Mixed-Race America. A History of Hidden Miscegenation

[Menydh]

Timrod



Although the Timrods were nowhere as genealogically prolific or as politically important as were the Gibsons and the Pendarvises or, for that matter, any number of other originally mixed race families whose identities are only now coming to light, Henry Timrod did help define an element of the South which was, in some ways, even more influential.

What this Southern poet (1829-1867) did in finding for his world a romantic language with which to defend itself from the condemnation of the North, was to help create the myth of Southerness. He idealized gentility and in particular, Southern womanhood - a racially loaded symbol because of how many African American males were sacrificed to it after Reconstruction.

Interestingly, the issue of slavery is never raised in Timrod's literary output except for one reference. It is in his 1861 ode, "Ethnogenesis" that we can find the almost blasphemous couplet,

On one side, creeds that dare to teach
What Christ and Paul refrained to preach;

His rhapsodic rage against the North continues along these theological lines:

Codes built upon a broken pledge,
And charity that whets a poniard's edge;
Fair schemes that leave the neighboring poor
To starve and shiver at the schemer's door,
While in the world's most liberal ranks enrolled,
He turns some vast philanthropy to gold;
Religion, taking every mortal form
But that a pure and Christian faith makes warm,
Where not to vile fanatic passions urged,
Or not in vague philosophies submerged,
Repulsive with all Pharisaic leaven
And making laws to stay the laws of heaven!

Timrod penned impassioned and fervent war poems which stirred the South to action in the Civil War and it was for these that he won the accolade, "Poet Laureate of the Confederacy." He was invited to dedicate the cemetery for South Carolina's Civil War dead and his "Ode to Magnolia Cemetery" is the literary monument he wrote for the occasion.

It is with regards to Southern womanhood, however, that his place in Southern literature now has to be reconsidered. Scholars have long been aware that even though he inherited his poetic vein from his father, it was to his mother that he owed his deeply seated love of nature which so informed his work. His mother was Thryza Prince of whom his sister wrote "It was from her, more than his gifted father, that my brother derived that intense, passionate love of Nature which so distinguished him. Its sight and sound always afforded her extreme delight...a walk in the woods to her was food and drink, and the sight of a green field was joy inexpressible...I can remember her love for flowers and trees and for the stars; how she would call our attention to the glintings of sunshine through the leaves; to the afternoon's lights and shadows, as they slept quietly, side by side; and even to a streak of moonlight on the floor."

It was not only on her mind but on this "perfection of form and face" that Timrod modeled his ideal of a femininity which he succeeded in setting as a standard for the rest of the South.

According to Brent Holcomb, one of the foremost genealogical experts of the country, however, the poet's mother was a quadroon. An attempt in the late '30s was made to discredit the rumors about this African ancestry, but court records unequivocally show that at a trial of three men who, in a robbery, had assaulted his great-grandmother, Hannah Caesar, the court did not allow her to testify on the grounds that she was a woman of color, since the defendants were white.

In his criticism of the 1937 article Rupert Taylor published in "American Literature," Holcomb pointed out that even if Hannah Caesar who was Hanna Brown before her marriage was indeed white, as the author claimed, it did not in anyway disprove that her husband was black. The affidavits Taylor cites but which no longer exist, were referred to in a contemporary newspaper report. All that they allegedly claimed was that the mother and sisters of Hannah Brown had always been regarded as white. No mention, whatsoever, was made of her father. No mention was made to the color of Hannah Caesar's husband either, but that is explainable since it was only the question of her own race that had been at issue during the trial. However, since the article itself was an attempt to discredit this long standing rumor about Timrod's ancestry, Holcomb found Taylor's silence on this matter particularly telling since, as is quite clear from both the census and probate records, the only Caesars in South Carolina were black. Furthermore, since the attorney for the defendants would not have made such a declaration regarding Hannah Caesar unless as Taylor himself put it, "he had some ground, however slight...," we can assume that her husband was an African American.

In point of fact, the inadmissibility of Hannah Caesar's testimony was cited as precedence in another trial a few days later when an attempt was made to disqualify a witness on the grounds that she too was a woman of mixed race. As further proof and perhaps, most conclusively, Brent Holcomb points out that in the 1790 census, Hannah's daughter, Sarah Faesch, the grandmother of Henry Timrod, is not only denoted as "free" but is listed in the column reserved for free people of color, as well. Considering the date of Rupert Taylor's publication, it should not be surprising that in trying to allay the continual "gossip" about the poet's having been an "octoroon", he upbraids the "type of mind which, unfortunately, seems born to believe evil or which, obsessed with the idea of miscegenation, leaps eagerly to seize upon any hint of tainted blood in anyone who has achieved prominence."

