DNA tests have proved that Alex Haley – the black American author whose book Roots traced his family origins from the slave plantations of the US back to Africa – was of Scottish ancestry.

The tests have established that Haley – whose work is credited with helping transform the self-image of millions of black Americans – is directly descended from a Scottish paternal bloodline.

The findings came after a sample of DNA from Haley's nephew Chris Haley matched that of his distant cousin June Baff-Black, who lives in Wales and whose shared lineage starts in 17th century Scotland.

Until recently, Chris Haley had only word of mouth family history to show that his great, great-grandfather had been born of an African slave mother and white Scottish father, both of whom lived and worked on a slave plantation in the US.

The findings, by the website Ancestry.co.uk, are the first scientific confirmation of Alex Haley's own research in which he traced his ancestry back to William Baugh (a variation of Baff) – an overseer of an Alabama slave plantation – who was thought to have fathered a child with a female slave, called Sabrina, or "Viney".

Their son, named Alec, is thought to have been born between 1850 and 1860.

Alex Haley, who died in 1992, traced this side of his family history in his book Queen, which followed the biographical novel 'Roots: the Saga of an American Family'.

He was unable to fully prove his research by traditional genealogical methods using birth, marriage and death certificates and parish records, as his ancestors were African-American slaves and so very little documentation about them existed. Since many female slaves were raped by their owners there was frequently no record of the true father.

Instead Haley relied on the oral histories handed down from generation to generation as his primary source of ancestral information.

Chris Haley, from Washington DC, was introduced to Ms Baff-Black, who lives in South Wales, for the first time on Saturday at the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE event at the Olympia National Hall in west London.

Mrs Baff-Black, 49, a local government officer, – who was inspired to take a DNA test after seeing the British athlete Colin Jackson do the same thing in the BBC ancestry series Who Do You Think You Are? – said: "I knew about Alex Haley and his book.

"It might even have been what gave my parents their interest in genealogy. But of course I had no idea I was linked in some way to his ancestors. It's amazing to think we're connected in this way.

"Chris and I have got so much in common – from what we like to the way we write and the fact we both love theatre."

Mr Haley, 46, an actor and slavery historian, said: "I wish Alex had had DNA technology at his disposal. There has been a lot of controversy about his use of our oral history and these findings confirm what he wrote in Queens.

"He would have been thrilled that June and I have met. He always used to say the world is like salad bowl with lots of different ingredients.

"This shows we are really more similar than we believe, whether we are black or white, and we should put aside our superficial differences and focus on what we are as human beings."

The phenomenal success of Haley's novel Roots, and the television drama on which it was based, led to a world wide interest in genealogy, particularly among African-Americans, many of whom felt their slave backgrounds had robbed them of their rightful history and identity.

It was also a surprise hit in Britain, where Haley's story gave many black youngsters a new pride about their own roots and sense of belonging.

DNA testing is a relatively new technology for genealogists, allowing them to trace the paternal or maternal line by studying either the 'Y-chromosome', which is passed from father to son, or 'mitochondrial DNA', which is passed from mother to daughter.

The DNA service from Ancestry.co.uk compares the results from people with others who have carried out the same test, identifying possible matches from around the world.

Since DNA mutates at a relatively steady rate, the test can indicate how long ago two genetically-matched cousins shared a common ancestor, allowing them to get in touch and compare more detailed family tree information.

In this case Ms Baff-Black had submitted a cheek swab sample from her father to represent her paternal ancestral bloodline.

Olivier van Calster, managing director of Ancestry.co.uk, said: "As Alex Haley knew only too well, at its core, any family history is a combination of established facts and reasonable assumptions.

"With science such as DNA becoming increasingly popular for use in furthering family history, it is exciting to see many of those reasonable assumptions – even 300 year old ones – becoming established as facts.

"This is a high profile example of what a simple cheek swab can achieve as DNA testing opens up channels that traditional research cannot reach, allowing the man on the street to make use of science to reach back into the past and discover ancestry that may have been lost for centuries."

(January 29, 2009) LINDON, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In celebration of Black History Month, Footnote.com is launching its African American Collection. Footnote.com has been working with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C., to digitize records that provide a view into the lives of African Americans that few have seen before.

