Did you see the WSJ story featuring the research of WikiTreer Phil Roberts?

Question

Hi WikiTreers,

This story was featured on the cover of Saturday's Wall Street Journal: "A White Woman Searches for Her Black Family: A home DNA test led Christine Jacobsen to grapple with complicated questions about racial identity."

The article says that "Bahamian genealogist" Phil Roberts helped Christine find her biological father's family. Since I'm friends with Bahamian genealogist Peter Roberts, I asked Peter about Phil.

As it turns out, Phil has been a very active member of our community since he was invited by Peter in 2014. And the subject of the article, Christine, is a member too.

Phil had created profiles for Christine's ancestors a couple years ago. Christine appears to have found them in 2018 and posted on his profile: "Phil Roberts is an amazing Wikitreer!!"

A great example of a generous genealogist and our shared tree having a real impact on people's lives.

Chris

Comments

That might be an interesting story, but it's behind a pay wall, so many of us will just have to take your word for it.

In my experience, with biracial people it doesn't really "jump out at me" that that's what they are, just by looking at them, but if you're told about it, it seems to explain what you otherwise can't quite put your finger on. But with this lady, she just looks "as white as can be", so I have to kind of wonder if there's more to this than the title suggests (like maybe the dad isn't exactly 100% anything).

Anyway, the names seem sort of familiar.

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I echo Frank Stanley's comment about the story being behind a "Pay Wall" at The WSJ.  Rather than "tease" us about the story, why doesn't the author post it since he is a WikiTreer?

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Yeah I barely got through a few lines.... want $$.     This was interesting to me also being an adoptee that found my birth family in 2012 by having my records opened.  Always wondering why I looked a bit different prior to that.  Everyone assumed I was Native American, which I am part , and part Black, Irish, Scottish, German, Italian, Spanish, Scandinavian , and etc......   At 5 x Greats you had 128 of them and 10x greats 4092 !   You get an almost equal share of DNA from each of the branches of your tree.   Therefore , almost no one as you say Frank, is 100% anything !  We are all a mixture of many's DNA.

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In my research, I found out that I am 31 degrees away from the famous jazz singer Sarah Vaughan and 25 degrees away from King David II (Bruce) of Scots. Interestingly enough, I chose being a jazz singer as my career path and did that for 40 years on five continents and in 20 countries. My father's family originated on Long Island, Bahamas. He was born there. So was his father, grandfather, and great  grandfather. They were all children of Cartwright men and native women, thereby creating an entirely new line of people. The reality of this is becoming clearer as I peel back the onion of our lineage. I found my grandfather, Christopher Cartwright, on a thread started by Phil Roberts. He responded to me expediently and now, I'm in this discussion with you My DNA shows almost equal parts of European and African, which originated in the Bahamas and culminated in South Carolina, where my mother's mother and father originated. The story continues to unravel as I dig through the family connections. I'm enjoying the journey.

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In regard to paywall comments, I registered my email address with WSJ for free and was able to read the article.  This article was also fascinating and angst-filled as articles of this nature tend to be.

If you find this topic of interest, you might find the book "White Like Her" by Gail Lukasik interesting. I had the honor of being here moderator at a talk she did at a CAGGNI conference a few years ago. As someone with northern European roots, I learned about topics such as "passing" and the nature of slavery in Louisiana that I had no idea about.

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After reading this post, I clicked on the profile for Phil Roberts, then clicked on his father, Percival Roberts.  As I find with many profiles here, Percival is my 17th cousin, through the Kennedys.

In the town where I was born I always say I can't throw a rock without hitting a relative.  On Wikitree I can't look at a profile without finding a relative, and mostly extremely distant.

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Curious why Joan Cartwright considers Sarah Vaughan infamous. An admirer of the singer, I never thought of her as disreputable.

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Janet,

I misused the term 'infamous' regarding Sarah Vaughan, who is famous. I edited my post. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Joan

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Also, some public libraries have online access to the WSJ (and other publications).

Answer 1

Thank you Chris for creating this great resource for seekers of family connections and others.

I became fascinated with the amazing life of Christine's biological grandfather, Preston Paul Meeres (Sr.), a famous Bahamian entertainer. Where better to give him some of the recognition he deserves than WikiTree !

I am happy that WikiTree and my profiles here have helped Christine on her journey of discovery.

Phil

Answer 2

This is AWESOME! Thank you for sharing!

Answer 3

Thank You Phil Roberts from the WikiTree Forest !!! 

Answer 4

I'm proud to say that Phil Roberts is my 4th cousin.

My 4th cousin Phil Roberts and my 5th cousin Peter J. Roberts are very generous and knowledgable about my father's ancestors in the Bahamas. Phil is a kind, helpful man. I can attest to that from my own experience.

Thanks for the link to the WSJ article.

Answer 5

Chris, thank you for acknowledging Phil Roberts and the WSJ story about his research.

This was awesome.

Congratulations, Phil!

Answer 6

Very cool story - thank you !

Answer 7

Congratulations, Phil.  By the way, we are sixth cousins!  

I too would love to read the article but don't subscribe to the WSJ.  Can it be posted so the rest of us can read it?

Edit:  Never mind.  Someone posted it on our Bahamas Genealogy  Group site.

Comments

Because hey, who cares about copyright?

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Yeah, I thought that also.

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Hello all!

Yes, Phil Roberts is a Genealogical Master!  I am so grateful to him.  

To those who don't have a subscription, you can read the entire article on my website: https://christinefromqueens.com/f/wall-street-journal-article

Thanks again for your interest and comments.

Best,

Christine

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Thank you for sharing your journey,Christine.  

I have made efforts as well to tap into the lives and customs of ancestors that were from Lithuania and Slovakia )and so ma y others) to better understand who I am.  I so appreciate all the tools available that help explain who we are and how we arrived here, at this point in time.

Congratulations on making the effort to find out about the illusive lines of your family with success

The effort can change the way we see ourselves.

Laurie Angel-983