Coincidentally, one of the writers who helped to memorialize Timrod was none other than the late 19th century South Carolina archivist, Salley, who played such an important role in the creation of southern historiography and who, himself, was a Pendarvis descendant - another Southern mixed race family. As an authority on the genealogical sources of the State's founding families, there can be no doubt that Salley was fully aware not only of his own African heritage but of Henry Timrod's as well.

In 1901, a monument surmounted by a bronze bust of the poet Henry Timrod was dedicated in Charleston, SC. But perhaps the greatest honour paid to him by his fellow patriots was in 1911, when the General Assembly passed a resolution instituting the verses of his poem, "Carolina," as the lyrics of the official state anthem.

Besides the racial irony exposed by the genealogical facts that have just surfaced, it should not be too difficult to argue from the opening stanza included here that despite Lee's surrender, the Confederacy still thumbs its collective nose at the Union anytime this piece by Henry Timrod is sung.

The despot treads thy sacred sands,
Thy pines give shelter to his bands,
Thy sons stand by with idle hands, Carolina!
He breathes at ease thy airs of balm,
He scorns the lances of thy palm;
Oh! who shall break thy craven calm,
Carolina!
Thy ancient fame is growing dim,
A spot is on thy garment's rim;
Give to the winds thy battle hymn,
Carolina!

[Menydh]

The Brothers Darnall



Because of their elegant attire and the upper class setting in which they are so formally posed, the early 19th century miniature portrait of these two young men of color is a rather remarkable one. What makes it even more so is the presence of the third youth, who is white. For despite our racial history, it is quite clear that neither of the two companions he is portrayed with should be mistaken as his social inferior.

Clues to the possible identity of the sitters in this miniature measuring 4" across, can be found in the biography of Paul Cuffe. In the early part of the 19th century, Captain Paul Cuffe was easily the most famous man of color in the U.S. He had returned to Westport, Massachusetts in 1812, after an exploratory visit to the newly-created settlement of Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa. Cuffe's trip had been of great interest to the Abolitionist movement both in the U.S. and Britain. There were expectations that Cuffe, a shipping magnate, could help anti-slavery activists realize the dream of a refuge for former slaves from the racism that seemed to be rising exponentially with the growing success of the Abolitionists' campaign.

Biographical sketches and newspaper accounts of the welcome Cuffe received on a side trip to England were not only picked up by the American press but since they were carried verbatim, probably exposed the U.S. public to a far more liberal treatment and description of a black subject than it had ever read before. The high point of all this attention came when Massachusetts state representatives arranged a meeting for Cuffe with President Madison, thus making Cuffe the first black to be officially entertained in the White House.

As a result of such extensive coverage and the controversy Cuffe provoked in Congress a year later trying to get a bill passed to support his African resettlement cause, he came to be seen as something of an authority on African American affairs and was approached for his advice on any number of related issues. One such request was found among Paul Cuffe's correspondence and it is of special interest to us for it pertains to the above portrait miniature.

In a letter dated May 1, 1814, Cuffe writes that advice had been asked of him:

"...Concerning 2 boys of Colour from 10 to 11 years of age. From information they are Mollato Children of fortune. The gentleman that rote me rote from Anapolis Maryland and states that from predejues of oppression he wished to have them the 2 boys removed into the northern States and placed in the Care of a pious Character to be educated Suitable to enjoy the improvements of their fortunes...The Gentleman that rote me inquires to be informed whether any eligible situation could be procured in a public seminary where they could be properly attended to. Also the expense of boarding teaching clothing and the whole cost of their education..."

The "Gentleman that rote" Capt. Cuffe was none other than John Francis Mercer, former governor of Maryland. However, whether from a need to protect the privacy of two such vulnerable minors or the honor of their rather influential white family, no mention of who they were appears in the subsequent letters. It is only from relevant documents extant in the State Archives of Maryland that we are able to piece together the identity of these two young men.

Considering the particularities of this situation, the records that should first be consulted are those of the Orphan's Court. However, because guardians are not listed in the index to those volumes dealing with the early 19th century Maryland, this task could have proved extremely daunting. Gratefully, it is an abstract in Helen Cotterall's "Judicial Cases Concerning American Slavery" that allows us to circumvent this problem. Although the date of the pertinent case, "Le Grand vs. Darnall" is January 1829, the opening paragraph reads,

"Bennet Darnall...1810...executed his last will...and thereby devised to his son [Nicholas], the appellee, several tracts of land in fee, one of which was called Portland Manor...The mother of Nicholas Darnall was the slave of the testator, and Nicholas was born the slave of his father, and was between ten and eleven years old...at the death of the testator..."

