Edward Cunningham Harrison and Mary Brown. Jasper Holmes and Matilda, whose maiden name is unknown. John Walker Colvert and Harriet Nicholson. Henry W. McNeely and Martha Margaret Miller. Green Taylor and Fereby Taylor. Willis Barnes and Cherry Battle. John William Aldridge and Louvicey Artis. Joseph Buckner Martin and Loudie Henderson. 

These are my 16 great-great-grandparents.

Four were born in Virginia; the remainder in North Carolina. They were born between 1817 and 1874; most in the 1840s or ’50s. All died in the state in which they were born.

Of the 13 born in the antebellum era, 11 were enslaved. One was a free man of color. Two of the enslaved were children of their owner. All of the three born after the war were born to freeborn parents.

Fourteen were of varying degrees of African descent, classified as black or mulatto. Two were white.

Hat tip to Edie Lee Harris for the exercise.