Connecting the Dots on my Cumbo Family Lineage

Posted on July 17, 2022 by andrekearnsdc@gmail.com

By Andre Kearns ¹

In this article, I apply a variety of genealogical research methods to trace my family tree back 12 generations to named African ancestors, Emanuel and Joan Cumbo.

This photo is of my great grandmother Sarah Ann “Annie” Biggs Richards (1902-1930), daughter of Florence Cumbo Biggs, with my grandfather James Edward Richards (lap) and grand aunt Ernestine Richards (standing). My great-great grandmother Florence is the most recent ancestor in his family to be born with the surname Cumbo.

Abstract

The Cumbo Family is one of the earliest documented families in English America. Cumbo ancestors were among the first Africans arriving in Virginia prior to 1630. Over successive generations, many Cumbo family branches either maintained Black or mixed-race (mulatto) identities, passed into white communities (Melungeon, Portuguese or Irish) or fully embraced Native-American (Lumbee, Tuscarora, Saponi or Meherrin) identities. Cumbo descendants today self-identify across all of these racial groups. Additionally, as the Cumbo family grew, so did variations of the name, which expanded to Cumba, Cumbee, Cumby, Cumbia, Combo, Cumber, and others. This article explores the lineage and history of an African American Cumbo Family.

Introduction:

Ever since I watched the miniseries Roots as a child, I’ve been on a quest to explore and trace my family connection to Africa. I dreamt of the potential to trace back to a named ancestor in Africa. To identify my family’s Kunta Kinte.

Lack of documentation caused by slavery creates significant challenges for African Americans to trace their named ancestors over hundreds of years and many generations through the domestic slave trade to a port of entry, slave ship and African port of origin. Discovering that I descend from the Cumbos, an African-descended family who lived free in America centuries prior to emancipation, created the possibility to trace my lineage to named African ancestors.

First Generation:
Africa to Virginia – Cumbo Family Origins

1. EMANUEL CUMBO Senior and Joan (the mother) are the first generation of the Cumbo family line. Emanuel (father) and Joan were born around 1600 and 1610 in Ndongo². They arrived in Point Comfort, Virginia sometime between 1619 ³ to 1628⁴. From Point Comfort, they were bound to landowners at Archers Hope Creek in James City County, Virginia. In 1638 Richard Kemp lists “Emanuel, Negro” among numerous headrights to secure 840 acres of land on Archers Hope Creek in James City County⁵⁶. The next year “Joan, a Negro” is listed among headrights for 1,200 acres to William Davis, Kemp’s neighbor at Archers Hope Creek⁷.

Since Emanuel (father) and Joan arrived with no fixed-term indentured service contracts, they labored as bonded servants, enslaved in practice⁸. As they labored, slavery was rapidly forming in Virginia through custom, court rulings and laws⁹. White landowners misused the headright system which was established in Virginia in 1618 to recruit labor for the colonies. Landowners exploited Africans like Emanuel and Joan as headrights by using them to secure new land holdings over and over without ever having to transfer land patents to them.

Emanuel (father) tried to escape his bondage for freedom. In 1640 he was serving William Pierce in York County which adjoins James City County. He hatched a plan to escape under the cover of night with 6 white servants. They all were caught sailing down the Elizabeth River to Norfolk. Emanuel was whipped, branded, and returned to bondage¹⁰. His dreams of freedom would have to be realized through his son.

English North America
Virginia Counties in 1652 ¹¹

Second Generation:
The Life of Emanuel Cumbo

2. EMANUEL CUMBO Junior (Emanuel Sr.¹) was born around 1634 to Emanuel (father) and Joan in James City County. His parents wanted him to have the freedom they were denied¹². They leveraged relationships with those for whom they labored over many years to petition the Virginia legislature for their son’s freedom. They succeeded. In September 1644 the Virginia House of Burgess ruled him to be an indentured servant with a 21-year service term and not a slave for life¹³.

On 18 April 1667, two years after Emanuel Cumbo Junior was freed from his 21-year bondage, he took ownership of 50 acres of land in Archers Hope Creek where his mother and father labored. Cumbo obtains his property from land formerly deeded to William Davis, who had listed Emanuel’s mother Joan among the headrights required to claim it in 1639, and adjoining land owned by Richard Kemp, who listed his father Emanuel as a headright in 1638.

By September 1667, the Virginia Assembly declared baptism does not free enslaved people¹⁴. Had Emanuel Cumbo’s timeline shifted a few years, perhaps he would not have achieved freedom. But he did, making him and his descendants’ free people in America from that point forward. Many Cumbo descendants in America today trace their ancestry back to Emanuel Cumbo.

Emanuel Cumbo’s 18 April 1667 land grant

The 1667 land grant transcription provides evidence of early Angolan acquisition of land in colonial English America:

To all &c Whereas &c Now Know yee that I ye said Sr Will Berkeley Knt [Knight] Govr [Governor] &c give & grant unto Emanuell [Cumbow] Negro ffifty acres of Land according to the ancient Lawfull bounds thereof scituate in James Citty County the said Land being parte of a greater Quantitie formerly granted unto Willm Davis and Lately found to Escheate to his Maty [common abbreviation for Majesty] as by an Inquisition recorded in the secretary’s office undr [under] the hands & Seales of Coll [Colonel] Myles Cary Esqr [Esquire] his Maties [Majesty’s] Escheater Genll [General] for the sd County and the Jury sworne before him for that purpose dated the [18th?] Day of Aprill 1667 may appeare, and is now granted unto the said Emanuell who hath made his Composicon [Composition] to bee paid

Connecting the Dots: An African American Cumbo Family

I descend from the Cumbos through my mother, grandfather, and maternal great grandmother, all Americans of African descent who grew up in Suffolk, Virginia located in the tidewater area of the state, less than an hour from Point Comfort (Hampton, Virginia).

Elizabeth Florence Cumbo (known as Florence), my great-great grandmother in this line, born around 1866 in Northampton County, North Carolina (an hour’s drive from Suffolk) is the most recent ancestor in my family to be born with the surname Cumbo¹⁵. Eight generations and 266 years separate her from Emanuel Cumbo Senior.

Connecting the dots from Florence to Emanuel required application of a variety of research methods, made possible by documentation available on free people of color. I researched land, tax, church, court, census and estate records, some dating back to the early 1600s for direct evidence of ancestral connections. The uniqueness of the last name Cumbo with origins in Africa helped to apply a cluster analysis to identify family connections and build proofs where direct evidence is absent¹⁶. Once I researched and assembled my pedigree, I reviewed it with a critical mind to ensure ancestor birth dates fit proposed parent-child relationships, and that ancestral locations viewed over generations represented a coherent family migration pattern over time.

Third Generation:
First Cumbo Generation Born Free

Cluster analysis is a valid genealogical research approach where in a particular area all available documentation on a particular family, will reveal critical information on a family’s ancestry. As a result of the unique Cumbo surname, cluster analysis identified Richard Cumbo, as the son of Emanuel Cumbo and was born circa 1667.

3. RICHARD CUMBO (Emanuel Jr.², Emanuel Sr.¹) is found by historian Paul Heinegg, in his book Free African Americans which indexes church and tax records that place Richard living in counties adjoining James City, where Emanuel Cumbo was born and owned land¹⁷. Based on these records, and a cluster analysis of southeastern Virginia, Richard is the only free-born person with the surname Cumbo living near James City after 1667, and in the age range to be Emanuel’s son¹⁸.

In 1704, Richard Cumbo was taxed on 80 acres in New Kent County, Virginia¹⁹ .

In 1724, Richard’s wife Ann (unknown) sells 100 acres where they were living in Westover Parish, Charles City County, Virginia²⁰ .

In 1741, the Charles City County awards Richard Cumbo 50 shillings in a suit against Benjamin Evans ²¹ .

