Looking back at ancestors and their association with slavery has included some surprises. But when it comes to the Anderson side of my family, there are no surprises at all. Oscar Anderson was one of my maternal great grandparents. He was born in Tanum, Sweden and did not arrive to the United States until around 1880 after slavery was abolished. It is certain that neither he nor his family participated in America's institution of slavery. His father, Zacharias, was born Naverstad, Sweden and his mother, Beata, was born in Lur, Sweden. Both died in Tanum, Sweden.
I have traced Oscar's line back only to his grandparents who were born in the late 1700s. Internal to the country, Sweden had effectively banned slavery in 1335. Some wealthy or seafaring Swedes participated briefly in the African slave trade - but no evidence of that has been discovered for my Anderson ancestors.
This family line, unlike some of the others, played out exactly as expected. No slave connections! I wish I could say that for my remaining maternal ancestors.
Stansbury Ancestors
The next set of maternal ancestors come from Louisiana, though they weren’t originally from there. My second great grandfather, David Stansbury, was born in Terrebonne, LA in 1847. He grew up in a household that owned slaves. His father, Charles, owned one 21-year-old male slave in 1850 and eight slaves in 1860, though the slave he owned in 1850 was not among that number.
Whether Charles' parents, Charles Gorsuch Stansbury and Gulselma owned slaves is unclear. They arrived in Louisiana around 1815 having previously lived in Harford County, MD. Their reason for the move is a tale of desperation and fear following a bar brawl Charles was involved in that resulted in a death.
If Charles' middle name, "Gorsuch", sounds familiar, it is the same family as Supreme Court Justice, Niel Gorsuch. Charles' mother was Sarah Gorsuch of Baltimore. The Gorsuch and Stansbury families intermarried often during the 1700s. In fact, Charles' father, Elijah, married Sarah's sister in 1783 after Sarah died. Justice Neil Gorsuch and I are descendants of Charles Gorsuch, Sr who came from Hertfordshire, England to the colonies in the mid-1600s.
Whether this first Charles owned slaves is uncertain. He held substantial land, but may have treated it more as investment than farmland. His son, Charles, Jr, did own two slaves at his death in 1747 and his grandson, David Gorsuch owned twelve slaves in 1783. Elijah Stansbury, who married David's daughter, Sarah, had five slaves in 1800.
The earliest Stansbury ancestor in Maryland, Detmar, arrived in 1658, settling in the region that would later become Baltimore. Given their land holdings and the prevalence of slavery in the area, it’s probable the Stansburys were involved in slavery from at least the late 1700s—possibly earlier.
Cambell Ancestors
David Stansbury married Maria Campbell. Insufficient information has yet been discovered regarding the Campbells to establish their connection to the institution of slavery.
Summary: In today's blog I looked at four second great grandparents. Two, the parents of Oscar Anderson, were positively not associated with slavery. One, Maria Campbell, was a complete unknown. And one—through the Stansburys and Gorsuches—has deep roots in the institution of slavery, stretching back to colonial Maryland and into antebellum Louisiana.
The final post in this series on Genealogical Reckoning will offer a broader summary and some personal reflections on what this journey has revealed.
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