Chapter 155

“There’s a date of birth for Daniel, Jr,” Aunt Shirlene said. “It’s April 11, 1841. There’s no date of his death, though.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm.” Carrie was as intrigued as I. “I wonder why,” she said.

“Maybe they lost track of him.”

“Maybe because he was in the war,” I said to Carrie and Aunt Shirlene, neither of whom could hear me.

“Aunt Willa thinks he might have been taken by someone else and raised with another family. Sadly, that sort of thing was not unheard of. A white family would take a black baby boy to raise, knowing he would be free labor in a few years. The child rearing was worth it, they felt, considering how many years they could get out of him, starting once he turned five or six.”

“That’s terrible,” I said.

Carrie agreed.

“Is that what happened to your Daniel, Jefferson?”

“We’re definitely related, though,” Aunt Shirlene told Carrie. “Aunt Willa says Ruth Porter would be your eight times great grandmother.”