Going back to his roots

They say truth is stranger than fiction and Adrian Stone has uncovered a truly remarkable story in his own family tree.

The amateur genealogist tells Pamela Parkes how he has traced his family back nine generations to when his African ancestor was captured and sold as a slave.

Here is the story of his roots.

Adrian's journey into his past began in 2008 when his mum, Elaine McCarthy suddenly fell ill. 

"We didn't know what it was and we thought we may lose her," he says. “My mum is the connection between all the different families in Bristol, Wolverhampton, Birmingham; she is the nucleus and keeps us together." 

It was at that point that Adrian realised he knew relatively little about his roots.

“I thought we haven't really had that conversation about her life and her strength and where she gets it from,” he says. 

“We are a big family but I couldn’t tell you how we were cousins and I felt that I needed to look at that.

“The family tree idea came out of nowhere; it just dawned on me that I need to know more about who I am, who she is, who we are and what my purpose is. That's how it got started.”

His initial research started with his close family: “I spoke to an older cousin about our grandfather who came over to Bristol when he was 15. It was a classic Windrush generation story.”

From this small beginning Adrian managed to make a simple family tree, but he was opening the door to a journey into the past which he had never imagined. 

Getting information wasn’t always easy, Not only did he find huge inconsistencies between names and spellings, he had to plough through hundreds of records, sometimes with crucial pages missing, and he had to learn how to interpret what he discovered. 

"There was also a reluctance by some people to bring up the past", says Adrian.

“Sometimes people have skeletons in the cupboard...not everyone had a great experience of being in the Caribbean and being in Jamaica,” he says.

“When they have left that life behind it's not passed onto us and it's down to us to find out who we are and where we have come from.”

Undaunted by the difficulties, Adrian carried on digging into his past.

He learnt his maternal family name was Robinson and they are from a village called Comesee, in the Kellits district of Jamaica.

He turned to his family again to help him fill in some of the blanks.

“Every Sunday I would be on the phone to my American aunt Lavern Robinson. My notepad turned into more notepads - full of trees and scribbles as I was trying to work it out,” he says.

Gripped by the stories and names he was uncovering Adrian turned to the family history centre run by the Mormon Church of the Latter Day Saints, which holds documents dating back hundreds of years.

"From the point I saw those records; that's when the research really began," said Adrian.

At first the work was “overwhelming” but gradually he learnt how to use the records and follow the cryptic signposts, which lead him deeper into his family tree.

But he had a strategy and he began to “piece together the records”.

“In the beginning I wasn't going to go back that far, I wasn't sure you could go back that far,” he says.

Gradually the records began to make sense and "it was like finding buried treasure" when he discovered a family marriage record from 1902.

“Seeing their handwriting and the names of the bride and groom's parents enabled me to go back another generation. 

"Once you have that you can do more searches," he says. 

“It's almost like they came to life and it just felt that this was my calling.”

"Through the marriage certificate I discovered another generation. Peggy Ann Smith, who was born a slave on the estate around 1830.

"Peggy was my fourth great, great grandmother. She was born a slave and it's hard to describe the feeling," says Adrian.

“You are staring at the record and you are seeing a young child, just two and a half years old who is a slave."

As hard as the information was to comprehend, it was also the crucial breakthrough he needed.

“In one of the columns there are remarks and...it gives reference to her being African, so I went to the very first slave register in 1817," he says.

There he discovered something remarkable.

"Peggy's mother was Ebo Venus and she is my five times removed great grandmother and she was born in Africa around 1788," says Adrian. 

ancestor. She was the first person who came to Jamaica from Africa.

"Never in a million years did I think I would make that sort of connection.”

Despite the hundreds of years which separated them Adrian has uncovered some details of Ebo Venus' life.

Her name was changed to Ann Smith when she was baptised and her daughter Peggy Ann Smith was born on Kellits Estate around 1830.

At the time slave owners had to keep detailed and meticulous records of the slaves they owned; it's from some of these records that Adrian was able to piece together Ebo Venus/Ann Smith's life.

Ann Smith and her daughter worked on a sugar plantation which was founded by Scottish aristocrat George McKenzie.

He built Kellits Sugar Estate in 1771, along with a mill house, boiling house and a slave hospital.

"In the period that my ancestors were enslaved, Kellits was owned by William Shand, who inherited the estate from his older brother John Shand," says Adrian.

The Shand's were originally from Garmoth, County Moray in North East Scotland.

They bought the estate in 1814 from the McKenzie family, but the estate failed because of bad management and debt and was eventually sold in 1848.

Discovering his family tree has had a profound effect on Adrian, in ways he could never have imagined.

"Growing up in Bristol in the 1970s and 80s I only knew the Jamaican community…it took a while for me to embrace my African heritage. 

"Through doing the research I started to feel much prouder about my heritage," he says.

"When I found my African ancestors I was ecstatic. That is what most people want; the first question is what tribe do we come from?

“I can make a connection to Africa, to a specific region and specific tribe, because Ebo, pronounce Ibo, is a name that derives from the Igbo people from Southern Nigeria. 

"Just by her name I knew she was connected to the tribe."

Adrian has also connected with his wider Jamaican family, who still live in the district where his ancestors were once slaves.

“I went to Jamaica in 2011 and a big part of this has been finding lost and distant relatives in Comesee," he says.

He went from door-to-door and discovered some extraordinary oral history accounts of his heritage.

"One of my cousins who is in her 70s spoke about her grandmother (Peggy's daughter).

"She said her grandmother told her a story about her mother, who remembered her mother telling her when they were set free from slavery.

“She said when they were freed (in 1834) they were all dancing and singing 'Master set we free! Master set we free'."

At times Adrian was spending three days a week researching his family tree.

"I was obsessed - it was about legacy and I wanted to feel connected to my roots. It's an important part of who we are - ancestors paved our way and made sacrifices."

Adrian is now helping to support others who want to trace their Caribbean ancestry.

“I enjoyed giving guidance and showing them how to interpret the records and give them a strategy," he says.

Ultimately the goal is to work with young people, to help them "tell their story". 

"My mission has changed to the empowerment of our community and our heritage and the importance of knowing our family legacy through genealogical records," he says.

But the research is not over and Adrian's journey is still to continue.

He plans to travel to Nigeria next to try and trace living relatives through DNA.

"The journey has not finished," he says. "I want to go beyond slavery - our history does not start with slavery and I want to go to Africa to experience "my ancestral homeland" and carry on "building our family tree".

In the eight years since he began his journey his mum has been by his side throughout. 

“We enjoy the discoveries together," says Adrian. 

"The beautiful thing about this journey is it brings you closer to your family, it has brought us closer."

More information about Adrian's genealogy service, workshops and lectures: Adrian.stone@hotmail.co.uk

Pamela Parkes can be contacted @pamelaparkes or pamela@bristol247.com

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