According to the abstract, the death of Bennet Darnall occurred in 1814. This date matches with that of Capt. Cuffe's correspondence relating to the two boys. Moreover the identity of the second son appears in the following paragraph:

"Four respectable witnesses of the neighborhood...all agree in their testimony, that Nicholas was well grown, healthy and intelligent, and of good bodily and mental capacity: that he and his brother Henry could readily have found employment, either as house servant boys, or on a farm, or as apprentices...The testator devised to each of them real and personal estate to a considerable amount..."

In the summary of this case which is essentially about a slave's right to inherit, two names appear that confirm that Nicholas and Henry Darnall are the young men in whose lives Capt. Cuffe had become involved. Not only is former Governor Mercer one of the"four respectable witnesses," but mention is also made of a Benjamin Tucker of Philadelphia. It is in a letter of Cuffe's to Mercer dated "7 mo 6th 1814" that we first hear of him.

"...I was glad that thee fell in with Benj. Tucker. He is one who I trust the Verry utmost Confidence may be placed in. I am truly Glade the Little Boys have Been placed in thy Care. I believe thay are as well placed at Present as thay Can be. I beg to be excused if I should take the liberty at times to Enquire of Benjamin Tucker after the Boys wellfar..."

In another letter, some eight months later Cuffe explains who he is.

"...The 2 boys are at school 7 miles out of Philadelphia and information can be obtained concerning the boys by inquiring of Benjamin Tucker School master Phila..."

The fact that so much effort had been expended to secure an education for these boys must have left a rather chilling impression on Paul Cuffe. They had inherited an estate that must have been appreciably larger than the one Cuffe himself had acquired, but neither their wealth or their descent from one of the most influential families of Maryland was a guarantee that the rights and benefits which their father had gone to such precautions to secure for them would be respected. In his letter to Captain Cuffe, Governor Mercer had in fact stated that

"...in consequence of the deep rooted and indomitable prejudices of the our country, their situation here is surrounded with embarrassment and their wealth accompanied by their color is a constant source of the most malevolent jealousy, amongst the decay and profligate of both complexions."

Considering the social prominence of the Darnall family to which these "Molatto children of fortune" belonged, the possibility that they are two of the sitters in the miniature above is an intriguing one. The miniature appeared as an advertisement for the firm of Earle Vandecar in the January 1997 issue of the Magazine Antiques. Since neither an inscription or a provenance accompanies the piece, our only opportunity for making such an attribution will have to rely solely on deduction. The key to this little puzzle therefore, must not only be a plausible identity for the white child in the portrait, but an appropriate reason for his inclusion, as well. A work on the "Darnall, Darnell Family" by Harry Clyde Smith published in 1979 could prove helpful. Besides duly listing Nicholas, Henry and two other illegitimate sons Bennet Darnall sired, the author attempts to include the property divisions that are made in each generation. According to Smith, it appears that along with Nicholas and Henry, a third member of the Darnall family also had special claims to a portion of the Darnall estate known as Portland Manor and which had devolved to Bennett by right of succession. From the dates available, we know that he was about five or six years older than Nicholas. Smith's note that what he had been bequeathed was only for"a part" and used "as a summer home" might be a clue since the Le Grand vs. Darnall case of 1829 had been instigated by Nicholas to specifically test his rights to Portland Manor. As sketchy as it is, Smith's work does not explain why a great nephew had inherited a portion of Bennett Darnall's personal property even if comparatively smaller than what he left his sons.

The answer to this question might perhaps, be found in the name of the legatee. Christened Richard Bennett Darnall, it would not be unreasonable for us to presume that he was named for his great uncle - who, in turn, had been named for his mother's grandfather, Governor Bennett of Virginia. What we might tentatively conjecture, therefore, is that Bennett was Richard Bennett's godfather and that his title to Portland Manor had been a baptismal present. True, Richard Bennett's younger sibling, Henry, also carried Bennett as a second name but he was probably named in honor of Bennett's brother, Henry Bennett. As Bennett was the only member of the Darnall family to be given this surname for his first, the name, Richard, would, in all likelihood, have been understood, as well, since that was the name of the Virginia Governor they obviously hoped posterity would remember as yet another historically important ancestor of theirs.

