“I don’t really consider myself a genealogist in the purity of the tradition. I have allowed my ancestors to speak to me and tell me all about them, and I’ve allowed them to tell me where to find records on them,” said Ric Murphy.
Murphy is an acclaimed educator, historian, scholar, lecturer, documentarian, and award-winning author of several historical books and publications and has won prestigious awards in all those pursuits. He is currently the President General of the Society of the First African Families of English America (SOFAFEA) and the former National Vice President for History, for the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS). Ric Murphy’s study of the history of his African American ancestors has furthered a broader understanding of African American heritage and has also provided guidance for others’ genealogical research.
Research Led Murphy to Discover His Roots in 1619 Virginia
Documenting the stories of his ancestors has guided Ric to some startling discoveries, and further research has provided a broader history surrounding them.
![A map of the colony of Massachusets [i.e. Massachusetts] Bay, in North America](https://cms-b-assets.familysearch.org/1b/58/083d8e7a4e5caab71119c759a44a/56815698-2.jpg)
Ric traced his ancestry to the beginning of the Massachusetts Bay colony and to the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia in 1619, and he wrote a book based on his discoveries.
Two of his ancestors were among 32 African men and women and children who were kidnapped in the royal city of Kabasa, Angola, and forced aboard the slave ship San Juan Bautista. English pirates attacked the ship off the coast of present-day Mexico and took the captives to the New World Colony of Virginia, in North America.
The captive group was from Angola and were documented as being highly skilled, educated, multi-lingual, and Catholic. The knowledge, skills, and abilities they brought with them from Angola helped to save and preserve the colony from financial ruin, at a time when the colony was on the brink of bankruptcy, Ric said.
“Although they were kidnapped and enslaved in Africa, placed on slave ships as enslaved men, women and children, and enslaved when they eventually arrived on the shores of colonial Virginia in 1619, slavery would not be their fate, for there were no slave laws in the colonies when they arrived,” he further explained.
Ric added, “As found in the earliest of colonial records, the Angolans would eventually be found owning land and animals and had the legal ability to set up contractual relationships. As more and more researchers explore the early colonial records, the earliest Angolans are found in these records because of their independent ability to enter contractual relationships, thereby documenting that they were not enslaved. They became landowners, and if they were enslaved, they would not have had those rights to landownership or the ability to enter contractual relationships. Much like the English indentured servants, they were assigned to ‘plantations’ in the earliest part of the colony. The founding oligarchs of the colony made money due to their relationships with and the skills of these very first Angolans who arrived in the colony in 1619, with the Angolans' unique understanding of farming, agriculture in a semitropical climate, and animal husbandry."
Like other colonial landowners, the Angolans made wills leaving their property to descendants. Many who had been affluent in their native land understood the complex laws of possession and easily adapted to English common law—which was similar to that of Angola. Because of records like these wills, Ric was able to piece together their story.
Oral Histories Preserved Family Information and Established an Ideology
To say that his ancestors guided Ric Murphy’s research is very accurate. Born and raised in the suburbs of Boston, Ric grew up hearing the rich stories of his ancestors from colonial Massachusetts, Virginia, and North Carolina. “As with most American families of African descent,” Ric Murphy says, his family “was always very big on oral family history.”
“I must give ownership to my ancestors who passed family information down from generation to generation. We knew where ancestors were buried, the wars they served in, the battles they fought in, the churches they attended, and the different faiths they practiced. The stories of those who served in the American Revolution were passed down for nearly 250 years. Everyone also knew about our Civil War ancestors on my maternal and paternal lines of the family,” Ric said. All of it was passed down from person to person by word of mouth.
In his book Freedom Road, Ric shared how his ancestors participated in many significant historical events in the United States. Maternal ancestors knew abolitionist Frederick Douglass—who recruited one direct ancestor to serve in the military during the Civil War. This ancestor served in the Massachusetts 5th Calvary next to Douglas’s son. Murphy’s family ingrained principles of equality and of political and social responsibility in their descendants. “I had a well-rounded adolescence,” Ric said. His family was active in issues facing Americans of African descent from the 1770s to the present day. As a child, Ric participated with his parents and grandparents in protest marches, and he feels fortunate to have known the great-grandchildren of Massachusetts abolitionists in the early to mid-1880s and the sons and daughters of the freedom riders of the 1960s. His grandparents and ancestors recounted stories of their encounters with political leaders and social reformers, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X.
