Searching for African American ancestor

[aithne]

Further to my earlier reply:   (add #26)


See the following website:
 https://www.wa.gov.au/service/justice/civil-law/searching-family-history


If you are seeking Western Australia BDM documents,  the general public can access historical certs, without needing permission from anyone:
   In Western Australia, historical certificates are available to:
•   Anyone (16 years of age or over) for births 100 years old or more
•   Anyone (16 years of age or over) for deaths 30 years old or more
•   Anyone (16 years of age or over) for marriages 75 years old or more.
In recognition of the fact that the fraudulent use of certificates reduces with the age of the record, the evidence-of-identity requirements are not required for the historical certificates stated above.


There is an important message on that website, it reads:
Please note some words in Open Era records may cause offence. In order to avoid causing offence, the copy you receive will be redacted unless you specifically ask for an un-redacted copy. By asking for an un-redacted copy, you accept that the copy you receive could contain words that may cause, or be capable of causing, offence to you or someone else who is aware of it.

https://bdm.justice.wa.gov.au/_apps/pioneersindex/default.aspx

RChat’s Resources Board for Western Australia
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=369921.0

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies :
Western Australia: -
https://aiatsis.gov.au/family-history/where-get-help/western-australia


JM

Yes, i’ve been through these, but again, Aboriginal people didn’t have these. Only white people had these documents with a rare Aboriginal person being listed.
My black family only started to have these records once my white 4xggrandfather made a lot of money with mining. You’re suggesting i find records for black people in the 1850s when they didn’t start having these records for black people until just before 1900.

[aithne]

Where did you get the names of the two American ships mentioned in your first post? You say your man’s name doesn’t appear on either of them.

This Wikipedia article mentions a bit about the history of whaling in WA:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_in_Western_Australia

A few companies are named. It might be worth chasing up to see if any records survive.

I got names of ships because someone wrote a thesis a couple of years ago which listed whaling ships that had been in Western Australia. Originally, my sister found this document as the Biographical Index of whalers i posted a link to earlier. However, further googling turned up
The full thesis, with a database showing origin ports and number of ships by years. I highlighted the ports with more than 10 ships in the area for the those years and then process if elimination, started with the Port with the most ships. Maths is not my string point but i had to start somewhere so i went with the port with the most ships.
Then, that thesis lists the names off the ships and what years they were here. So i highlighted ships from that port that were here in the right years (i went with a 20 year gap).
Then, i’ve started checking crew lists for names similar to Mullaney. I’m only up to D in the list of ship names but i have found a few potential men, one more likely than others and so strangely it was a ship i had randomly put my finger on previously because it was here at the right time, not because i had seen the crew list. I still have a lot to go through and i haven’t even started on the other ports yet.

[majm]

Have you asked your sister for copy

Sometimes “getting off the track” and searching sideways can lead to breakthroughs. .....

I’m fed up with the DNA questions because it’s not actually going to give me an answer any time soon. The dna is pretty irrelevant other than to say what we were always told is true. So I specifically asked not to keep focusing on the DNA but actual documents but yet it keeps coming back to dna, and yet people on here keep saying “take the dna test with a grain of salt”. So which is it? Is the dna the absolute vital or is it not really?
Right now, i’m not fussed about the dna because other family members are still waiting on their results which will hopefully tell us more but, it might not. And since i’m a woman, and this comes from my father i wasn’t looking for much there anyway.
My 3xg grandmother (Yorjup, Aboriginal name) had an Aboriginal mother (Yeates, Aboriginal name) and an African American whaler father. The family tree i inherited had two men listed as her father (John James Low and Somebody Mullane/y) she was known by both names. Both of these men were African American whalers. It was decided one was more likely her father than the other, but since the other was still connected to the family in a different way (his daughter married the other man’s supposed grandson) i have continued to search for that man as well because we can’t rule him out and he’s still the ancestor of some of my relations so i figured since i’m paying for an Ancestry subscription that i would find information for them as well.
Now, that 3xggrandmother (Yorjup) married a man whose father was a white man, also supposed to have been a whaler or sealer. We have been working on this one as well and discovered the family tree we inherited was wrong. We now don’t know who this whaler was but we have an idea of his name (inherited tree said Abby or Ebenezer harris) and he’s been confused with two other white men (sealer John Harris, absolutely horrendous man that we’ve now rules out and Ebenezer Harris a farmer originally from Kent but i’m not convinced he’s the right man although he was at the right place at the right time) I’ll look into this man later.
Then, my great grandfather apparently always said his parents were first cousins with their father’s being brothers. I ruled this out based on the fact my convict 4xggrandfather coming from Wales and the other man (Ebenezer Harris) assumed to be the other 4xggrandfather coming from Kent. But then i went back to a tree that had been written (and published in a book) showing 4xggrandmother had a sealer/whaler father (no actual name given, just says American) and not the head of the tribe. So now we’re working on the head of the tribe being her grandfather and the nameless assumed white but could have been black sealer/whaler being her father and the mystery of the other 3xggrandfather biological father (the Abby/Ebenezer person). But of course, no proof and probably wrong.
So that’s 4, and now you’re probably very confused.
As for the records, there are Native Welfare files. But they’re not official documents. My uncle signed permission for my sister to get them and they were given to my sister because someone in the office assumed my uncle was our father. I can’t get them unless my father signs permission for me to get them and i have no intention of ever speaking to that man. My uncle can’t sign for me to get them because he’s in the Phillipines and with borders closed he won’t be here anytime soon. Most of these documents have been destroyed, damaged in storage or are heavily redacted.
There are other documents that the government has but since these are tied to Native Title the government won’t let us have them. Apparently the Native Title lawyers can access them but we can’t get them or view them ourselves.
And again, there are NO records of marriages. It’s simply not how Aboriginal people do marriages. It’s still very much “shacking up”. This is the way it used to be and we still do it. I’m married tribal way to a man from Papua. We  don’t have a piece of paper saying we’re married and we did this because it’s the way of our ancestors. There are no marriage records for Yorjup or her parents. It just did not happen that way  and there might not have been consent involved, either. Not so much the whalers but the sealers were absolute scumbags who stole women and brutalised them. So there may not have been a “marriage” for her parents.