These records cover subjects including slavery, military service, and issues facing African Americans dating back to the late 18th century, explains James Hastings, Director of Access Programs at NARA. Making these records available online will help people to better understand the history and sacrifice that took place in this country.

Footnote.com has spent the last two years with NARA compiling this collection and is currently working on adding more records that will be released in the upcoming months. African American records currently on Footnote.com include:

• Service Records for Colored Troops in the Civil War Records for the 2nd-13th infantries including enlistment papers, casualty sheets, oaths of allegiance, proof of ownership and bills of sale.

• American Colonization Society Letters and reports relating to this colony established in 1817 for free people of color residing in the U.S.

• Amistad Case Handwritten records of this landmark case beginning in 1839 involving the Spanish schooner Amistad, used to transport illegal slaves.

• Southern Claims Commission Petitions for compensation resulting from the Civil War. The Southern Claims Commission records are a very rich, often overlooked resource for African American family research. They often contain information that cannot be found anywhere else, says Toni Carrier, Founding Director of the USF Africana Heritage Project. These records document the experiences of former slaves during the Civil War and in the days immediately after. Many contain detailed narratives that make it possible for descendants to envision the lives and experiences of ancestors.

Footnote.com is also working on additional record collections that will be released shortly. Those records include:

• Records of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Relating to Slaves, 1851-1863 includes slave schedules, manumission papers and case papers relating to fugitive slaves.

• Records for the Emancipation of Slaves in the District of Columbia, 1862-63 minutes of meetings, docket books and petitions pertaining to emancipation of slaves.

• Registro Central de Esclavos 1872 (Slave Schedules) registers from Puerto Rico giving information for each slave: name, country of origin, name of parents, physical description, master's name and more.

• Records Relating to the Suppression of the African Slave Trade and Negro Colonization, 1854-1872 - letters, accounts and other documents relating to the suppression of the African slave trade.

• Correspondence of the Military Intelligence Division Relation to Negro Subversion 1917-1941 - record cards and correspondence of the Military Intelligence Division (MID) that relate to activities of blacks in both civilian and military life.

In addition to these records, Footnote.com also features member contributions that include topics ranging from the Underground Railroad to Women Abolitionists to African Americans receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor.

PROVO, UT, January 6, 2009 — We’re Related, a service developed by FamilyLink.com, Inc. to connect Facebook users to other family members, just became the fifth most popular application on Facebook Platform. The We’re Related application surpassed Texas HoldEm Poker, Bumper Sticker, and Video by Facebook as well as more than 52,000 other Facebook applications in terms of active monthly users. “We are thrilled with the momentum of We’re Related and are looking forward to future growth and the new functionality we will offer our loyal users,” said Paul Allen, CEO, FamilyLink.com, Inc. “As the number of We’re Related users increases, so does the number of connections people are making to their families.”We’re Related was launched in October 2007 and is currently the most popular Facebook application for families with more than 16.5 million users. FamilyLink.com, Inc. also recently became one of the Top 500 Web companies in the world, based on Quantcast statistics.

“I’m just excited to see that families really want to connect with each other on the Internet. Our next goal is to grow to 50 million users by the end of this year to help even more individuals stay connected to their loved ones,” said Jason McGowan, VP Product, FamilyLink.com, Inc.

Connecting families is also important to the top three family sites on the Internet, which include Geni.com, MyHeritage.com, and MyFamily.com. In addition to the 5.8 million monthly visitors using We’re Related on Facebook, these three websites attract an additional 2.6 million monthly visitors who connect with their families online, according to statistics published by Quantcast, a service that measures online audiences.

Those who use the We’re Related application also share their excitement through online comments and reviews:

“It’s good to get all of my family in one place. I’m slowly adding people who I didn’t even no I was related to and finding people that I haven’t seen or heard from in years. We even found a cousin we had never spoken to,” said Neka Towers. “So far so good! It’s great to connect with relatives I don’t get to see more often!” said Kathie Smith, a Facebook user from Massachusetts.

“Awesome app…Makes keeping up with the fam easier,” said Junius Simon from Texas.

“Just joined and it has helped me find family I never knew existed. 5 stars!” said Tom Davies, new user on We’re Related.