Interestingly, Smith relates that Richard Bennett's eldest brother, Archibald, severed all communications with his family and even left Maryland because of a major disagreement. Since Portland Manor would have devolved to him had not Bennett bequeathed this rather impressive estate to his illegitimate sons, it would not be unreasonable for us to guess that the cause of so serious a break between Archibald and his kin was the Darnalls' decision to honor Bennett's will.

If these assumptions are correct, we then have a third sitter whose appearance in this miniature fits our requirements - on still another level. For even though a first cousin once removed from Nicholas and Henry Darnall, Richard Bennett Darnall was also a son of Bennett's - a spiritual one. Those depicted in this group portrait, therefore, are the three heirs of Bennett Darnall, the inheritors of Portland Manor, the once proud possession of the Darnall dynasty in Maryland.

The Darnall Family

Philip Darnall was the first of the family to immigrate to this country; he was born in 1604. A relative and the secretary to George Calvert who would later be created first Lord Baltimore, Philp became one of the wealthiest men in Maryland. Before his arrival in the Americas, however, Philip Darnall had accompanied George Calvert on an extended diplomatic mission to France where they were both converted to Roman Catholicism. His son, Col. Henry Darnall, 1645-1711, acted as Proprietory's Agent to the second Lord Baltimore and served as his Deputy Governor. Harry Clyde Smith comments that

"Henry Darnall was both affluent and influential. He owned much land and many slaves. At his death, he bequeathed some thirty thousand acres of land...A devout Roman Catholic, he sent his sons to Jesuit schools in Europe - one of the inciting factors in the "Protestant Revolution," following which Henry maintained secret quarters in his home, with all equipment necessary for observing the rites of his religion."

Through his daughter, Mary, Henry Darnall was the great grandfather of Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Through his grand-daughter, Eleanor, he was also the great-grand father of John Carroll, Bishop of Baltimore and the first Roman Catholic bishop of the country. Considering his importance to the history of the nation, another such relationship that cannot be overlooked because of its racial irony is that of the Darnalls to Roger Brook Taney, the supreme court justice who handed down the infamous Dredd-Scott decision. Not only did Henry Darnall and his son Philip marry Brooke women but so did the Judge's father, his great, grand father and his great, great, grand father. Besides being cousins several times over to the Chief Justice, Bennett's mulatto sons even had a Brooke as an uncle.

All odds are that neither Nicholas or Henry Darnall left any descendants. The elder of the brothers spent the rest of his life in Philadelphia never married, perhaps too confused by issues of class and racial identity to do so. In the 1850 census, for instance, he is living next door to one of the richest white men in the Bristol district of Philadelphia - residing with a young family of Irish immigrants - and the only person of color in the vicinity. And because the only mention of Henry in the Le Grand vs. Darnall case is in reference to his legal status at the time of his father's death in 1814, we are left with the impression that he was dead by 1829.

It is quite possible, however, that a sister of theirs did marry. Although Smith identifies her as the grand-daughter of Nicholas Lowe Darnell, a brother of Bennett's, the International Genealogical Index for North America lists Henrietta Maria as the daughter of Bennett Darnall and Susan. And it is this Susan who is the slave mother of Nicholas and Henry.

Susan, the Mother of Nicholas and Henry

From a couple of other cases cited by Helen Cotterall, it might be possible to reconstruct a genealogy for Susan, as well, even if not as long as the Darnall's. With the recurrence of the name, Susan, as a clue, it is not inconceivable that she could prove to be a descendant of Ann Joice who had come to Maryland in about 1680 with Lord Baltimore. Because Baltimore had brought her from Barbados via England, her family later attempted to use the Mansfield decision of 1772, to claim their freedom from the Darnalls. As Joice's children and grand children are all referred to as 'mulattos,' we should not be surprised if they were not actually a part of the 'extended' Darnall family. This could explain how, even though in the final analysis it was a futile one, they were able to mount such a sophisticated defense for themselves in court. Interestingly enough, Bennett had succeeded to Portland Manor after two older brothers had died and who like himself had never married but left legacies to support children they had both fathered with slave women on their estate.

