Margaret Adele: My Truitt Family
About This Book
Margaret Adele: My Truitt Family is a photojournalistic book documenting the true DNA journey of my 100-year-old mother. We turn the pages of time to learn that my paternal ancestors experienced 292 years of living as free African-Americans beginning with colonial era Abner Truitt Sr. who was born free in 1760 in Cross Creek Hundreds, Delaware when it was still a British Territory.
Abner and his family lived on Chesapeake Bay during the formation of the first Continental Congress. Before the United States Constitution of 1776. Before Delaware became the 1st state in the U.S. in 1787. Before George Washington became the 1st U.S. President in 1789. Before the 13 colonies became the 13 states of the Union.True African-American history.
The Journey into My Past
When my 94 year-old mother asked me to try an Ancestry DNA kit, I had no idea of the journey I would be taking. I discovered nearly 300 years of freedom in my African American family: from 1760, until today, my Black family – on both my mother and father’s sides – were free, educated, employed, farmers, teamsters and veterans. Both pre- and post-Civil War, my ancestors had estates of value, farms with crops, and lived in multi-generational homes on integrated streets, in peaceful, multi-ethnic communities founded on the simple idea that everyone is a friend.
Historic Timeline
1760 – 1812
Delaware Bay Region Map
1760-1812
1813 – 1817
Delaware Bay1813-1817
1865
Shenandoah IronWorks Map
1879
New Jersey RailRoad Map
1923
Margaret Adele Truittcirca 1924
Timeline
There were Quaker Anti-Slavery movements found throughout my family’s peaceful Union communities. Some of my ancestors lived in the French and later, Spanish, International Territories in 1830. Using U.S. Census data, oral history, maps, newspapers, publications, family photographs and artifacts, I traced documents leading to 287 years of my forefather’s freedom.
The Quakers – The Religious Society of Friends – are an important fact in my family history in New Jersey, Ohio, and Kansas. Quakers founded many of the towns where my ancestors lived.
