The Wealthiest Person in This Family Line
211 years from a man born enslaved in Alabama with a net worth of zero, to the first person in 7 generations with retirement accounts, a pension, guaranteed lifetime income, and a professional-class career.
How Barklee Sanders Got Here
Born in Cortland, New York
Seventh-generation descendant of Charles King, a man born enslaved in Alabama in 1815. Named Barklee Unitas-Ali Sanders.
Enlisted in the United States Army
Signal Support Systems Specialist (25U). Served in the same military that, 150 years earlier, fought a war to determine whether his ancestors would remain property.
Honorable discharge and VA recognition
Received the highest VA disability rating — lifetime tax-free income, healthcare, and comprehensive benefits. The first guaranteed income in this family line.
Tech career in San Francisco
Became a Senior Systems Engineer, working at companies like Meta and Robinhood — companies worth hundreds of billions. Built a six-figure salary, retirement accounts, and an accruing pension. All firsts for this family.
Founded AiVAClaims and ESBE Tech
Built an AI company to help other veterans navigate the disability claims process. Launched a second business. Active revenue and growing equity — the first entrepreneurship in the documented line.
Six-figure retirement portfolio before age 35
Retirement savings, a pension, lifetime VA income, a professional career, and two businesses. No one in the documented family line has ever held this financial position.
29 countries — including returning to Africa
Togo, Ethiopia, South Africa. A family whose forced journey began on that continent now has a descendant who returned by choice.
The 7-Generation Trajectory
Charles King
b. 1815 — Enslaved person
Zero. Was legally classified as property.
Born enslaved in Alabama. All labor value was extracted by the enslaver. The 'King' surname was likely imposed by the slaveholder.
James King
b. 1843 — Farmer
Owned or worked 10-40 acres. Modest but real — equivalent to a small farm's value today.
Born enslaved in South Carolina. After emancipation, became a farmer in Ocala. Three consecutive censuses (1870-1900) confirm he sustained a household through agriculture.
Samuel Z. King
b. 1868 — Farmer
Slightly better than his father's generation. A working farmer's livelihood.
One of the first generation born free. Married Martha Johnson in 1893. Lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1968.
Ebo 'Buster' King
b. 1895 — Laborer
Minimal savings. Working class.
Born in Kendrick, Florida during Jim Crow. Lived at 1930 N.W. 2nd Ave, Ocala. Survived by working in a system designed to limit Black economic advancement.
Gloria A. King
b. 1936 — Unknown occupation
Unknown. Raised in Jim Crow Florida.
Born in Ocala during segregation. Moved from Florida to New York, then to Pennsylvania. Part of the Great Migration generation.
Clarence D. Sanders Jr.
b. 1952 — Construction worker, political science student
Working class. Cortland, New York.
Studied political science at SUNY Cortland. Worked two Olympic Games. Construction work with Paul Yaman Construction and JBK Builders. Father of 10 children.
Barklee Sanders
b. 1994 — Senior Systems Engineer, U.S. Army veteran, entrepreneur
First person in 7 generations with retirement accounts, pension, and professional-class career.
U.S. Army Signal Support Systems Specialist (2014-2020). 100% VA disability rating. Senior engineer in San Francisco tech industry. Founded AiVAClaims to help other veterans. Has traveled to 29 countries including returning to the African continent.
What Makes This Significant
Charles King was born in 1815 Alabama with a net worth of zero, because he was the net worth on someone else's balance sheet. 211 years later, his descendant holds retirement accounts, a pension, lifetime VA income, a professional-class career, and two businesses he built himself.
No one in the documented line has ever had this financial position. Not James the farmer, not Samuel the landowner, not Buster the carpenter, not Clarence the construction worker. Barklee Sanders is the first person in 7 generations to have a retirement account, a pension, guaranteed lifetime income, and a professional-class career.
The Wealth Was Systematically Prevented
Slavery
All labor value stolen. Ancestors were legally property.
Brief Reconstruction gains
James and Samuel farmed their own land in Marion County.
Jim Crow
Land theft, sharecropping traps, no access to credit or education.
Great Migration
Traded land for wage labor in Northern cities. New opportunities, but started over.
First generation with full access
Military service, GI Bill, tech career, retirement accounts, VA benefits.
This family went from being property to owning property in 7 generations, with every system in America working against that outcome.
The 401(k), the pension, the VA benefits, the San Francisco tech career: that is not just personal success. That is the first real wealth accumulation in this family's entire recorded American history.