As further documented in the colonial records, Richard Cumbo and Ann had three children:

i. Elizabeth Cumbo born around 168__, documented as the daughter of Richard Cumbo, based on the St. Peter’s Parish baptism record²².²³

ii. John Cumbo (b. abt 1700).

4. iii. Gideon Cumbo born around 1702.

Fourth Generation:
Gideon Cumbo of Brunswick County

4. GIDEON CUMBO, (Richard³, Emanuel Jr.², Emanuel Sr.¹) born around 1702 is identified by a cluster as the son of Richard Cumbo. Heinegg in Free African Americans indexes court and tax records that place Gideon in Brunswick County, Virginia, approximately eighty miles southwest of Charles City County (the last recorded location for his father Richard), through 1749²⁴.

1723: Gideon Cumbo was a delinquent taxpayer reported at the vestry held for Blisland Parish, Virginia, on 11 October 1723²⁵ .

1733: Gideon Cumbo is added to the list of tithables by order of the Brunswick County, Virginia court²⁶ .

1748: Gideon Cumbo was in Brunswick County, Virginia when a petition he brought in court against William Person was continued. The matter “was dismissed on hearing both parties” a year later on 28 June 1749²⁷ .

Based on a cluster analysis, Gideon Cumbo and an unnamed woman were the parents of a daughter:

5. i. Elizabeth Cumbo born about 1728.

Fifth Generation:
Elizabeth Cumbo of Meherrin Parish

5. ELIZABETH CUMBO (Gideon⁴, Richard³, Emanuel Jr.², Emanuel Sr.¹) born about 1728 is identified as the daughter of Gideon Cumbo and an unnamed woman. Said cluster analysis identifies Elizabeth Cumbo, of Brunswick County as likely the daughter of Gideon Cumbo. Based on land and court records, the other viable father candidate for Elizabeth is John Cumbo born around 1700. Gideon is the stronger father candidate because he remains in Brunswick longer than John, well into Elizabeth’s early adulthood.

Court records place John Cumbo in Brunswick County in 1738 but by 1746 he is living over the Virginia border in Northampton County, North Carolina. He owned the farmland called “Cumboes” referenced in the 1750 will of William Eaton²⁸. Elizabeth Cumbo’s descendants do not appear in Northampton County until her son Cannon is counted 40 years later in the 1790 census.

On 24 April 1775 the Brunswick County court ordered the churchwardens of Meherrin Parish to bind out Elizabeth’s orphan-son Cannon Cumbo. Meherrin Parrish was one of 177 units of religious authorities that covered Virginia, established by the Church of England to govern, and serve the state’s citizens. After Greensville County was formed from Brunswick in 1781, Meherrin Parish covered both counties²⁹.

Elizabeth appears to have been a poor single mother raising her son. There is no record of who Cannon’s father might have been. Y-DNA testing of documented direct paternal descendants of Cannon Cumbo through his son Britton Cumbo Sr. trace back to the EM2 haplotype with origins in Africa and generate no Cumbo matches from other family branches³⁰. This supports the view that Cannon was a Cumbo through his mother, and that his father was African descended. Cannon was born free, but his father could have been free or enslaved, since Cannon’s status at birth by Virginia law was inherited from his mother, the free-born Elizabeth Cumbo. If Elizabeth Cumbo of Meherrin Parish had other children, their names are not known³¹.

6. i. Cannon Cumbo was the only known son of Elizabeth Cumbo and an unknown man.

Sixth Generation Six:
Cumbo Migration to North Carolina

6. CANNON CUMBO (Elizabeth⁵, Gideon⁴, Richard³, Emanuel Jr.², Emanuel Sr.¹) as documented in the tax records, is found in Greensville, Virginia as an adult in 1783³². Greensville was established in 1781 from Brunswick. Within 7 years Cannon Cumbo migrates over the border into North Carolina. He is the only Cumbo who appears in the 1790 census for Northampton County, North Carolina, which sits directly below Brunswick and Greensville, and was listed as the head of a free person of color household of five. Other household members are likely his wife Phoebe and three children including Britton³³.

In 1790 Cannon Cumbo is listed as a head of household, husband to Phoebe and father to three including a son named Britton, and two unnamed children.

Cannon Cumbo dies sometime after 1790³⁵. In order to follow family relationships, a cluster analysis pieces together the Northampton Cumbo family, and their relationships to each other.

Census Year	Cumbos Recorded in U.S. Census, Northampton County, NC
1790	Cumbo, Cannon, 5 All Other Free
1810	Cumbo, Phoebe, 4 All Other Free
1820	Cumbo, Britton, 1776-1794, 5 Free Colored Persons
1830	Cumbo, Britton, 1776-1794, 4 Free Colored Persons

Cluster Analysis of Northampton Cumbos

By 1810 Phoebe is listed as the head of a free person of color household of four including the son Britton³⁶. No other Cumbos are recorded in the 1790 or 1810 census for Northampton County³⁷³⁸.

7. i. Britton Cumbo

ii. Unidentified child Cumbo

iii. Unidentified child Cumbo

Seventh Generation:
The Life and Times of a Cotton Farmer

7. Britton Cumbo Senior (Cannon⁶, Elizabeth⁵, Gideon⁴, Richard³, Emanuel Jr.², Emanuel Sr.¹) was a Northampton County Cotton farmer who owned no land, so he likely farmed someone else’s land as a laborer or tenant farmer.

In 1820 Britton Cumbo Sr. is recorded as head of his own Northampton household of 5, including an unnamed wife. In 1830 widowed Britton Cumbo Sr. is recorded as head of his own household of 4, including son Britton Cumbo Jr.

Upon his death in 1837, the Northampton County courts bound his twelve-year-old son Britton Cumbo Jr. to white Northampton County farmer Jesse Morgan as an apprentice. The court record reads as follows:

Monday, June 5th, 1837 Ordered by the court that Britton Cumbo, a boy of color about twelve years of age, orphan of Britton Cumbo Sr be bound an apprenticeship to Jesse Morgan who entered into bond in the penalty of two hundred dollars conditioned with Henry Deberry and Kinchen Powell securities.

Here are the key items Britton Cumbo Sr. owned at the time of his death in 1837: a loom, a spinning wheel, two tables and 4 chairs, a shot gun, 3 beds, a chest, 111 lbs. of seed cotton, a fat hog, a bay mare, bridle & saddle, collar and harness³⁹.

He lived in a diverse Northampton community of friends, associates, and neighbors. According to Britton Sr’s estate file, individuals who purchased items at the estate included, enslavers, Quakers, free people of color, Jesse Morgan whom Britton Jr. was apprenticed to, and family members including his son Matthew Cumbo⁴⁰. The names of Britton Sr’s other children are not known⁴¹.

In 1837 at the estate sale of Britton Cumbo Sr., it is documented that his son Matthew, along with others are listed in the items they purchased. Britton Cumbo Sr. and an unnamed woman had three known children:

8. i. Britton Cumbo Junior

ii. Unidentified child Cumbo

iii. Unidentified child Cumbo

Eight Generation:
Britton Cumbo Jr., Landowner

8. BRITTON CUMBO Jr. (Britton Sr.⁷, Cannon⁶, Elizabeth⁵, Gideon⁴, Richard³, Emanuel Jr.², Emanuel Sr.¹) born in 1825 to Britton Sr. and an unknown mother⁴²⁴³. He married Mary Manley January 24, 1842, there and they started a family together⁴⁴. Manley (also spelled Manly), along with Cumbo, represent core family names from the free people of color community in Northampton⁴⁵. By 1850 Britton is supporting his growing family and owns real estate valued at $132⁴⁶. The population of African descended free people was small in North Carolina, and the number of African-descended landowners was even smaller.

By 1870 Cumbo had acquired two properties with a real estate value of $450 and $360⁴⁷. Britton’s land was in the community of Potecasi within the township of Roanoke, Northampton County.

