January 2021 – Ancestry&History

The Foolish Circle of Bigotry…

Those who have read this blog or read my books, have heard me profess my belief that there is a oneness to humanity. There is no need to hate and to do so usually includes a sort of self-hate, or at the least, a hate of the ancestors. Because that ethnic group that you are trashing may run through your own veins. (Not to imply that if it doesn’t run through your veins, that it is alright to hate.) Look at the surnames of Anglo-Americans. They often have Latin roots and they frequently come from the Old Testament, revealing either Jewish ancestry or a respect for Judaism. Even Scandinavian and Anglo names may sound Anglo but translated, sometimes they lead right back to the ancestors who fled Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition. Let’s not detest the ancestors or our neighbors. It only leads back to where we started, war and oppression that our immigrant ancestors came to America to escape from. Something we should never forget.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy – A How-to for Tracing Ancient Jewish Ancestry: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-Volume-Suellen-Ocean/dp/0965114082

and Secret Genealogy II – Uncovering the Jewish Roots of Our Christian Ancestors:

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-II-Christian-Ancestors/dp/1484053222

The Series the Vikings

I’ve just completed watching the latest from the television hit series, “The Vikings.” My husband and I have enjoyed each season, even though they are extremely violent, and I can’t help but wonder what impressions the violence makes on an unstable mind. The series is an attempt to entertain and inform us of Scandinavian history. The earlier seasons were produced by the History Channel. But after 2016, a big Hollywood studio took it over. The change downgraded it but not too badly. It is still the same characters that are fun to watch. Those endearing, loveable sword-wielding butchers that we’ve come to know as Vikings.

One of the most important aspects of the show, to me, is that it drives home the fact that earthlings were and still are, very multi-cultural. Slave trading and the ancient Silk Road brought opportunity for admixture. If you listen carefully to the names of historical figures, you’ll hear, as I do, the name of a princess, Judith. Might that be a Jewish name? In Ye Olde England?

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy III – From Jewish Anglo-Saxon Tribes to New France Acadians. Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-III-Jewish-Anglo-Saxon-Acadians/dp/148407579X

Black Like Me

Years ago, there was a white author who darkened his face and went into the world to see if he would be treated differently. He was and he wrote a book about it, “Black Like Me.” A white person can never really know what obstacles African Americans have overcome in the decades post Civil War, but they can read about it. And often the books are free, either in the library or as an Amazon free Kindle classic. In the Kindle search field, type “free history books.” Two of my favorites are, “Up From Slavery: An Autobiography,” by Booker T. Washington and “The Underground Railroad,” by William Still.

My father was from the Old South. When I was a child, he told me stories about his experiences and friendships with African Americans. As an adult, somehow I stumbled onto writing romances with ethnic conflicts. I’ve read about the history of the “Negro Church,” and the above two mentioned books, and have immersed myself in research on ancient slavery and black genealogy. Sometimes when I pull my head out of one of these books, I have a sense of what it feels like to have been persecuted and oppressed because of the color of my skin and I am impressed with the fortitude and optimism that African Americans have shown, considering the obstacles that were put upon them.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy V – Black, White and Hamite; Ancestors of Color in Our Family Trees. Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-Hamite-Ancestors-Family/dp/153518972X

The University of Church

Times have changed for Black America. Before the Civil War, it was illegal in many states, for Blacks to learn to read and write. While most of White America did not attend college, it was available if the family had means. However, for Blacks it was a big challenge. So after the war, when slavery was abolished and Blacks were given more freedom to live as they choose, the church was an option. Many Black families attended. Within these churches, they learned to read and write through studying the Bible. And since the “good book” was also a history book, a book of laws, a cultural journal and a vast literary work of proverbs, prophesy and poetry, becoming a scholar became an option for religious Blacks. The evolution of the church brought us great leaders like Martin Luther King and gospel singers like Mahalia Jackson and of course, a rich music legacy of soul, rhythm and blues, funk, rap and good ‘ol rock ‘n ‘roll.

Suellen Ocean is the author of the Civil War Era Historic Romance, Black Pansy:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Pansy-Suellen-Ocean/dp/1484900278

Genealogy… Your Caribbean Ancestors May Have Been Jews

You might think that it was too long after the Inquisition, to assume that ancestors who went to the Caribbean islands in the 1600’s, were Jews escaping persecution, but there’s evidence that they were. Even if it took them a long time to get there.

In the late 1400’s, Jews left Spain and Portugal to escape the Inquisition. They emigrated north to the Netherlands. In about 1650, their Jewish descendants emigrated to a Caribbean island known as Curacao. It was a Dutch colony where the Jews were able to build a cemetery. Sephardic Jews (and later the Ashkenazic Jews) emigrated to the New World from Central and Eastern Europe. Their destinations were the Caribbean colonies of Jamaica, Barbados, Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands and Dutch Saint Eustatius. The history of those colonies show large Jewish populations. As the years went by, they may have converted to Christianity. Like everyone else, they identified with their beloved countries so spoke the language of their new country. Yes, they were Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German and other Eastern Europeans but they may have also been Jews.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy – A How-to for Tracing Ancient Jewish Ancestry: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-Volume-Suellen-Ocean/dp/0965114082

and Secret Genealogy II – Uncovering the Jewish Roots of Our Christian Ancestors:

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-II-Christian-Ancestors/dp/1484053222

Are Freckles the Remnants of Our Black Ancestors?