According to both Smith and the IGI entry, Henrietta Maria Darnall married John Meeks in 1810. The Meeks social standing in Anne Arundel County during this particular period in time has yet to be determined. But according to a surveyor's report in Vol. 33, 1938 of the Maryland Historical Magazine, they had been the proprietors of a thousand-acre estate by the name of Chichister in 1700. If we accept the IGI data concerning Herietta Maria, it would suggest that despite laws of inheritance favoring male heirs, Bennett Darnall had succeeded in providing for his daughter in the traditional manner - a suitable marriage. It would, of course, also raise the question as to whether the size of his slave daughter's dowry had, in any way, been influential in persuading John Meeks to marry her. On the other hand, it would also make for an interesting example of the subtleties of gender politics. For unlike the Gibsons or the Pendarvises of SC (discussed elsewhere on this web site) whose color had not prevented their men from becoming leaders of the political establishment just a couple of generations earlier, the social prospects for the Darnall boys by this particular time in American history were next to nil.

Besides the dramatic increase in free blacks after the Revolution, what undoubtedly contributed to the antagonism towards his two young wards - which Governor Mercer found so appalling - was the hysteria brought on by the War of 1812. Many blacks had sided with the enemy during the country's struggle for its independence from Britain. Assaults against people of color became so prevalent that mounted troops had to be detailed by the mayor to protect them from the white mobs in Baltimore.

The Painter

It would be a mistake to attribute this little miniature portrait to the African American artist, Joshua Johnson of Baltimore, despite the understandable temptation to do so. Besides receiving commissions from a number of families related to the Darnalls, Johnson also was asked to do a portrait of Daniel Coker, the leader of the African Institute which had been established in Baltimore by none other than Captain Paul Cuffe. But even though one could easily point to certain stylistic similarities between examples of Johnson's work and the miniature, there are a number of idiosyncrasies in his technique that identify him which are not evident here. Perhaps, the most critical of which is how he rendered eyes. As his biographers, Carolyn Weekly and Styles Colwill put it,

"...we observe some evidence of a peculiar slant of the upper eyelids of Johnson's sitters...The manner in which the sitters' eyes are drawn...is in fact, one of the most telling characteristics of his work."

From the way in which this particular feature is handled in the portrayal of Richard Bennett Darnall, the only one of the three boys who faces the viewer, it is fairly obvious that this is not a piece by Joshua Johnson. The identity of the miniaturist will have to be sought from among such contemporaries of his as Dominic Boudet and Lewis Pease who also worked in Maryland. Like Johnson's rendering of eyes, perhaps one clue will be the artist's treatment of mouths or, more accurately, teeth. Remarkably different from the invariably rigid, tight lipped formality with which sitters were posed at the time, the artist has not only depicted Richard Bennett's mouth in a relaxed smile revealing three of his upper front teeth but as what must have been regarded as something of a feat at the time, considering the scale of the piece, he or she has clearly but very realistically delineated the separation between each tooth, as well.

From whatever the denominational viewpoint, whether the Catholicism of the Darnalls or, though less defiant, the quiet but persistent Quaker faith of Capt. Cuffe and so many of the associates he called on to help Governor Mercer place his mulatto wards, it is not inconceivable that the sentiment expressed in the miniature was meant to be interpreted as religiously abolitionist and a didactic one at that. Not only from two disparate lines of the family, but even more importantly - of two different races - the three young men portrayed are, through the sacrament of Baptism, nothing less than brothers in Christ.

[Menydh]

The Van Salee Family



Anthony and Abraham van Salee were the ancestors of the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Humphrey Bogart.

They were among the earliest arrivals to 17th century New Amsterdam. In a number of documents dating back to this period, they are both described as "mulatto". From what scholars have been able to piece together about their background, they appear to have been the sons of a Dutch seafarer by the name of Jan Jansen who had "turned Turk" and become an admiral in the Moroccan navy. With the Port of Salee as the base from which it harried European shipping, references to the fleet he commanded are salted away in the old English sea shanties that are still sung about the Salee Rovers. The mother of his two sons was probably a concubine he had while trading in this part of the world before his conversion to Islam.

As a result of the anti-social behaviour of his white wife, Anthony van Salee was induced to leave the city precincts of lower Manhattan and move across the river, thus becoming the first settler of Brooklyn. Since Coney Island abutted his property, it was, until sometime in the last century, also referred to as "Turk's Island"; the word, "Turk", being a designation of his which the records used interchangeably with, "mulatto". According to the documentation that people like Professor Leo Hershkowitz of Queens University have sifted through, it would seem that Anthony van Salee never converted to Christianity. His Koran, in fact, was in a descendant's possession until about fifty years ago when, ignorant of its relevance to his family's history, he offered it for sale at auction.

