Where it all started
It all began in the mid-1990’s when my mom, Jodi joined her aunt Sherla on an lifelong adventure of researching our family history. Though they were curious to discover as much as they could about our Cavanagh, Jennings, Hughes, and Zerbe lines, their mission during this time was to find proof of our rumored Native American ancestry. Together and separately, they would travel to courthouses, libraries, hometowns and cemeteries all over Indiana and Michigan looking for records, photos and stories they could glean by interviewing living relatives.
The Dreaded Archives
Throughout the 90’s, my mom’s favorite place to “hunt dead relatives” was the Kalamazoo Archives located on Western Michigan University’s East Campus. At the time, my brother and I were homeschooled and we often dreaded going because, similar to a library, we had to be quiet and we would get so bored! To pass the time, we would play hide and seek in the dated hallways and restrooms and would eventually get in trouble for doing so. This was before the days of record digitization where most records were only available on microfilm. She would spend countless hours scrolling through each image until she found a name (that may or may not be our ancestor). It was such a thrill to her! At the time, we couldn’t understand why our hell was clearly her heaven.
They say DNA Doesn’t lie
Fast forward about 20 years and I caught the genealogy bug! At the time, Ancestry.com launched their autosomal DNA testing kits and my mom and aunt jumped at the opportunity to see what our DNA would reveal. My Aunt had her mother, Margaret (my great-grandmother) take a test and then my mom and I followed suit. The results revealed the truth and dismantled the family lore.
The majority of ethnicities and percentages were what we expected to see. However, instead of any Native American, we all had a varying percentage of African DNA! My grandmother Margaret having 6%, comprised of Benin & Togo, Cameroon, Congo & Western Banu Peoples, Senegal and Mali.
In our research, we had seen the letters “B” and “M” written under the “Race” column of various census records on Margaret’s material line but now there was DNA evidence to support the suspicions and rule out the rumored Native American and Portuguese ancestry. As recent as the 1920 US Federal Census in Missaukee County, Michigan, my great-grandmother Margaret along with her mother Edna and sister Marian were listed as mulatto. For those not familiar with the term, it was used to describe the race of mixed African and European blood.
Whether my great-grandmother, Margaret, knew the truth or tried to keep it buried, she did an excellent job as none of her children or grandchildren had any idea of their African roots until our research illuminated the truth.
While the skin color of my family is white, and this discovery is not going to change the fact that we identify as Caucasian, it doesn’t erase the fact that we are the descendants of many incredible people of many shades of color that all have important stories that we can learn from.
This discovery, along with many others on both my maternal and paternal line, have fueled my passion for constantly wanting to find out more about not just where I come from, but who I come from.
Where I am now
Here we are in 2024, with access to an incredible amount of digital information and records. I have amassed 2 large online family trees and multiple binders full of a variety of documents, photos, records and stories. It would be a shame if all the information we have collaboratively collected thus far stayed in our own personal files. Instead, I want to share my passion of discovering our ancestorial story with the world!
Below is a photo of my beautiful great-grandmother, Margaret Cavanagh (Bergman) who passed away in 2016 at the age of 98. She was a colorful lady and it’s her family tree that has provided the inspiration for my site name: Our Colorful Roots.