Township Map of Northampton County, North Carolina
*Courtesy of Northampton County, North Carolina*

Britton and Mary Cumbo had 7 children:

James H. Patrick “Jim” Cumbo (b.1843)⁴⁸ m. Martha Bowser⁴⁹
Matthias Junius “Bug” Cumbo (b.1845)⁵⁰ m. Louisa Pope⁵¹
Sarah Frances “Puss” Cumbo (b.1848) m. Elisha Boone⁵²
Virginia Ellen Cumbo (b.1850) m. Cordie Bowser⁵³
Hezekiah Thomas “Tom” Cumbo (b.1852) m. Cherry Manley⁵⁴
William Britton “Shine” Cumbo (b.1853) m. Artensia Walden⁵⁵
Mary Ann “Mollie” Cumbo (b.1858) m. Jesse Anderson Manley⁵⁶

Britton Cumbo’s 1898 death triggered a protracted court battle over his land of roughly 50 acres. His lengthy 1899 estate file lists all his living heirs including his second born son Matthias Cumbo⁵⁷.

By 1905, seven years after his death, his estate was finally settled in the courts, with his land going to his granddaughter Mary Bowser Britt⁵⁸. Britton, the first of his Cumbo ancestors to own property in Northampton, represents powerful symmetry as a descendant of Emanuel Cumbo who was granted 50 acres in James City in 1667, becoming one of the first Black landholders in Virginia.

The fifty acres owned by Britton Cumbo and which came into the possession of his granddaughter Mary Bowser Britt when the court battle was resolved in 1905, is documented as bordering the Futrell, Draper and Mulder properties to the north, south and west and the Beale’s Mill Swamp/ Pond on the east.

Map of Britton Cumbo Jr. Northampton County Landholdings

Ninth Generation:
The Cumbos of Rich Square

9. MATTHIAS CUMBO (Britton Jr⁸, Britton Sr.⁷, Cannon⁶, Elizabeth⁵, Gideon⁴, Richard³, Emanuel Jr.², Emanuel Sr.¹) is found in the 1850 census for Northampton County as a 5-year-old child living with his parents Britton and Mary Cumbo, and siblings James, Sarah, and Virginia⁵⁹. In 1866 he married Lousia Pope, 13 years his senior who was the daughter of Elias Pope, head of a household of free people of color and neighbor to the Cumbos in Northampton. Matthias and Lousia had four children together⁶⁰⁶¹.

Elizabeth Florence Cumbo (b.1866) m. Edward Biggs⁶²
Susan Cumbo (b.1869)⁶³
Elias Kendrick Cumbo (b.1871) m. Tabitha Mitchell⁶⁴
John William Cumbo (b.1873)⁶⁵ m. Bessie Joyner⁶⁶

Matthias sustained his family through farming and was a landowner in Northampton. His legacy in community remains through his generosity.

According to recorded church history, in 1895 Cumbo Chapel in Rich Square, Northampton was named after Matthias Cumbo, nicknamed Bug, who donated the land on which the church was built⁶⁷. The historic Cumbo Chapel Baptist Church is in Rich Square, North Carolina, a mile south of the Potecasi community where Matthias Cumbo grew up.

Cumbo Chapel Baptist Church
Courtesy Andre Kearns

Tenth Generation:
A Mixed Marriage

My great-great grandmother Florence Cumbo (b. 1866) married Edward Biggs in Northampton County Dec 17, 1889⁶⁸. While they were both African descended, this was a mixed marriage because Edward was born to an enslaved family in neighboring Bertie County, North Carolina and Florence to a free family of color in Northampton. Free people of color in the south were non-white and not enslaved, were born free or manumitted, and were of African and or Native ancestry.

According to US Census records in 1790 there were 4,975 free people of color in North Carolina⁶⁹. By 1860 this population had grown 6-fold to 30,463. By 1860 free people of color were roughly 10% the size of the North Carolina enslaved population and 3% of the total population⁷⁰. Post emancipation, new communities of formerly enslaved persons formed building new lives together as free people. Many of these communities grew side by side with established free communities of color, creating opportunities for intermarriage. Between 1890 and 1900 Edward and Florence Biggs moved to Suffolk, Virginia, one of the largest cities in the area, likely so Edward could search for work. Florence and Edward had 5 children together.

Lucy Biggs (b.1891)⁷¹
Louise Biggs (1894-1982) m. Albert Laury⁷²
Clara Biggs (1896-1987) m. Charles Ballard⁷³
Edward “Buddy” Biggs (1898-1983)⁷⁴ m. Pauline Ballard⁷⁵
Sarah Ann “Annie” Biggs (1902-1930) m. James Richards, my great grandmother⁷⁶

Summary: A Dream Fulfilled

This final generation connects the dots from my great-great grandmother Florence Cumbo Biggs to Emanuel Cumbo, and to his parents Emanuel and Joan of Ndongo. Tracing my Cumbo ancestry was made possible by documentation available on free people of color and required exhaustive searches of all available records to uncover direct evidence coupled with the application of Cumbo cluster analysis to build proofs where direct evidence was missing. This research reveals a powerful ancestral story that all Americans should know; a story of an African man and woman’s resilience and agency over bondage to build a free life for their son and future generations; of Emanuel Cumbo, the Black Virginia Cavalier of James City, of his descendants who lived as free people in America. Most importantly, this research journey has helped me to realize a lifelong dream that Alex Haley seeded into my mind and heart as a young child, to trace my ancestry back to named ancestors born on the continent of Africa.

Cumbo Pedigree & Family Migration for Andre Kearns

The letters [A-F] connect Cumbo ancestors to locations on the map of Virginia and North Carolina, found below the pedigree.

Generation 1	Emanuel (B. abt. 1600) & Joan (B. abt. 1610) Ndongo/Point Comfort [A]
Generation 2	Emanuel Cumbo B. abt. 1634 James City, VA [B]
Generation 3	Richard Cumbo B. abt. 1667 of Charles City, VA [C]
Generation 4	Gideon Cumbo B. abt. 1702 of Brunswick, VA [D]
Generation 5	Elizabeth Cumbo B. abt. 1728 Brunswick, VA [D]
Generation 6	Cannon Cumbo B. abt. 1758 Greensville, VA (formerly Brunswick) [D]
Generation 7	Britton Cumbo Sr. B. 1776/96 of Northampton, NC [E]
Generation 8	Britton Cumbo Jr. B. 1825 Northampton, NC [E]
Generation 9	Matthias Cumbo B. 1845. Northampton, NC [E]
Generation 10	Elizabeth Florence Cumbo B. 1866 Northampton, NC [E], D. Aft 1902 Suffolk VA [F]

Uncategorized

The Cumbo Family: Tracing one of the First African descended families in America

Posted on October 22, 2020 by andrekearnsdc@gmail.com / 9 Comments

About the Authors. Luke Alexander and Andre Kearns are Cumbo descendants who have researched their family roots extensively. A DNA connection brought them and their Cumbo branches together. In this blog they share what they have uncovered on the origins of their shared ancestor Emanuel Cumbo, the first documented Cumbo in America.

A land grant. On April 18, 1667, a Virginia land patent grants Emanuel Cumbo, “Negro,” 50 acres in James City County. He obtains land formerly granted to William Davis.

This remarkable document makes Emanuel one of the few African-descended landowners in 17^th century Virginia. It also raises important questions. How did he end up with his land? Where was he born? Who were his parents?

Answering these questions reveals an inspiring story of an African man and woman’s resilience and agency over bondage to create a free life for their Virginia-born son Emanuel Cumbo and future generations.

Our research approach. To answer these questions, first we created a Cumbo US South Y-DNA project to trace our Cumbo family origins. Project results to date provide important clues to our Cumbo origins. We extensively researched early Virginia records, particularly land and patent records from 1619 to 1667. Finally we used a Virginia map from 1652 to identify the locations cited in the patents. These sources surfaced dots we connected to reveal our Cumbo family origin story.