“This application is amazing… I love being able to show who I am related to. Keep up the excellent work,” said Willow Bigelow from Colorado.We’re Related was created to help individuals stay in touch with their families through photo sharing, a news feed, birthday reminders, etc. Individuals can also build their family tree using We’re Related. For example, more than 100 million relationships (of living people) have been defined on We’re Related. The most common relationship, by far, is cousin. This relationship is often defined in We’re Related using the terms cuz, first cousin, or my cousin.

7 January 2009

Salt Lake City, Utah — FamilySearch International continues to feed the growing appetite of family historians and researchers worldwide with the release of its free 1900 U.S. Census online. The free collection allows users to search the entire population of the U.S. in 1900—over 76 million people—and view high quality images of the original census at www.FamilySearch.org (Go to FamilySearch.org, then click Search Records, then click Record Search pilot).

Using the online census, President-Elect Barack Obama would learn that public speaking skills and stage presence run in his family—his maternal great-great-grandfather, Charles Payne, was noted as an auctioneer by profession in the census. With just a few keystrokes, he'd find that Charles and his wife Della were born respectively in Missouri and Ohio and living with their six children in Johnson County, Kansas, in 1900. Obama's great-grandfather, Rolla, was listed as their second child.

Famous inspirational writer and lecturer, Dale Carnegie (1888 to 1955), can be found as a mere 10-year-old farm boy in Nodaway County, Missouri. Researchers might notice that Mr. Carnegie's family name was spelled Carnagey in the census. He would later change the spelling of his last name, perhaps to capitalize off of the popularity of tycoon Andrew Carnegie (no relation).

"The 1900 U.S. Census is such a significant collection for several reasons," said Paul Nauta, public affairs manager for FamilySearch. "The 1890 U.S. Census was mostly destroyed in a fire. The 1900 census included information not captured from other censuses—like the exact month and year of birth of every person enumerated, years married, the number of children born to the mother, how many were still living, and how long an immigrant had been in the country along with their naturalization status," added Nauta.

Researchers can also explore when and where a person was born, as well as the place of birth of that person's parents. Such information is particularly helpful in trying to determine or document ethnic origins.

The 1900 U.S. Census is also a very important collection for Native Americans because it was the first to include separate Indian Population Schedule sheets for a county. Native Americans living in the general population were enumerated there. The 1900 census included the individual's Indian and English name, tribal affiliation for the individual and his or her parents, percent of Indian blood in the individual and the parents, education, and land allotment information.

FamilySearch manages the largest collection of genealogical records worldwide. In 2007 it announced plans to begin digitizing and indexing its collection for broader, more economic online access—starting with popular collections like the U.S., Canada, and U.K. censuses. FamilySearch has created free online indexes to date for the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 U.S. Censuses. FamilySearch is working with The Generations Network to provide enhanced, free indexes for the remaining U.S. censuses.

By ERRIN HAINES

ATLANTA (AP) — Historians hope a new Web database will help bring millions of blacks closer to their African ancestors who were forced onto slave ships, connecting them to their heritage in a way that has long been possible for white Europeans.

"Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database" launched Friday in conjunction with a conference at Emory University marking the bicentennial of the official end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1808. Emory spearheaded the two-year interactive project, which is free to the public.

"It's basically doing for people of African descent what already exists for people of European descent in the Americas," said Emory history professor David Eltis, who helped direct the project.

"Voyages" documents the slave trade from Africa to the New World that took place over three centuries — between the 1500s and 1800s — and includes searchable information on nearly 35,000 trips and the names of 70,000 human cargo. The voluminous work includes data on more than 95 percent of all voyages that left ports from England — the country with the second-largest slave trade — and documents two-thirds of all slave trade voyages between 1514 and 1866.

Genealogy and DNA tracing have gained popularity for blacks looking to trace their slave roots, and "Voyages" could help give a fuller picture of slavery for a culture stripped of its heritage, Eltis said.

"It's not a super tool for genealogists because you cannot make that connection from ancestor to voyager, but it does give a context," he said, explaining that because the database lists the slaves' African names — which were later Westernized — researching an ancestor by name is difficult.