[aithne]

Have you checked out San Francisco?  A lot of ships working in the Pacific passed through there.
Also Hawaii.

https://www.sfgenealogy.org/sf/

I considered it but haven’t looked into it. Most of the whaling ships in WA came from New Bedford.
The thesis shows a few other ports and includes French ships so i have a few to work through now.

[aithne]

Have you asked your sister for copy

Sometimes “getting off the track” and searching sideways can lead to breakthroughs. .....

I’m fed up with the DNA questions because it’s not actually going to give me an answer any time soon. The dna is pretty irrelevant other than to say what we were always told is true. So I specifically asked not to keep focusing on the DNA but actual documents but yet it keeps coming back to dna, and yet people on here keep saying “take the dna test with a grain of salt”. So which is it? Is the dna the absolute vital or is it not really?
Right now, i’m not fussed about the dna because other family members are still waiting on their results which will hopefully tell us more but, it might not. And since i’m a woman, and this comes from my father i wasn’t looking for much there anyway.
My 3xg grandmother (Yorjup, Aboriginal name) had an Aboriginal mother (Yeates, Aboriginal name) and an African American whaler father. The family tree i inherited had two men listed as her father (John James Low and Somebody Mullane/y) she was known by both names. Both of these men were African American whalers. It was decided one was more likely her father than the other, but since the other was still connected to the family in a different way (his daughter married the other man’s supposed grandson) i have continued to search for that man as well because we can’t rule him out and he’s still the ancestor of some of my relations so i figured since i’m paying for an Ancestry subscription that i would find information for them as well.
Now, that 3xggrandmother (Yorjup) married a man whose father was a white man, also supposed to have been a whaler or sealer. We have been working on this one as well and discovered the family tree we inherited was wrong. We now don’t know who this whaler was but we have an idea of his name (inherited tree said Abby or Ebenezer harris) and he’s been confused with two other white men (sealer John Harris, absolutely horrendous man that we’ve now rules out and Ebenezer Harris a farmer originally from Kent but i’m not convinced he’s the right man although he was at the right place at the right time) I’ll look into this man later.
Then, my great grandfather apparently always said his parents were first cousins with their father’s being brothers. I ruled this out based on the fact my convict 4xggrandfather coming from Wales and the other man (Ebenezer Harris) assumed to be the other 4xggrandfather coming from Kent. But then i went back to a tree that had been written (and published in a book) showing 4xggrandmother had a sealer/whaler father (no actual name given, just says American) and not the head of the tribe. So now we’re working on the head of the tribe being her grandfather and the nameless assumed white but could have been black sealer/whaler being her father and the mystery of the other 3xggrandfather biological father (the Abby/Ebenezer person). But of course, no proof and probably wrong.
So that’s 4, and now you’re probably very confused.
As for the records, there are Native Welfare files. But they’re not official documents. My uncle signed permission for my sister to get them and they were given to my sister because someone in the office assumed my uncle was our father. I can’t get them unless my father signs permission for me to get them and i have no intention of ever speaking to that man. My uncle can’t sign for me to get them because he’s in the Phillipines and with borders closed he won’t be here anytime soon. Most of these documents have been destroyed, damaged in storage or are heavily redacted.
There are other documents that the government has but since these are tied to Native Title the government won’t let us have them. Apparently the Native Title lawyers can access them but we can’t get them or view them ourselves.
And again, there are NO records of marriages. It’s simply not how Aboriginal people do marriages. It’s still very much “shacking up”. This is the way it used to be and we still do it. I’m married tribal way to a man from Papua. We  don’t have a piece of paper saying we’re married and we did this because it’s the way of our ancestors. There are no marriage records for Yorjup or her parents. It just did not happen that way  and there might not have been consent involved, either. Not so much the whalers but the sealers were absolute scumbags who stole women and brutalised them. So there may not have been a “marriage” for her parents.