Tracing African origins. The first Africans in Virginia arrived from the Kingdom of Ndongo on the ships the White Lion and Treasurer (1619) and the Fortune (1628) after being pirated from Portuguese slave ships. The Portuguese presence in Ndongo dates back to 1484. The Portuguese attacked the kingdom in 1618 on a hunt to capture Africans to fuel the growing Portuguese slave trade. Cumbo US South Y-DNA surname project participants mostly have African Haplogroups B and E consistent with a family origin in Angola. A Y-DNA haplogroup is a genetic population group of people who share a common ancestor on their direct paternal line.*

Cumbo US South Y-DNA Participant Summary

Haplogroup	Count	Surnames
B-M181	8	Cumbee, Cumbaa, Cumbea, Cumbie
E-M2	4	Cumbo, Cumber
R-M269	3	Cumbo, Combo

As the Cumbo family grew in America, so did variation of the name which is represented in surnames participating in the project.

What’s in a name? Emanuel Cumbo’s parents were Emanuel and Joan from Ndongo. Their first names tie them to Portuguese-influenced Ndongo. Cumbo is a unique sounding name with origins in Africa. It is possibly derived from Kambol, the royal name of Ndongo. Go to google maps and you’ll locate a village in the north of Angola named Cumbo. Search slave trade records and you find hundreds of Cumbos, Combos, Kumbos and Cumbahs from Angola, Cameroon and Congo.

Name	Age	Gender	Ship Name
Cumbo	20	Male	San Antonia Milagroso
Combo	22	Female	Ucas
Combo	13	Male	Graca
Combo	24	Male	Faceirnha
Combo	13	Male	Maria
Combo	21	Male	Malaga of Belouru
Kumbo	7	Male	Laure
Cambo	8	Male	HCMS Princess Charlotte

Representative sample of results from the African Origins Database searching the name Cumbo. https://legacy.african-origins.org/

The Cumbos in Virginia. Emanuel (father) and Joan were born around 1600 and 1610 in Ndongo. They arrived in Point Comfort, Virginia sometime from 1619 and 1628. From Point Comfort, they were bound to land owners at Archers Hope Creek in James City County, Virginia. In 1638 Richard Kemp lists “Emanuel, Negro” among numerous headrights to secure 840 acres of land on Archers Hope Creek in James City County. The next year “Joan, a Negro” is listed among headrights for 1,200 acres to William Davis, Kemp’s neighbor at Archers Hope Creek.

Since Emanuel (father) and Joan arrived with no fixed-term indentured service contracts, they labored as bonded servants, enslaved in practice. As they labored, slavery was rapidly forming in Virginia through custom, court rulings and laws. White landowners misused the headright system which was established in Virginia in 1618 to recruit labor for the colonies. Landowners exploited Africans like Emanuel and Joan as headrights by using them to secure new land holdings over and over without ever having to transfer land patents to them.

Emaunel (father) tried to escape his bondage for freedom. In 1640 he was serving William Pierce in York County which adjoins James City County. He hatched a plan to escape under the cover of night with 6 white servants. They all were caught sailing down the Elizabeth River to Norfolk. Emanuel was whipped, branded and returned bondage. His dreams of freedom would have to be realized through his son.

The Life of Emanuel Cumbo (son). Emanuel Cumbo was born around 1634 to Emanuel (father) and Joan in James City County. His parents wanted him to have the freedom they were denied. They leveraged relationships with those for whom they labored over many years to petition the Virginia legislature for their son’s freedom. They succeeded. In September 1644 the Virginia House of Burgess ruled the said servant “a Mulata named Manuel ” was by the assembly adjudged no slave but to serve as other Christian servants [indentured servants] do and ordered to serve 21 years.

Why might have Emanuel (son) been described as a mulatto in 1644? Note that this descriptor is an outlier relative to other descriptions of him and his parents. Africans represent a broad spectrum of complexions. Emanuel and/or Joan could have also been of mixed Portuguese ancestry.

On April 18, 1667, two years after Emanuel Cumbo (son) was freed from his 21 year bondage, he took ownership of 50 acres of land in Archers Hope Creek where his mother and father labored. Cumbo obtains his property from land formerly deeded to William Davis, who had listed Emanuel’s mother Joan among the headrights required to claim it in 1639, and adjoining land owned by Richard Kemp, who listed his father Emanuel as a headright in 1638. By September 1667 the Virginia Assembly declared baptism does not free enslaved people. Had Emanuel Cumbo’s timeline shifted a few years, perhaps he would not have achieved freedom. But he did, making him and his descendants free people in America from that point forward.

Cumbo Family Timeline & Locations

1619/1628: Africans Emaneul and Joan arrive from Ndongo on the White Lion, Treasurer or Fortune to Point Comfort, VA [A]
1638: Patent places Emanuel at Archers Hope Creek in James City, VA [B]
1639: Patent places Joan at Archers Hope Creek in James City near Emanuel; ties her to William Davis [B]
1640: Court case places Emanuel in York near James City trying to escape bondage [C]
1642: Patent places Emanuel in bondage in York [C]
1651: Patent ties Joan and Emanuel (son) together in Northumberland County adjacent to Richard Bushrod and William Smith properties [D]
1665: Emanuel Cumbo (son), formerly owned by Thomas Bushrod [Richard’s brother] and William Smith, is freed from bondage
1667: Patent grants Emanuel Cumbo (son) 50 acres at Archers Hope Creek, secured by William Davis for Joan’s headright [B]

African Population in Early Virginia

Year	African Population
1619	32
1624	22
1640	150
1649	300
1671	2000

The African population in early Virginia was very small, so references to the same names found in early patent records for similar locations likely reference the same people.

Addressing Alternative Theories. Now that we have presented our Cumbo family origin story we would like to address three alternative theories of Cumbo origin that are in the public domain.

Theory #1. Could Emanuel Cumbo be the son of European Hugh Davis and an African woman? This theory is based on a 1630 resolution sentencing Hugh Davis to be publicly whipped for “lying with a negro”. It assumes a connection between Hugh Davis and William Davis based on a shared surname to explain why Emanuel ended up with the land formerly owned by William Davis. Here is our counter. Our Cumbo Y-DNA project points to paternal origins in Africa and not Europe. Also note none of our participants generate Davis matches. Additionally we have established the connection between Emanuel Cumbo and William Davis through patent records.
Theory #2. Could Emanuel Cumbo (father) be one of the 1619 “twenty and odd” who were bound to Abraham Piersey? Here is our counter. The African Emanuel could have absolutely been one of the twenty and odd, but he was not bound to Piersey. We know this because the African men listed on Piersey’s plantation were named and Emanuel was not one of them. He could have been one of the 9 unnamed Africans in the 1623 Virginia census. But at this point we do not know for sure. So all we can really say with certainty is that he is one of the first Africans.
Theory #3. Is it possible that references to Emanuel (father) prior to 1667 are of Emanuel Driggers? The African Emmanuel Driggers was born around 1620 and bound to Francis Pott on his plantation in Magotha Bay, Northampton County, Virginia. We counter that they were two different people and use geography to support this theory. Emanuel Cumbo (father) and Emanuel Driggers both disembarked at Point Comfort, Virginia. From there Emaneul Driggers went to Northampton County, Virginia on the Eastern Shore, where he lived his life, Emanuel (father) lived their lives west of the Chesapeake in James City and York County Virginia.

Call to action. This is a family story of African strength, resilience and agency over bondage, uncovered through Y-DNA test results, early Virginia records and places. Our Cumbo family research continues through the Cumbo US South Y-DNA project. If you are a male Cumbo, Combo, Cumbee, Cumby, Cumbea, Cumber, or any other surname derivative, please consider joining our Cumbo US South Y-DNA project. Note that African-descended Cumbos identify across all racial designations.

Learn more about our project here: https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/cumbo-us-south/about.

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Emanuell Cumbo 1667 VA Land Grant Fully Transcribed

Posted on April 27, 2019 by andrekearnsdc@gmail.com / 20 Comments

Here is a full transcription of Emaunell Cumbo’s 18 April 1667 land grant which I am making publicly available to researchers for the first time.

