The first-of-its-kind analysis examined historical DNA from 27 individuals and identified 41,799 relatives.
WASHINGTON — Not far from Camp David, the U.S. presidential retreat in Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland, lies the remnants of an iron forge called Catoctin Furnace founded in the late 18th century, an important site for understanding the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in early U.S. history.
They were found to have descended from just a few African populations, in particular West Africa’s Wolof and Mandinka peoples and Central Africa’s Kongo people, and have strong genetic connections to present-day populations in Senegal, Gambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Enslaved people of African descent were forced to work in agricultural, industrial and domestic settings in parts of the United States. Slavery ended with the 1861-1865 U.S. Civil War.
“Enslaved African Americans are largely excluded from the historical record, and in documents where they are mentioned, they are often treated as property, not as people,” said 23andMe population geneticist and study lead author Éadaoin Harney. “I hope that this study can help to restore some of the information about the lives of the Catoctin individuals that has otherwise been lost to time.”
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