She doesn’t have them. She and i message each other a million times a day discussing this. She’s the one mentioning we can’t access the records where i know we can’t access them and don’t dwell on it.
We can say we can’t access them a hundred times a day but it still doesn’t get us access to them. I’m like “well, we can’t get them. Let’s focus on the ones we can access”. Dwelling on it won’t help us. And we don’t really know what they say anyway. They might actually say nothing.
We only have a few pages copied and those relate to a different branch of the family

[majm]

Hogwash,  there are definitely records back earlier than 1850s for  both WA bdm and the AIATSIS.  JM.

Further to my earlier reply:   (add #26)


See the following website:
 https://www.wa.gov.au/service/justice/civil-law/searching-family-history


If you are seeking Western Australia BDM documents,  the general public can access historical certs, without needing permission from anyone:
   In Western Australia, historical certificates are available to:
•   Anyone (16 years of age or over) for births 100 years old or more
•   Anyone (16 years of age or over) for deaths 30 years old or more
•   Anyone (16 years of age or over) for marriages 75 years old or more.
In recognition of the fact that the fraudulent use of certificates reduces with the age of the record, the evidence-of-identity requirements are not required for the historical certificates stated above.
A

There is an important message on that website, it reads:
Please note some words in Open Era records may cause offence. In order to avoid causing offence, the copy you receive will be redacted unless you specifically ask for an un-redacted copy. By asking for an un-redacted copy, you accept that the copy you receive could contain words that may cause, or be capable of causing, offence to you or someone else who is aware of it.

https://bdm.justice.wa.gov.au/_apps/pioneersindex/default.aspx

RChat’s Resources Board for Western Australia
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=369921.0

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies :
Western Australia: -
https://aiatsis.gov.au/family-history/where-get-help/western-australia


JM

Yes, i’ve been through these, but again, Aboriginal people didn’t have these. Only white people had these documents with a rare Aboriginal person being listed.
My black family only started to have these records once my white 4xggrandfather made a lot of money with mining. You’re suggesting i find records for black people in the 1850s when they didn’t start having these records for black people until just before 1900.

[aithne]

Hogwash,  there are definitely records back earlier than 1850s for  both WA bdm and the AIATSIS.  JM.

Further to my earlier reply:   (add #26)


See the following website:
 https://www.wa.gov.au/service/justice/civil-law/searching-family-history


If you are seeking Western Australia BDM documents,  the general public can access historical certs, without needing permission from anyone:
   In Western Australia, historical certificates are available to:
•   Anyone (16 years of age or over) for births 100 years old or more
•   Anyone (16 years of age or over) for deaths 30 years old or more
•   Anyone (16 years of age or over) for marriages 75 years old or more.
In recognition of the fact that the fraudulent use of certificates reduces with the age of the record, the evidence-of-identity requirements are not required for the historical certificates stated above.
A

There is an important message on that website, it reads:
Please note some words in Open Era records may cause offence. In order to avoid causing offence, the copy you receive will be redacted unless you specifically ask for an un-redacted copy. By asking for an un-redacted copy, you accept that the copy you receive could contain words that may cause, or be capable of causing, offence to you or someone else who is aware of it.

https://bdm.justice.wa.gov.au/_apps/pioneersindex/default.aspx

RChat’s Resources Board for Western Australia
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=369921.0

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies :
Western Australia: -
https://aiatsis.gov.au/family-history/where-get-help/western-australia


JM

Yes, i’ve been through these, but again, Aboriginal people didn’t have these. Only white people had these documents with a rare Aboriginal person being listed.
My black family only started to have these records once my white 4xggrandfather made a lot of money with mining. You’re suggesting i find records for black people in the 1850s when they didn’t start having these records for black people until just before 1900.

Not hogwash at all.
If you think you can access them then go ahead.

[brigidmac]

Aithne
Im really impressed by your research and your tenacity with so few documents at your disposal .
I hope you will write a book about your search ...whatever the final outcome ..

Your post has certainly raised a lot of interest and probably helped many others

[majm]

I have volunteered my time transcribing longhand documents for many groups for decades.  I can assure you that among those efforts I have transcribed official records for the colony of Western Australia in the 1840s and have read and transcribed :
'Full blood"
'gin"
"Half-caste"
And other words that are definitely referring to race.

JM