigeria category seems to be based on a large panel of over 500 people and, according to their map, correlates very strongly with the Hausaland region of northern Nigeria and southern Niger. Their map does not extend this category further east into Borno, so we assume they do not have any data on the Kanuri or those other groups yet. That the category does seem to correlate well with Hausa and northern Nigerian groups can perhaps be verified in its infrequent appearance. 

A cursory examination of all Haitians out of 1,612 matches, of which we searched for via family trees and typical Haitian surnames, only revealed 16 with the North-Central Nigeria, usually at 1% or 2%. The maximum, besides my own estimated 5%, was 4%. Only 3 of our matches had a score of 3% in the North-Central Nigerian category, including one second cousin. Since my Haitian side's matches present a probably disproportionately Sud-Est-centered view of Haitian genetic diversity, called Port-au-Prince to Western Department du Sud-Est, and there aren't as many Haitians taking these Ancestry DNA tests as other groups, one should only interpret this carefully. Nonetheless, it does match the rather limited or low historically attested presence of Hausa and northern Nigerian groups among the enslaved African population in Saint-Domingue. Intriguingly, we also came across distant matches with roots in Louisiana, often with French surnames, who had low amounts of North-Central Nigeria ancestry, too. This seems plausible given the documented presence of Hausa captives in Louisiana. One can check runaway slave notices for evidence of their presence there, too. And from what we could see with African Americans or Louisiana Creole matches on our Haitian side, the vast majority always had low estimates for North-Central Nigeria. 

Unfortunately, we did not search the matches on the Puerto Rican side as heavily. Since the documented Hausa presence in the Spanish Caribbean, to my knowledge, is only attested for Cuba, which, like Brazil, received many slaves from northern Nigeria during and after the wars and conflicts generated by Uthman Dan Fodio's jihad, we assumed most Puerto Ricans would have even less North-Central Nigeria than Haitians. We did find 4 close and distant relatives who did harbor North-Central Nigeria, but usually only at 1%. Nonetheless, we should probably explore the question of captives from Hausaland and other areas of today's northern Nigeria in Puerto Rico. After all, it's certainly possible that the smuggling and intra-Caribbean trade in slaves from other parts of the West Indies introduced some from the "Central Sudan" region. But we overall expect this to be far lower than Cuba and Brazil.

Which brings us to our final point. It will be interesting to see more data on Brazilians and Cubans with the update in North-Central Nigerian ancestry. We could be wrong in assuming too much here, but the rise of the Sokoto Caliphate and the conflicts that followed may have generated a notable increase in northern populations sold into slavery and reaching the Americas. By then, after 1804, a disproportionate share surely reached Cuba and Brazil. The British West Indies, however, also received its share. The documented presence of Hausas among the African Muslims in 19th century Trinidad, for example, is a topic explored by historians like Michael Gomez in Black Crescent. Indeed, we even have a brief ajami source written by a Philip Finlay, of Gobir, who lived in Trinidad. So we expect that some Afro-Caribbean, Cuban, and Brazilian groups will have some minor degree of Hausa ancestry. Jamaica was likewise the setting for a  possibly fictionalized or invented narrative written about a Katsina prince who was sold into slavery in Jamaica. Furthermore, there's the documented case of a West African Muslim enslaved in Jamaica who wrote an Arabic account of his background, indicating his mother's Hausa family's connections to Katsina and Borno.

The next step for Ancestry DNA should be to improve its process for identifying and distinguishing the major regions of Nigeria and including more northern populations. We would also love to see more data on how the North-Central Nigeria estimate varied for Haitians. After all, our own matches were biased toward the Sud-Est, so seeing more representative samples for Haitians might reveal some slight regional differences. 

Nos Ancetres les Gaulois?

Although we are mainly interested in the African and Amerindian components in the making of Caribbean peoples, we probably should reflect on European ancestry, too. After all, it undeniably shaped the Caribbean and the making of who we are. However, in our case, the vast majority of our European ancestry is from the Iberian peninsula, Spain and Portugal. This is no surprise for the Spanish Caribbean.. 

Where things get funky and problematic, however, is France. The update assigned us 2% France. The previous estimates did not include France at all, but rather a variety of Northwestern Europe and Sardinia, mainly inherited through our Haitian parent. We suspect Sardinia, which did not appear in her ethnicity estimate at all, may be misread France, just as Scotland, Wales, and England & Northwestern Europe were probably France. The 2024 update seems to have tried to be more accurate with delineating France from other parts of western Europe, with partial success. However, given what we know of our Haitian parent's ancestry, her minor European ancestry is mainly from France. Her original estimates recognized that to a certain degree by assigning her 5% France and then a mix of Northwestern and southwestern European locales (Portugal, Scotland, Wales, England). Strangely, in her 2024 update, our mother's European ancestry was mostly reclassified as Spain, and supposedly 2% of our Spain estimate derived from her. Now, she has only 1% France and I have 2%, which is obviously unlikely since the inheritance feature indicates our France estimate comes from her. How can I have 2% France from her 1%? We suspect the 2% Spain inherited from her and the 1% Sardinia score is also probably from France. 

Needless to say, the update was clunky and inaccurate in some ways, still struggling to distinguish France from other parts of Northwestern and Mediterranean Europe. Spain, in the case of my mother, was vastly exaggerated. Nonetheless, the update at least recognized France in the new estimates for myself. Can we still repeat our bad joke? Nos ancêtres les Gaulois can still be claimed? Bad jokes aside, we are still mainly interested in the African and indigenous background to Caribbean peoples and will continue to focus on such themes. 