I have always wondered if freckles and/or dark moles on white skin is a reminder of Black ancestry. A mole is a small, permanent spot or mark. An inherited protuberance on the body. Also known as a pigmentary nevus. In medicine, pigmentary refers to an excessive deposit of color. Pigmentary also refers to a birthmark.

During the 1980’s, in an attempt to understand skin cancer in children, the Germans studied almost nineteen-hundred children and one or both of their parents. Combing through the study I saw this phrase, “Freckles are thought to represent clones of mutated melanocytes.”

Having black hair and dark skin is melanic, stemming from the word melano which means dark or black. What are the melanocytes that mutated, cloned and turned into freckles?

The “cyte” portion of the word melanocytes means connection with, relation to, derives from, etc.

Black skin > black skin mutates > black mutated skin clones itself > black mutated skin that cloned itself becomes freckles.

Did I get that right?

Children whose parents had a higher number of moles on their arms and had sun-sensitive skin and freckles on their face were more prone to lesions that lead to melanoma. In case you’re wondering, the study recommends that parents protect their children against mild to moderate sun exposure, use sun-protective clothing, seek shade and keep the kids out of the sun when it is most intense. Unfortunately, I don’t think sunscreen can be trusted. And avoiding the sun entirely is not an option. Our bodies make Vitamin D when the oils on our skin are exposed to sunlight.

There is No “Race”

There is no “race.” There are only people from the same human family whose ancestors stayed near or below the equator or went north to colder climates. The differences between ethnic groups are mostly cultural. Yes, there are some biologic variations, much like an oak tree growing in the Arizona desert is different than one growing along the California coastline. There is no “us” and “them.” There is only “us,” and “we” are “all” in big trouble if “we” don’t understand that.

Do You Believe in Anima Mundi?

Anima Mundi means soul of the world. It is the belief that there is one ethereal, organizing soul, acting upon all of the universe. Those who believe it, believe that the one soul of the world controls the universe, similar to how the mind controls the human body. Anima Mundi is similar to a form of pantheism, (the belief that the universe taken or conceived of as a whole, is God). Soul of the universe philosophy is frequently used by those accepting that doctrine as well.

There are many people who do not think of themselves as religious, yet they are quite spiritual. They tell people that they are atheists, leaving religious adherents aghast. But religious advocates should not be quick to judge them as nonbelievers. In reality, most of them probably do believe. Very much so. They believe in the awe and beauty of life. They believe there is something out there, they just don’t know what it is and they don’t believe in pledging allegiance to it.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy VI – Freemasons, Jewish Conquistadors and the Holy Family. Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-VI-Freemasons-Conquistadors/dp/1541364007/

Genealogy… the Signs of Slavery

Good God, who in the world wants to think about slave markets when they do their genealogy? It is a most unpleasant thought. We all know though, that those “markets” existed. On a New Orleans building in 1895, the sign was still there… Slaves for Sale. You would think someone would have painted over it. It’s not like it was an ad for after shave or soda pop. And it had been about thirty years since the end of the war. Ironically, a black man bought the building and ran it as a hotel.

Abraham Lincoln visited one of those slave markets and because he did not like what he saw, slavery ended with the Civil War. When he was young, Abe went down the Mississippi River on a flat boat loaded with produce. After he sold his produce, he went to a slave mart with an acquaintance named Hanks. After they left, Abe was angrier than hell. “Hanks,” he said, “if ever I get a chance to hit that thing, I’ll hit it hard, by the ever living God.”

If you’re searching for black ancestry, the signs of slavery are everywhere. I don’t know if you ever get used to it. But if you have anything pertaining to slaves or slavery to bring to the genealogical field; family letters, wills, oral history… please, please, please share it. We owe it to those who are unable to tell their own stories.

Rh-negative Blood, African Americans and Ancient Iberians

People who have Rh-negative blood, have a strong curiosity about where it came from. Those who have it, sometimes find it unsettling, but fear not, it is an inherited trait like brown or blue eyes. If you have ancestors from the British Isles, the Rh-negative may very well have come from them. Today’s African Americans are more genetically like European Americans than they are like their African ancestors. When the English took New Amsterdam from the Dutch, renaming it New York, the English greatly colonized the American South and their plantations brought indigenous Africans to work them, hence the English DNA in many of today’s black population. The Rh-negative blood could also have come from ancestors who were Iberian fishermen who populated Spain’s coastal regions, and migrated to Britain between 4,000 and 5,000 BC.

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