To all who read now known great hand of Will Berkeley Knight Good Governor Grants

Emanuell Cumbo Negro fifty acres of land according to his ancient landfall Bounties claimed

On lands in James City VA Colony said bounty lands being part of a greater record it has

formerly granted unto Will Davis lately found to escheat to his majesty’s crown in

Virginia whom found at Will of your jury Has ordered wherein attest faith of Col. Myles

Cary Esq General Minister Escheat Grant fault a County and the Jury sworn afore affirm

Found and appeared here this 18th Day of April 1667 may approve deed is now

Granted unto the said Emanuell who has made his composition so has paid awarding

Found so judge and assign his so to lands ordering and filing

Deed this 18^th day of April 1667.

Virginia’s Land Patent collections are available on-line through the Library of Virginia. Here is the digitized original record available in Patent book No. 6 1666-1679, page 39.

This record was transcribed by volunteers official and unofficial with The National Archives of the United Kingdom, Blockson Collection at Temple University and the Library of Virginia, under the guidance of Connie Cole of Penn State University. Thank you.

If any readers of this blog post transcribe any part of this document differently, please add your interpretation to the comments section so it can also be made available to researchers. Thank you.

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Marion Cumbo, Cellist of the Harlem Renaissance

Posted on March 17, 2019 by andrekearnsdc@gmail.com / 1 Comment

Author’s Note: Thank you to cousin and Cumbo family historian Charlotte Baskerville Brown for inspiring this blog post and for all of the extraordinary family research you have generously shared with me.

On Friday, November 17, 1925, world renowned tenor Roland Hayes walked onto the stage at Carnegie Hall to perform opera. The year prior he made history as the first African American artist to give a full-length recital at Carnegie Hall. This 1925 performance was his first of the New York opera season. His program of classical music and Negro spirituals brought down the house. By the end, Hayes enjoyed the adulation of nine standing ovations.

The next day New York Times music critic Olin Downes described Hayes’s performance as one of “consummate taste and modesty.” Downes’ review revealed that Hayes had been joined on stage that night by at least four other black men. Hayes had invited the Negro String Quartet to accompany him.

The performance offers a glimpse into the remarkable life of Marion Cumbo (1899–1990), cellist for the Negro String Quartet. Cumbo’s Carnegie Hall performance with Hayes marked his meteoric rise from humble beginnings.

Cumbo, one of the great cellists of the Harlem Renaissance, was born in 1899 and grew up in an orphanage with his brother Earle. He was educated in New York City public schools where his musical talent was first discovered, then the Martin-Smith School of Music where he became a protégée to Minnie Brown, and the Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School) which he paid for by performing.

Since Cumbo grew up an orphan, little is known about his ancestry. Kermit Moore (1929–2013), a master cellist mentored by Cumbo, speculated Marion’s family was from the West Indies. What I have uncovered is that Cumbo’s wife Clarissa Burton was from Dominica in the West Indies, but that Cumbo’s ancestry traces back to North Carolina.

His grandparents Hilliard Cumbo and Sarah Meacham were free people of color born in the early 1800s and were from Halifax County, North Carolina. They had six children including a son William who is Marion Cumbo’s father. A daughter, Mary Cumbo, married a man named Isom Ampey, who served in the Massachusetts 54th made famous in the movie Glory.

The Cumbo family migrated from Halifax County to Michigan prior to the Civil War in search for opportunity. They were part of a wave of free people of color families migrating from the Carolinas and Virginia to the Midwest — Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

Hilliard and Sarah’s son William left Michigan as a young adult for New York. In 1898 he married Maggie Hurst. By 1900 they appear to be a happy family with a one-year old son Marion. Sadly, by the 1910 census, the Cumbo home is broken and Marion and his brother Earle are living in a Bronx orphanage.

Despite his early life challenges, Marion Cumbo would go on to enjoy a fulfilling career, regularly performing as a soloist in addition to his work with the Negro String Quartet. Cumbo also crossed over, recording albums with blues legends Clara Smith and Eva Taylor. In 1970 with his wife Clarissa he founded Triad Presentations, dedicated to promoting black concert artists and composers.

I have connected with a direct paternal descendant of Marion Cumbo, he is a town councilman in Maryland. I hope he will join our Cumbo US South Y-DNA project so I can learn more about Marion Cumbo’s ancestry and how it might connect to the other Cumbo branches I’ve uncovered.

One of the things I enjoy most about genealogy is uncovering inspiration in the stories of ancestors and relatives. I feel both inspired by Marion Cumbo’s story and honored to have uncovered it.

Marion Cumbo (1899-1990), Cellist of the Harlem Renaissance. Source: UNCG Special Collections and University Archives.

Marion Cumbo’s family tree. Parents William and Maggie Cumbo. Grandparents Hilliard and Sally Cumbo. Source: Kearns & Richards Family Tree on Ancestry.

Renowned operatic tenor Roland Hayes. Source: Detroit Public Library.

The Negro String Quartet. L-R: Felix Weir, Marion Cumbo, Hall Johnson, Arthur Boyd. Source: Wikipedia.

1910 US Census Record for the Bronx, New York. Marion Cumbo is listed living in an orphanage with his brother Earle. Source: Ancestry

New York Age 07 Aug 1920 article on the performance of a emerging Marion Cumbo. Source: Newspapers.com

Discography for Marion Cumbo: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/89461/Cumbo_Marion_instrumentalist_cello?fbclid=IwAR1y7NJFILzhojvGVq2jrvT93J9ERSPfIHXjx_u2lJ-ek5jbxehaR_lDQog

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Introducing the Cumbo US South Y-DNA Project

Posted on September 8, 2018 by andrekearnsdc@gmail.com / 6 Comments

I am very excited to introduce the Cumbo US South Y-DNA Project. The goal of the project is to document the direct paternal ancestry of the Cumbo family in America. I have been researching the Cumbo family from which I descend since 2014. The Cumbos originate in Jamestown, Virginia and are one of the few colonial families in American history to retain an African surname. Throughout the colonial period in America, the family spread across Virginia and into the Carolinas and the US South.

Cumbo Family Origins

According to historians, the first documented Cumbo in America was Emanuell Cambow, an African who arrived in Jamestown, VA sometime in the 1600s. He first appears in Jamestown documents in September 1644 when he is made an indentured servant by the Virginia Assembly. He was freed from indentured servitude in 1665, granted 50 acres of land in James City County on April 18 1667 and started a family. Many Cumbo descendants in America today trace their ancestry back to Emanuell. With this said, note that Cumbo was also a fairly common name among enslaved persons in colonial Virginia. The implication here is while many Cumbo descendants work to connect their ancestry back to the documented Emanuell, it is possibile that family roots originate across multiple ancestors named Cumbo.

Emanuell’s descendants lived on as free and intermarried with African, European and Native descended Americans. As a result, over successive generations, many Cumbo family branches either maintained black or mixed-race (mulatto) identities, passed as white (Melungeon or Portuguese) or fully embraced Native American (Lumbee or Tuscarora) identities. Cumbo descendants today self-identify across all of these racial groups. Additionally, as the Cumbo family grew, so did variations of the name which expanded to Cumba, Cumbee, Cumby, Cumbia, Cumboe, Cumbow, Combo, Cumber and others.

Uncovering Cumbo family roots and connections using Y-DNA

Y-DNA testing reveals ancient or “deep” genealogical origins represented as haplogroups by analyzing the DNA markers a father passes down to his son through the Y chromosome. I will use this project’s results to build on the Cumbo family research I and others have done. Test results also come with matches that help to reveal more recent ancestry. I hope to use match results to discover and clarify connections across Cumbo family branches which have clouded over time, family movements and limited documentation.

Here are examples of what I have learned so far from charter project members

The Cumbos are first documented in colonial Virginia (1619-1775), but soon migrated to the frontiers of North Carolina in pursuit of colonial land grants (1725-1775). So it’s not surprising to discover that the following project charter members trace back to Cumbo ancestors from North Carolina and not Virginia.