Family Gatherings Also Brought Family Stories
Learning these family stories came naturally for Ric. His nuclear family was close-knit. Family members got together at the homes of his grandparents each weekend, where they played with second and third cousins. They observed holidays like Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Halloween, and birthdays. Mixed with the fun were the personal and historical stories older family members shared. As with most young people, Ric and many of his cousins heard the stories, but they weren’t sure they believed the stories were entirely true. So, Ric went to work to find out.
“The old timers knew their stuff. Those stories were spot on, and the documentation supported their claims,” he said. As he researched, he also confirmed how diverse his family’s heritage is—with his lines including Angolans, English, and indigenous people of the Americas.*
Murphy’s Research Helped Discover African American Revolutionary War Soldiers
Genealogical research became Ric’s hobby and then more. True to his heritage, he became involved in historical organizations that support and encourage the promotion of the contributions of American men and women of African descent in the founding of the nation. He was recently the founder of the Society of First African Families of English America. This lineage society is composed of members who have thoroughly documented their ancestral lines to colonial Americans of African descent.
As he verified his family’s story, he gathered a treasure trove of information on broader African American history, which he has shared in award-winning books, some of which are now being turned into documentaries.
His research helped bring to light American men of African ancestry who served in the American Revolution—whose contributions have been mostly forgotten by later generations. They are now known as Forgotten Patriots and the subject of an upcoming book. Ric found the records of 17 of his ancestors (8 of whom were Americans of African descent), and how and where they served in the war. He found that Americans of African descent served in every battle of the Revolutionary War, and are now considered some of the founders of America. They came from communities in all 13 colonies. These Forgotten Patriots were free, freed, and enslaved men of African descent who answered the call and chose to wear the Continental uniform to fight the British. The British had offered freedom after the war for joining their forces, and George Washington made the same offer. Those who were enslaved were promised freedom if they served and were sometimes promised bounty land.
Murphy's Favorite Sources for African American Research
Murphy says that in doing contemporary and period research, he finds birth, death, and marriage records (particularly at the county level) very useful, along with census records. These records often show migratory paths of families and derivative families. Although most states didn’t mandate keeping birth, marriage, and death records until the turn of the 20th century, those records can be found from the colonial period and 1800s as well.
He notes, however, that in researching the colonial (1607–1776) and antebellum (1832–1860) periods in America, it is important to keep in mind that the ancestors of families of African descent were always tied to the land. Look to land documents, including land ownership and ordinance records, and also deeds, wills, and bank and account records to find them. Those types of records help with finding ancestors of African descent from the early periods of American history, particularly those who were enslaved.
In most areas of the United States, such records would be kept at the county level. Look for journal records, financial records, and bank records. Again, these ancestors’ records would likely be tied to the value of property, so look at property records from the counties or surrounding counties in which an ancestor may have lived.
And while some searchers may not find records for their ancestors online, Murphy advises to not be discouraged. “It’s a wonderful excuse to visit the community where your ancestors once lived,” he says, “since the records that contained their clues haven’t been digitized.”
For Not Being a “True Genealogist,” Murphy Has Accomplished Much for His Family and Others
Through efforts started early on, Murphy has documented his family’s ancestry back to Angola. He knows the ship his ancestors came on, the name of the captain, the conditions of the kidnapping, the circumstances of their enslavement, and their port of call in Angola. He knows how many were on the ship and the circumstances in which they arrived in English America in 1619, as well as the circumstances of the family once separated. At this point in his life, Murphy has no immediate plans to go to Angola to search further, although it certainly is a dream of his. He is comforted with what he has come to know and the historic journey of his ancestors.
Ric Murphy may not consider himself a “true genealogist,” but his work has not only reopened forgotten history of early Americans of African descent, it has also provided help and encouragement to others on their quests to find their family’s history and their story.
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End Notes
*Ric Murphy’s lineage has been evaluated and accepted by several heredity societies, including the Daughters of the American Revolution, the National Society of the Sons of Colonial New England, the General Society of the Sons of the Revolution, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, and the Sons and Daughters of the U. S. Middle Passage. Click to go back to reading.
