Exploring Ancestry and Slavery History

Francis Coombs was a free man,

uh, and likely

also of color.

Francis Tracy seems to be most likely a Black

woman. She doesn't seem to have been enslaved.

There's a likelihood that at some point in her

ancestral line, there is slavery.

Yeah.

Samuel Coombs was a child at the time slavery was abolished in

1834, but his parents, Alex's

four-times great-grandparents, Robert Francis Coombs and

Francis Tracy, lived much of their lives during the time

of

slavery,

although there is no record of them being enslaved.

During the period

of 1817 up until 1832, all property

owners have to submit a return,

uh, of the persons who are enslaved to

them.

Okay.

So we're gonna take a look at one of the slave returns, so if you

can read from

where it says, "A return of slaves."

Return of slaves in the parish of St.

Anne, in the possession of Robert Francis

Coombs,

as owner, 28th day of... Is that

June?

June.

1826.

Right. So this Robert Francis Coombs, your

four-times great-grandfather, is in

ownership of a number of persons.

Right.

Um-

This is sinking in. Okay.

Yeah?

Mm-hmm.

He was not enslaved. He was a property-owning

person.

We have Monday, Providence,

Samson,

and then

the women, we have-

Elizabeth

... um, Elizabeth, Fidelia, Elinor,

and then-

Diana?

Diana. Elinor has this little girl, Diana.

So they're now in my family line, and it doesn't even sound like coming out

of my

mouth, but Robert Francis Coombs owned

people.

Yeah. Essentially, that is exactly what it is.

Coming into this whole journey, I was open-minded,

but I suppose I didn't think

that I would find that.

Yeah. It's a challenge. It is really a challenge.

In terms of, like, explaining my emotion behind it,

I suppose 'cause that goes against everything

that I stand for, who

I am, you know?

Absolutely. It's a lot. It's a lot to process.

Yeah.

It wasn't unusual for free people of color, like Alex's

four-times great-grandfather, Robert Francis Coombs, to

own enslaved people in the 1820s.

But by the early 1830s, the abolition of slavery was

about to become law.

The British government began preparing to compensate slave owners.

So

what you're looking at is a compensation claim.

The claim of Robert Francis Coombs, in the

compensation of 26 slaves.

So he owned 26 slaves?

Yes. Essentially, the government is

forcing the slave holders-

Mm-hmm

... to give them their freedom, and therefore, the slave holders

are being compensated by the British to the tune of 20 million

pounds.