The Cumbees of Brunswick County, NC (1). This family branch traces their ancestry back to Isham Cumbee who was born a free man of color in 1802 in North Carolina. Isham lived in the Green Swamp area of Brunswick County where he had over a hundred acres of farmland and started a family. By the 1900 census, Ishom’s son Kenneth Cumbee is listed as white. Kenneth’s great granddaughter writes here about discovering that the Scottish ancestral story her family had told her was a fabrication. Her name had indeed been changed over the years, but it used to be “Cumbo”, not “MacCumbee”, and her paternal ancestors were all listed as mulatto or free people of color on census records that went back to 1790. She had her father take a Y DNA test, the results of which are now part of our project. He was a match for Haplogroup B, one of the oldest population groups in the world, originating in sub-Saharan and West Africa.

The Cumbees of Brunswick County, NC. Photo of Gilford Cumbee, b.1888, and his father, Kenneth Cumbee and family, probably taken in 1904 in Brunswick County, NC. Kenneth and his ancestors are all listed as mulatto in the census records. The Cumbees trace their direct paternal ancestry to Emanuell Cambow. Photo Source: Denise Cumbee Long

The Cumbers of Richmond County, NC (2). This family branch traces their ancestry back to James Cumber born in Robeson County in 1855 to Ann Eliza Cumbo (b.1838) and an unknown father and who diedin Richmond County. He was raised by Ann Eliza and her husband Noah Bullard. Cumber descendants today identify as white and Native American (Lumbee). The Lumbee Tribe is the largest Native American tribe in North Carolina. Most Cumbo descended Lumbee trace back to Ann Eliza Cumbo along with her close relatives Mary Polly Cumbo Lowery, mother of historical figure Henry Berry Lowery, and Mary’s sister Christian Cumbo Oxendine. James Cumber’s paternal ancestry traces back to Haplogroup E-M2 which dates back 20,000 years to a common ancestor in Sub Saharan and West Africa.

Left to Right – Photo of Joseph Brady Cumber (1927-2010) and his father Eldridge Cumber (1895-1945). Both descend from James Cumber (1855-1937) of Richmond, NC. Photo Source: Elaine Cumber Carpenter

The Cumbos of Northampton County, NC (3 & 4). This family branch traces back to my fifth great grandfather Britton Cumbo Sr., a free man of color born between 1776-1794. He lived in an era of oppressive “black laws” passed by the North Carolina legislature which severely restricted the rights of free people of color and were driven by growing white fears that the free colored population would grow and over-run the free white population and triggered by historical events like the Nat Turner rebellion in 1831. Fast forward to today. Britton Cumbo direct paternal descendants trace back to Haplogroup E-M2, thought they don’t match the Cumbers of Richmond County. Virtually all of the Britton Cumbo descendants I’ve uncovered through family tree research embrace a Black or African American identity. One Britton Cumbo branch, the descendants of William Frank Cumbo Jr. of Raleigh, North Carolina, identify as Native American (Tuscarora).

Left to right – Cornelius Cumbo (1877-1942) and Jordan Cumbo (1881-1964), great grandsons of Britton Cumbo Sr. of Northampton County, NC and direct paternal ancestors to Curtis Cumbo (descends from Cornelius) and Jerry Cumbo (descends from Jordan). Photo Sources: Myra Warren and Aleathea Cumbo.

The Combos of Hertford County, NC (5). This family branch traces back to David Cumbo, a free man of color born around 1798 in Northampton County, North Carolina and who lived his life in bordering Hertford County, North Carolina. The Cumbos and other families within their community — such as the Halls, Archers, Nickens, Weavers and Manleys — formed the core of the free community of color in Hertford County. Cumbo descendants today primarily identify as African American. Many of the families from their historical free people of color community identify as Native American (Meherin). The surname morphed to Combo a generation or two following David. His direct paternal descendants trace back to Haplogroup R-M269 which dates back 5-10,000 years to Neolithic Europe. While DNA testing has uncovered many connections between Northampton and Hertford County Cumbo descendants, Y-DNA testing has been able clarify that these family branches do not appear to share direct paternal Cumbo ancestry.

The Combos of Hertford County, NC. Photo Source: Ancestry member kdlmb15

A Call To Action

This is but a glimpse of the fascinating history and colorful origins of the Cumbo family which we can uncover through this project. If you are a male Cumbo, Combo, Cumbee, Cumby, Cumbea, Cumber, or any other surname derivative, please consider joining our Cumbo US South Y-DNA project! You can learn more about our project here: https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/cumbo-us-south/about.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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Using Y-DNA to Uncover Cumbo Connections

Posted on May 12, 2018 by andrekearnsdc@gmail.com / 10 Comments

Author’s Note: All All living males born with the last name Cumbo (or its derivatives) who have Y-DNA tested are invited to join our Cumbo US South Y-DNA project which can be found here – https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/cumbo-us-south/about

My 5th great grandfather was Britton Cumbo Sr., a free man of color born circa 1776-1794 and lived in Northampton County, North Carolina. I’ve spent years researching who his parents and immediate family might have been. I would like to share how I leveraged Y-DNA testing to learn more about my fifth great grandfather’s paternal Cumbo ancestry.

Here’s the earliest document I’ve uncovered on Britain [Britton] Cumbo Sr. and his family, an 1820 census record for a free colored household in Northampton County.

Cluster Analysis. Through cluster analysis— a research approach in which you look for as much documentation as possible on families in a particular area who share a last name (Cumbo) with the hope to find clues that will reveal ancestry — I formed a theory that Britton Cumbo’s father was Matthew Cumbo and that Britton’s brother was David Cumbo, both free men of color living in neighboring Hertford County, North Carolina.

Here is a county map of North Carolina. Northampton County, home of Britton Cumbo Sr. sits adjacent to Hertford County, North Carolina, home of Matthew Cumbo and David Cumbo.

Here’s a mapping of the free colored population for North Carolina in 1830 according to John Hope Franklin’s book The Free Negro in North Carolina. As you can see in 1830, Northampton and Hertford Counties had the largest concentration of free people of color of any other county in the state. The rationale for looking at neighboring counties for Cumbo connectinos is that land was scarce, so while family members might have wanted to live next to each other, they may have had to settle for living in neighboring counties.

Here’s the earliest document I’ve uncovered on Matthew Cumbo and his family, an 1800 census record for a free colored household in Hertford County.

Here’s the earliest document I’ve uncovered on David Cumbo and his family, an 1830 census record for a free colored household in Hertford County.

Gathering DNA Clues. In addition to clues gleaned from my cluster analysis, I identified multiple autosomal DNA clues generated by my family that supported the connection. As an example my mother generated a DNA match who was a direct descendant of David Cumbo. A quick search of her match list using the surname Cumbo resulted in 9 matches – 5 descended from Britton Cumbo Sr. and 4 descended from David Cumbo. These results supported my hypothesis that Britton and David were brothers because she matched descendants from both men.

Here are the results from my “Cumbo” surname search of my mother’s David Cumbo descended AncestryDNA match.

Y-DNA testing. To validate that Britton and David were brothers, possibly sons of Matthew, I created a Y-DNA test plan. Y-DNA testing analyzes the DNA markers a father passes down to his sons through the Y chromosome. To successfully use Y-DNA testing to prove their connection I first identified two direct paternal descendants of Britton Cumbo – C. Cumbo and M. Cumbo – for testing. I approached two as an insurance against the potential of an unexpected non-paternity event. I then identified a direct paternal descendant of David Cumbo – A. Combo –through a mutual cousin and fellow researcher Dr. Warren Milteer. All three agreed to test.