The Van Salee history also includes a more contemporary black collateral branch in the U.S. Anthony's brother Abraham fathered an illegitimate son with an unknown black woman. The son became the progenitor of this side of the family. Although having to face constraints that their "white" cousins could at best only imagine, two of these van Salees nevertheless left their mark in the annals of African American history.



Dr. John van Salee De Grasse, born in 1825, was the first of his race to be formally educated as a doctor. A member of the Medical Society of Massachusetts, he also served as surgeon to the celebrated 54th Regiment during the Civil War. His sister, Serena, married George Downing who was not only an enormously successful black restauranteur both in New York City and in Newport, RI, but a man who used his wealth and connections with the East Coast's most powerful white families to effect social change for his people. Because of his organization and his own contribution to the purchase of Truro Park in Newport, one of the streets bordering it still bears his name. Interestingly enough, this genealogy was done as part of an ongoing study of the Ramopo in Tappan, NY, one of those red, white and black groups sociologists and ethnographers are now working on and which in academese are referred to as "tri racial isolates". It is because of what advantages their Indian heritage (no matter how discernably negroid they were) legally and officially provided them that the opportunity for "passing" in these groups was not only a more ambiguous political or moral decision but, comparatively, a more easily documentable one as well.



Considering how important a role John Hammond of Columbia Records played in the establishment of the black music industry, it would certainly be worth exploring the possible influence his van Salee ancestry might have had on his career. Back then, there would have been no option possible for publicly declaring himself black according to the "one drop" racial code that was the law in most states until the Johnson administration. With a Vanderbilt for a mother, his iconographical value to the white majority was so important that had he dared to tamper with it, the KKK or some such group would most probably have made him pay the ultimate price for having desecrated his and the prestige of his relatives who had, after all, fairly well succeeded in making themselves the equivalent of this country's royal family. Hammond died a few years ago but since his son, following in his father's footsteps, has become a recognized exponent of R&ampB his could prove to be a very important interview for us.

Jackie Kennedy Onassis

Either Professor Hershkowitz, or Tim Beard, former head of the Genealogical Department of the New York Public Library related this incident regarding van Salee genealogy. At the time the Kennedy administration began implementing its civil rights agenda, the New York Genealogical and Historical Society approached Mrs. Kennedy hoping to discuss the opportunity her African ancestry, through the Van Salees, could have in possibly assisting her husband to realize his social goals regarding race relations. Mrs. Kennedy insisted on referring to the van Salees as 'Jewish,' and the New York Genealogical Society did not push the subject further.



Humphry Bogart and Ruth Gordon in a scene from the 1927 film "Saturday's Children." He is a Van Salee descendent and she is a Pendarvis descendent. A few years later, another descendant attempted to pass off the racial description of the van Salles in the official records as nothing more than malicious humor.

[Menydh]

Pico



The mixed race Picos were examples of the most politically powerful families of California while it was still a Mexican province. Today they are the ancestors of much of the state's "old money".

Records show that by 1790, 18% of the residents of San Francisco, 24% of San Jose, 20% of Santa Barbara and 18% of Monterey were black. Los Angeles was founded by 44 persons comprising 11 families. Of these, 26 were people of colour, 2 were Caucasians and the others were natives or of mixed Native American and Caucasian extraction.

In 1845, Pio Pico, whose grandmother had been listed as a mulata in the 1790 census, was appointed the last Mexican governor of California. Although few know it, this African American figure is the person commemorated by L. A.'s 'Pico Boulevard.'

And then there is Maria Rita Valdes, the grand-daughter of two of the black founding fathers of Los Angeles. She was the owner of what is now known as Beverly Hills. Franciso Reyes, another black settler in the area held the land rights to most of the San Fernando Valley.



Because of the enormous dowerys in just land alone the young women from these families could bring to their husbands, they became prize catches for the Yankee men who went west just prior to and after the American take over. So much so, that by the end of the 19th century these vast Mexican inheritances were by far and large in the hands of families bearing such names as

Richardson
Ord
Livermore
Baker
Fitch
Stearns
Hill
Robinson
Dalton
Hartnett
Den
Black
Burdell
Cooper

The Picos who were intermarried with a number of the other Hispanic families left a rather considerable progeny. Commenting on the fecundity of the family, one of the early Californian historians who personally knew them pointed out that a brother of Pio Pico's had ninety odd grandchildren and a cousin, over a hundred. Some of the Americans I have been able to track this far who wooed and wed Picos or their relatives were:

Thomas W.Robbins
John Coffin Jones
Lewis T.Burton
William G. Dana
(only realized a couple of days ago, 6/14/94,
that this last was a member of the same Boston
family as was the noted abolitionist lawyer
who worked with Sumner.)
P. A. Forrester, died 1885, six children
John Forster, nine children
Judge William Graves, died 1884

Other families today descended from the Picos are:

Morrell
Covarubias
Shirell
Lugo
Whitmer
Arellanes
Hendricks
Rodriguez
Maas
Castro
La Fontaine
La Questa
Graves
Del Valle
Pariseau
Carrillo
Cannell
Wiley
Wickenden
Campodonicio
Johnston

There are some muscial references to this family, too. The subject of "When the Swallows come back to Capistrano" is the Mission de San Juan Capistrano which was an estate of Governor Pico's and which for decades was in the posession of his Forster descendants. And, the young woman who inspired the song "Ramona" was a cousin of the Governor's. As a younger man, he had played a rather romantic role in helping her elope with her Americano, the incident on which this classic is based.

[Menydh]

Yturria

The Mexicans who inhabited Texas before it became a state were similar to the Picos and other tri-racial families in California . Like them, practically all the land and wealth that were once the estates of such families as the Yturrias and the la Portillas, the Espinozas, the Echazaretas and the Garzas have been inherited by descendants whose names are now Wood, Lambert, Power. etc.

According to the Debrett's Texas Peerage, Lawrence & Leonor Wood who live in San Antonio, are the undisputed leaders of Texas society. Interestingly enough, this recognition is due them not only for their enormous holdings and the lavish style in which they entertain but for this very old Mexican lineage (which is, of course, glossed over as Spanish.) From the photographs included, however, I could not help but wonder if this allusion to their ethnic background might not be a necessity since Leonor Yturria Wood's features are somewhat Negroid physical characteristics which, of course, lose their definition if passed off as Spanish.

Since Spanish colonial racial definitions in Texas were as rigorously followed as they were in California, ascertaining the African ancestry of these southern "Spanish" grandees should not prove too difficult or as time consuming as the other examples of passing being investigated.
Other prominent San Antonio families of the late 18th century who have been identified by historians as "mulatto' were those of:

Marcos Cepeda
Marcos Guerra
Alberto Morale
Matias Perez
Jose Miguel Serna
Felipe de Luna
Francisco Xavier Rodgriguez
Juan Bautista de Luna
Manuel Mascorro
Maria Micaela Carrasco

[Menydh]

Bush



Despite the similarity in name, former President George Bush is not a descendant of the George Bush who was one of the early pioneers of the state of Washington. Indeed, it is a commonly held historical opinion that the state of Washington owes its origins to the fact that this particular George Bush was mulatto.

The government had prohibited blacks from settling anywhere in Oregon territory during the migrations west in the first few decades of the last century. To avoid this, Bush and the party of white pioneer families he had travelled with from Missouri, pushed upward into British territory in 1844. It was not likely that he would be disturbed if the wagon train he led set down stakes across the Columbia river since the sheriff was not required by law to travel that far north.

Because of the care and generosity he showed to other newcomers like himself, there were soon enough American settlers in this area ready to nullify whatever claims the British had originally laid to it. In 1853 this newly enlarged territory of Oregon was officially declared an American State. In 1889, this portion north of the Columbia, because of its size, formally entered the union as the State of Washington.

Once under American jurisdiction, however, Bush found himself in Oregon the target of the same "black laws" he had travelled so far north to escape. It took a special bill introduced by a particularly close friend of his who had been elected to the senate, to have him exempted from so racist a piece of legislation.

Despite the political significance of this incident, it nevertheless is a demonstration of the kind of social influence George Bush and his family enjoyed. Indeed, the eldest of his six sons, George Owen Bush, was himself elected to serve as one of Washington State's first senators. Today, Bush's descendants are all white. A great many thanks to Mr. Roger H. Newman of Olympia, Washington for providing the names of those families which can trace their lines back to this pioneer:

Gaston
Hackett
West
Sheldon
Sutcliffe
Scudder
Sparks

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Gesta Bellica

That confirms why the overwhelming majority of Americans "Blacks" is not as dark as the African Blacks... they must have taken some "decolorant" in a way or another..

Well, yes. That is one of the things that it confirms. If you keep reading the posts you will see that it confirms too that many American "Whites" are doubtfully so. At least not under the one drop rule.