African Ancestry Update

Although these popular genealogy/ancestry DNA tests should always be used cautiously, we do find Ancestry's 2024 update to be worthy of attention. They seem to be trying harder at distinguishing the various subregions of African countries. Thus, Nigeria, an enormous place occupied by a plethora of ethnic groups, finally has a number of new regions. It looks like other parts of sub-Saharan Africa may have to wait for a subsequent update to see this level of detail, but it's a step in the right direction. However, comparing our results and those of our Haitian parent to their previous results, we notice that the 2024 update seems to minimize Cameroon, Congo, and Western Bantu Peoples percentages. Since in both of our cases, our sub-Saharan African ancestry was always overwhelmingly West African, the latest update was not too different from past results. However, we wonder if the creation of new Nigeria regions may have absorbed some of the Cameroon that was previously lumped into the older category of Cameroon, Congo and Western Bantu Peoples. 

Unfortunately, in our case we did not see any African sub-regional breakdowns besides Central Nigeria and North-Central Nigeria, each one at an estimated 5%. Central Nigeria is "centered" upon the Niger-Benue Confluence region, stretching north and south to what seems to us as an unknown extent. This presumably overlaps with North-Central Nigeria, also assigned at 5%, which is centered on the area of Hausaland in northern Nigeria and southern Niger (but including the following ethnic groups: Afizere, Anaguta, Atyap, Berom, Ham and Hausa). Of course, there are other ethnic groups in Northern Nigeria, but North-Central seems to emphasize the Hausa in the north. Central Nigeria, on the other hand, remains a vague label, but based on the following groups as reference: Agatu (Idoma North), Ake, Alago (Idoma Nokwu), Arum, Bu, Eggon (Mo Egon), Gwandara, Mada, Mama, Mijili (aJijili), Ninzo, and Rindre . If the North-Central Nigeria percentage is accurate, however, perhaps we do have "Hausa" ancestry. After all, a small but noticeable number of Hausa were enslaved in Saint-Domingue. But far more Igbo were imported, and a Nupe presence was also present. Historian David Geggus found at least 227 Hausa in Saint-Domingue, plus another 60 "Gambari" based on his study of sex ratios of the enslaved population from 1721-1797. 

Jacmel Civil Registry During the Haitian Revolution

Although still not as detailed as we would like, we would like to explore more fully the civil registry of Jacmel and other parts of Haiti before independence, digitized through ANOM's website. These records, which now record more of the formerly enslaved population, sometimes contain rich information pertinent to historical and genealogical research. For instance, many of the people who appear in the marriages recorded in these years, from say, 1795-1803, were Africans who were married. These Africans give a nation of origin or country of origin, too, sometimes using the same colonial categories of African nations or other places we have never heard of. For example, where was Manboula? Or Zumbo? These African place names and ethnonyms might more accurately reflect how these people saw themselves, since they were no longer slaves but free people. In addition, sometimes records of their marriages record the ages and names of children they had who were born illegitimate. These were undoubtedly, in some cases, children born to the parents when both were enslaved. Someone with a lot of time and eager to peruse these records might be able to find some of their ancestors listed in these notices.

The person above is an example from Jacmel, recorded in 1801. The man, Jean Baptiste Maturin, was a Hausa around 40 years old who married a Creole woman. This record seems to be in accordance with the known demographics of the Hausa population in Saint Domingue. Said to be overwhelmingly male, these Hausa captives who did marry or have children did so with Creoles and other African nations in the colony. Sadly, the record doesn't go into more detail about what particular part of the "Aoussa" country Jean Baptiste Maturin hailed from. But other Africans who appear in these records from those revolutionary years may give more data and information. 

Inheritance Breakdown with Ancestry

Another fun aspect of Ancestry DNA's services is the ability to check which parent contributed to the ethnicities estimate in one's DNA origins. For my Haitian parent, it is interesting to see that the entirety of their 11% European ancestry is derived from their mother. This matches my genealogical research into the origins of this grandparent, who appears to have affranchi ancestors during the colonial period. As we speculated previously, the non-French ancestry may all be France but due to the measurement of French DNA in Ancestry's algorithm, the French ancestry was split into Scotland, France, Portugal and Wales. Anyway, the results confirm my theory about our Haitian parent's mother. 

The father, however, may have been entirely or almost entirely sub-Saharan African in origin. What is interesting about him is the entirety of our parent's "Nigerian" ancestry allegedly came from him. If so, we assume this grandfather had substantial "Nigerian" origin. That, however, is a problematic concept and, based on the records we have for French slaving, we assume his "Nigerian" ancestry was likely some mix of Ibo, Yoruba, Nupe, Hausa and possibly others. Our grandmother, on the other hand, was the one who possessed far more ancestry from Cameroon, Congo, and Western Bantu Peoples. She was also the one who bequeathed Senegalese ancestry to our parent.

The African ancestry of these two was, therefore, rather distinct though they occasionally overlapped. According to Ancestry's Chromosome Painter, our grandfather's "Nigeria" segments were often rather long, perhaps hinting at recent ancestry. If Ibos were among the large number of enslaved Africans in Bainet during the late 1700s, perhaps he had, at least in part, Ibo origins. Our parent also matched with Yoruba and Igbo Nigerians through her test results. She also matched with Mandinka people from Sierra Leone and Mali and two individuals from the DRC. Therefore, we consider it likely that she is of Yoruba, Ibo, Bambara, Mandingue, "Congo" and possibly Wolof, Akan, and "Arada" origins.