The moment of truth. Britton Cumbo’s descendants – C. Cumbo and M. Cumbo – both matched each other and their results came back haplogroup E-M2 which dates back 20,000 years to a common ancestor in Sub Saharan Africa. David Cumbo’s descendant – A. Combo – did not match either C. Cumbo or M. Cumbo. A. Combo’s results came back haplogroup R-M269 with origins closer to 5-10,000 years ago in Neolithic Europe. I was excited to see C. Cumbo and M. Cumbo’s results trace back to an African origin haplotype, confirming that my Cumbo family branch originated in Africa. But I was also disappointed that the Britton Cumbo direct paternal descendants did not match A. Combo.

Here is a summary of my Cumbo Y-DNA testing results.

This unfortunately means, assuming no unexpected surprises in the direct paternal lineages of my testers, that David Cumbo and Britton Cumbo were not full brothers or even half-brothers through a common father. The inconclusive results also leave open the question – since Matthew was not the father of both Britton and David – whether he could have been the father of one of them and if so which one?

Genealogy is challenging. After a year of researching and testing, I did not achieve the outcome I was anticipating. With this said, I firmly believe that there is value in sharing genealogy case studies with unexpected outcomes, they don’t all have to offer neat resolutions. One lesson here is that all we control as genealogists is the objectivity, rigor, reasoning and research approach we apply to solving our family mysteries.

Where do I go from here? My plan is to establish a Cumbo Y-DNA project and encourage all direct paternal Cumbos with ancestry rooted in the U.S. South to Y-DNA test to look for Cumbo family connections. I will also continue to encourage both my Britton David Cumbo descended DNA matches to upload their results to Gedmatch so I can do more detailed segmentation analysis of our shared connection and hopefully better understand how we all connect since Britton and David don’t share paternal ancestry. Finally, I plan to extend my cluster research leveraging court records, estate records and private manuscripts in the hopes that I will uncover documentation that will reveal Britton Cumbo’s parentage and immediate family.

What are your experiences leveraging Y-DNA testing to t clarify family connections?

Hezekiah [Tom] Cumbo (b. 1858-1892) with an unidentified boy, of Kirby, Northampton, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Ashley Taylor Crum.

Cornelius [Neal] Cumbo 1877-1942 son of Hezekiah Cumbo of Rich Square, Northampton County, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Myra Warren.

The seven sons of Cornelius and Lela George Cumbo at the Funeral of Cornelius, May 1942, Rich Square, North Carolina. Frank (back), Jesse, Willie Morris, Herbert, Luther Ed (Middle), John, Robert (Front). Photo courtesy of Myra Warren.

Jordan Cumbo (1881-1964) of Jackson, Northampton County, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Aleathea Cumbo.

William [Sam] Cumbo (1913-1999), son of Jordan Cumbo, of Portsmouth, Virginia. Photo courtesy of Carolyn Cumbo.

Y-DNA Hapolgroup descriptions.

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The Cumbos of Halifax, NC & the Famous Massachusetts 54th Colored Regiment

Posted on April 8, 2017 by andrekearnsdc@gmail.com / 7 Comments

I have been researching the family tree of Hilliard and Sarah Cumbo. Here is what I have discovered.

1. There were Cumbos in Halifax County, North Carolina.

I can only find a few records on Hilliard Cumbo. The key one that ties him to Halifax County is his marriage record to a woman named Sally Meacham on 11 January 1859 in Halifax. Unfortunately, the marriage record doesn’t list his birth date or the names of his parents. This is the first time I’ve come across a Cumbo in Halifax. All of the Cumbos I’ve come across in the early 1800s in Northeastern North Carolina have come from Northampton and Hertford Counties. Here’s all of the Cumbo households in NE North Carolina from 1790-1820 according to US Census records. What I’m guessing based on research is that family members might have wanted to live right next to one another but due to scarcity of land, may have had to settle for neighboring counties. So perhaps Hilliard Cumbo was originally part of one of these Northampton or Hertford households and headed south west to Halifax county in search for land and opportunity.

1790

Cumbo, Cannon 5 Northampton County

1800

Cumbo, Matthew 5 Hertford

1810

Cumbo, Phoebe 4 Northampton Co. p716

1820

Cumbo, Britain 301-001 Northampton County page 222 (my 5^th great grandfather)

Cumbo, Henry 01- Northampton County page 222

Cumbo, John 01- Northampton County page 220

Cumbo, David (Males crossed out) -111 Hertford County p 186

Cumbo, Matha 0001-211 Hertford County page 188

Map of North Carolina by County. Halifax County borders Northampton and Hertford counties west and south.

2. From Halifax, North Carolina to Michigan

The only other records I could find on Hilliard Cumbo were death records for his children – Mary Cumbo Ampey, Louisa Cumbo Bolden, Dudley Cumbo. According to the records, all were born in Halifax County in the 1840s and 50s and died in Michigan. The death records reveal that the Hilliard Cumbo family likely migrated from Halifax, North Carolina to Michigan sometime after the 1850s prior to the Civil War. The Cumbos were not alone. They were part of a wave of migration of free people of color families from the Carolinas and Virginia to the Midwest – Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. In the early 1800s the Cumbos, Newsoms and Manleys, among other families, migrated from Northampton NC to become the first families of color to settle in Logan, Ohio. In the 1830s, the Roberts family of Northampton County, free people of color, migrated to Hamilton County, Indiana and established the Roberts Settlement. A brief account written by Hamilton McMillan in “The North Carolina Booklet: Great Events in North Carolina History, Vol. 13” published in 1913 by the NC Daughters of the Revolution, ties the Croatan Indians (now Lumbee) to families in Indiana and Michigan in the mid-1800s.

1903 Michigan death record for Dudley Cumbo born in 1854 in Halifax County, North Carolina to Hilliard and Sarah Cumbo.

3. Cumbo connection to the Massachusetts 54^th Colored Regiment

“Give ‘em Hell, 54…” – From the Film Glory

This was one of my all-time favorite lines from one of my all-time favorite films. The 1989 film Glory, starring Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick, is about one of the first Army Units during the Civil War– the Massachusetts 54^th – made up exclusively of people of color. Well it turns out that one of Hilliard and Sarah Cumbos’ daughters, Mary Cumbo, married a man named Isom Ampey, who served in the Massachusetts 54^th. He was born in Wayne County, Indiana to formerly enslaved parents from North Carolina. After the civil war he moved to Michigan and married Mary Cumbo in 1866. They settled in Bloomfield, Michigan and raised 5 children. He was a prominent member of his community and served in various public offices until his death in 1905.

Photo of Private Isom Ampey, Company K, 54th Massachusetts Infantry and husband of Mary Cumbo.

So where do we go from here?

As a next step, I’ve encouraged the Cumbo descendant who reached out to me to DNA test. Hopefully that can help us establish a connection between the Cumbos of Halifax County and Cumbo descendants of Northampton or Hertford County. Stay tuned.

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The Life and Times of a Northampton County Cotton Farmer

Posted on October 21, 2016 by andrekearnsdc@gmail.com / 7 Comments

Here’s what I have been able to uncover about the life of my 5th great grandfather Britton Cumbo Sr., a free man of color born 1776-1794 of Northampton County, North Carolina, through an examination of his 1837 estate records.

Here are the key items Britton Cumbo owned at the time of his death in 1837: a loom, a spinning wheel, two tables and 4 chairs, a shot gun, 3 beds, a chest, 111 lbs. of seed cotton, a fat hog, a bay mare, bridle & saddle, collar and harness. These are essential items for a small farm.

He was a cotton farmer

Peanuts, soybeans, corn, cotton, chickens, and hogs are core agricultural products that have been grown in Northampton County for hundreds of years. Assuming your average 1800s Northampton County cotton farmer could plant roughly 10 pounds of seed per acre, Britton Cumbo owned enough seed at the time of his death to farm around 10 to 11 acres of cotton crops. Britton would have fashioned the collar and harness he owned to his bay mare to pull a plow up and down his cotton field. The same horse could then be fitted with the bridle and saddle for riding into town to buy more seed or perhaps items for his family. He’d use the spinning wheel to create thread and yarn from the harvested cotton. He’d then use the loom to create fabric from the thread. The cotton, thread and fabrics could be sold for profit or used to make clothes for the family.