[Ingwaz]

It is a sure thing to say that some miscegenation occurred in colonial North America. Anyone who would deny this is simply a fool who hasn't done their homework. I certainly would not deny this.
It was however minor as modern genetic studies have shown. I direct your attention to the study attached below and in particular, one very telling line that I will now quote:

"The latter result indicates that the African-American genetic contribution to European-Americans is below the limits of detection with these methods."


Now Mynydd, it is rather clear to me that the motivation for you to start this thread is to make myself and other Europid Americans look the mongrel and it was curiously (or really, not so) timed after Tiwaz posted a thread on the difference between the racial effects of Spanish and English colonization of the New World--to which I replied but in a joking and ironic manner that curling up in bed with a book on colonial miscegenation is not the norm and may make an odd choice for bedtime reading. But of course, you, with the chip on your shoulder the size of Mexico could only reckon that I was taking a dig at Spanish colonials miscegenation their way through Central and South America. This thread of yours here, while informative does two things: first and foremost it goes against on of your favorite Stirpes "Issues of Concern". Shall I refresh your memory?

"This is not a forum to provide a touristic view of Europe. It is neither a forum for claiming such or such European origins. The views of the peoples from the Colonies about Europe, especially those living in the US of A and Canada, are, a priori, distorted and of no interest to the preservation of Europe. Furthermore, the issues that concern North America are strange and not exportable to Europe; consequently, a nuisance and a waste of resources to Stirpes, thus strongly discouraged. "

This thread smacks of North American Colonial issues.....

Lastly, just to return the favor and also to add to the discussion, I would like to direct your attention to a series of fascinating paintings from the days of Spanish colonization of the New World. Follow them in order now....


1.
http://www.college.emory.edu/culpepe...es/mestizo.jpg
http://www.college.emory.edu/culpepe...tiza-casta.jpg
http://www.college.emory.edu/culpepe...es/castiza.jpg
2.
http://www.college.emory.edu/culpepe...ges/mulato.jpg
http://www.college.emory.edu/culpepe...es/morisco.jpg
http://www.college.emory.edu/culpepe...ges/alvino.jpg

[Menydh]

Dalonord, it is a bit pathetic to whine at this time, after your American [nordicist] mates have been slandering the whole of Southern Europe without giving a rest for years... under the umbrella of Skadi, Stormfront, and a number of other sites.

This thread comes at the time when this other thread, http://forum.stirpes.net/showthread.php?t=4176, has been posted. For all I know, the thread starter is not an American himself, though I mistook him for one the first time I read his posts. In any case, that thread is in the line of the British and Americans style. It doesn't matter that the thread starter is Njörd Eriksson. It is the content and the intention of the post that matters, regardless of the authory.

This thread of yours here, while informative does two things: first and foremost it goes against on of your favorite Stirpes "Issues of Concern".

First, it is a statement and not a rule. As a side note, I've never been in favour in having rules, but of interpreting statements.

Second, you are interpreting that rule in a sui generis form by which a number of subforums would have to be removed:


And third, I see that reading that statement requires some understanding (just when I thought that it was crystal clear ), since then Tiwaz's post would have gone against that statement in first place.

Lastly, just to return the favor and also to add to the discussion, I would like to direct your attention to a series of fascinating paintings from the days of Spanish colonization of the New World.

Fourth, do I have to remind you that I am from Spain, and not from the New World? (meaning, I couldn't give a monkey's foot ).

Fifth, I didn't try to disprove that there was miscegenation in the Spanish Americas, but that those who are always quick at pointing with their fingers, the Anglo-Americans, did engage quite a bit into miscegenation too. Sorry Dalonord, your has been a waste effort. Or perhaps not so..

... Sixth, when someone posts a thread with the obvious twisted intentions that Tiwaz did, it is more often than not the case that the started conflict escalates (just like is happening in Iraq.. what did your warmongers just said? At least ten years to solve the conflict? ).

In fact I hoped that it would end here, since it is only fair that the offended party has a last word. But no. You had to do something to extend the conflict. When will you Americans learn something?

I direct your attention to the study attached below and in particular, one very telling line that I will now quote:

"The latter result indicates that the African-American genetic contribution to European-Americans is below the limits of detection with these methods."

And yet there was miscegenation, and no little when even one of your presidents was engaged into miscegenation. If "these methods" are no good, you should have provided a paper for different methods.

Oh.. and for a calculus of miscegenation the European-Americans genetic contribution to African-Americans direction counts too. And, of course, the Indigenous, Asian, Jewish and others.


Note: check your PM box.