Also note that Britton Cumbo owned a shot gun. A shot gun was an essential item for a farmer back then. Just a few short years after his death however, the state would make it illegal for men like Britton to own a firearm. Around 1840, North Carolina passed a law prohibiting free coloreds from carrying fire arms. Given events in history, I’m little surprised the law hadn’t been initiated sooner. Remember, the Nat Turner rebellion had occurred in Southampton, VA (a county which sits right above Northampton state border between Virginia and North Carolina) in 1831. At any rate, the 1840 law was challenged and went all the way to the North Carolina Supreme Court in the State v Elijah Newsom in 1844. The court upheld the law because it ruled that free coloreds, while they were free from enslavement, were not considered citizens. This was but one of a succession of laws throughout the 1800s which increasingly restricted the rights of free people of color living in North Carolina and through the south.

He was a farm laborer or tenant farmer

Britton Cumbo at the time of his death owned around $160 of personal property but no real property. Personal property is movable property. It’s anything that can be subject to ownership, except land. Real property is immovable property – it’s land and anything attached to the land.

Britton was a farmer who owned no land, so he likely farmed someone else’s land as a laborer or tenant farmer. Tennant farming was a system where land owners allowed others to farm their land in exchange for payments back to the land owner either in the form of a portion of their crop yields, cash or a combination of both.

Whose land might he have farmed?

According to Britton Cumbo’s estate file, he was indebted to a number of people upon his death. Any one of them could have owned the farmland he worked.

Debt owed by the estate of Britton Cumbo Sr. were to King Deberry $8.96 (free colored), Howell Hedgepeth $5, Henry Deberry $7.26, Wilson & Lawrence $34.23, Britton Bird $20.00 (free colored), Solomon Smith $2.94, the Estate of Willie Senter $14.91, and the Administrator (Kinchin Powell), $55.84

britton-cumbo-estate-files

The left lists people Britton Cumbo Sr. was indebted to at the time of his death. The right lists proceeds raised from the Britton Cumbo estate sale. The estate value remaining after creditors were paid was $ 4.11.

One creditor on this list that stands out to me is Henry DeBerry. According to the 1840 census, DeBerry was a white farmer who owned a large Northampton County plantation which included 37 slaves. This leads me to believe that he had vast land holdings a portion of which he could have hired out to tenant farmers. Or perhaps Britton worked for him as a farm laborer.

Another candidate is Jesse Morgan, a white farmer who purchased items at Britton Cumbo’s estate sale. When Britton died, his son Britton Cumbo Jr. (my 4th great grandfather) was hired to Morgan as an apprentice. The fact that the courts chose to entrust Britton’s son with Jesse leads me to believe that they could have had a friendship or close association while Britton was living, perhaps because Britton farmed Jesse’s land.

He had a diverse community of friends, associates and neighbors (FANs)

According to Britton Cumbo’s estate file, individuals who purchased items at the estate sale included: Nathaniel Allen (slave owner), Isaac Parker (Quaker, farmer), Absalom Hays (slave owner), James T. Maddrey (slave owner), Rebecca Jenkins (wife of farmer James Jenkins), Jesse Morgan (to whom Britton Cumbo, Jr. was apprenticed), Henry Deloatch (slave owner), Nancy Lewter (free colored woman who married free colored Moses Porter in 1838), King Deberry (free colored), and Matthew Cumbo (free colored).

Matthew Cumbo purchased multiple items for sale. He was in fact the only Cumbo to purchase items. I believe him to the same Matthew Cumbo who appears in an 1850 census record for Northampton County as a mulatto male born around 1810 married to Frances Cumbo (James) with a two year old daughter named Sarah. It is also my belief that Matthew Cumbo was Britton Cumbo Sr’s son and therefore Britton Cumbo Jr’s older brother.

britton-cumbo-estate-file-2

Listing of individuals who purchased items at the estate sale

Pilgrimage to Northampton County

Last October I traveled to Northampton County on a pilgrimage in search of my Cumbo ancestry. While driving in and around Northampton, I felt compelled to stop my car and take a picture of this cotton field, representative of the sights I’d been soaking in all weekend. After research, this photo has renewed meaning to me. It is representative of the difficult life my Cumbo ancestors led in order to scratch out a living and raise a family which now extends to all of us. Now, each time I look at this photo I can’t help but be thankful to Britton Cumbo, Northampton cotton farmer, my 5^th great grandfather.

northampton-cotton-fields

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Using Social Media, AncestryDNA & Gedmatch to advance family research

Posted on October 8, 2016 by andrekearnsdc@gmail.com / 6 Comments

Author’s Notes: All All living males born with the last name Cumbo (or its derivatives) who have Y-DNA tested are invited to join our Cumbo US South Y-DNA project which can be found here – https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/cumbo-us-south/about

Since writing this blog post, I have completed Y DNA testing of two direct paternal descendants of Britton Cumbo, and one direct paternal descendant of David Cumbo. The Britton Cumbo Y DNA descendants carry haplogroup E-M2 while David Cumbo Y DNA descendants carry haplogroup R-M269. This means, assuming no unexpected surprises in the direct paternal lineages of my testers, that David Cumbo and Britton Cumbo were not full brothers or even half-brothers through a common father. Here’s the blog post on my findings.

I am a genealogy hobbyist who uses traditional research, genetic genealogy (the use of DNA testing) and social media to advance my research efforts virtually from my computer.

In last week’s blog post, How Hertford & Northampton Cumbos Connect?, I shared a theory that the parents of my 5^th great grandfather Britton Cumbo Sr. (b.1776-1794 and d.1837) of Northampton, NC were Matthew and Phoebe Cumbo of Hertford, NC, and that his brothers were David and Matthew Cumbo of Hertford, NC.

At the end of the blog, I highlighted the opportunity to validate this theory through DNA testing. Well I might have moved one step closer to doing that thanks to social media and AncestryDNA.

Leveraging Social Media

I am active on Facebook and across a number of genealogy oriented Facebook pages where I share my blog posts. I’ve found that sharing my research helps me to often connect with DNA matches, genealogy experts and other hobbyists, often fortuitously, who share my genealogical interests with whom I now regularly collaborate on research.

Last week I shared my blog post to the Hertford County Free People of Color and Their Descendants page administered by Dr. Warren Milteer. It generated a comment from someone who descends from David Cumbo of Hertford County NC.

Remember my theory is that my 5^th great grandfather Britton Cumbo Sr. and David Cumbo were brothers. This person’s name looked familiar to me, so I checked my family’s AncestryDNA match list. Sure enough it turned out that this person was a match to us.

AncestryDNA

One of the things I like about testing with AncestryDNA is that the service encourages users to link their DNA results to their online family trees. This feature allows AncestryDNA testers to search their DNA match lists by surname and family location. Additionally, AncestryDNA offers a feature that allows people to share their full DNA results – both ethnic admixture and searchable DNA match list – with other matches.

I messaged my match, for purposes of this blog let’s just call her Holly, and requested that she share her full AncestryDNA results with me. Holly graciously obliged. A quick search of her match list using the surname Cumbo resulted in 9 matches – 5 descended from Britton Cumbo Sr. and 4 descended from David Cumbo.

Match 1

Descends from David Cumbo’s daughter Susan Anne Cumbo of Hertford NC

Possible Relationship to Holly: 4^th-6^th cousin

Confidence: High

Match 2

Descends from David Cumbo’s daughter Susan Anne Cumbo of Hertford NC

Possible Relationship to Holly: 4^th-6^th cousin

Confidence: Good

Match 3

Descends from Britton Cumbo Sr’s son Britton Cumbo Jr. of Northampton NC

Possible Relationship to Holly: 4^th-6^th cousin

Confidence: Good

Match 4

Descends from Britton Cumbo Sr’s son Britton Cumbo Jr. of Northampton NC