Migration & Heritage Journey

Bantu homeland — Igbo, Yoruba, and Kongo ethnic origins

E1b1a haplogroup (confirmed via M96/P147/M2 SNPs) traces to the Nigeria-Cameroon border region, the ancestral homeland of the Bantu expansion approximately 5,800 years ago. The most probable ethnic origins are Igbo (southeastern Nigeria), Yoruba (southwestern Nigeria), or Kongo/Mbundu (Angola/Congo). This haplogroup was carried across West and Central Africa over thousands of years before the transatlantic slave trade forcibly transported millions to the Americas.

Bight of Biafra to Charleston via the transatlantic slave trade

The Bight of Biafra (modern southeastern Nigeria) was the primary embarkation region for enslaved Africans arriving in Charleston, South Carolina. The Middle Passage — the horrific transatlantic crossing — lasted 2 to 3 months in cramped, lethal conditions. Mortality rates ranged from 15% to 30%. Charleston received approximately 48% of all enslaved Africans arriving on the mainland of North America.

Primary port of entry — 48% of all enslaved Africans arrived here

Charleston was the largest port of entry for enslaved Africans in mainland North America. Gadsden's Wharf processed hundreds of thousands of enslaved people. From Charleston, the domestic slave trade distributed people throughout the American South, including to Alabama and the Carolinas. The King family's journey into the interior South likely began here.

Charles King (b. ~1815) and Julia King (b. ~1820) born enslaved

The earliest documented ancestors in the King line were born enslaved in Alabama. Charles King was born circa 1815 and Julia King circa 1820. They arrived in Alabama via the domestic slave trade from the Charleston/Virginia corridor. Alabama's cotton economy drove massive demand for enslaved labor during this period.

James King (b. ~1843) and Ellen King (b. ~1853) born enslaved

James King was born enslaved in South Carolina circa 1843, and Ellen King circa 1853. Census records consistently list South Carolina as the birthplace of children in Charles King's household. The family's movement between Alabama and South Carolina reflects the brutal reality of the domestic slave trade, where families were routinely separated and relocated.

Freedmen settlement — six generations of the King family

Camp Izard was a U.S. Army fort established February 27, 1836, during the Second Seminole War. After military use ended, it became a freedmen settlement. The King family settled here after emancipation in 1865. James King appears in the 1870 Census as a free man heading his own household. Six generations lived in and around Ocala, from Charles King through Gloria A. King (b. 1936). Key locations include Camp Izard, Ocala, and Kendrick. Burials at Pinelawn Cemetery, Faith Memorial Gardens. Lewis King’s sources differ between Faith Memorial Gardens and Lincoln Memorial Gardens; supporting cemetery records are still needed.

Westfield Sanders candidate family — Alabama

The Westfield alumni association reported that Clarence Sanders and Lucile Johnson married November 21, 1953 in Bessemer, Alabama. A matching FamilySearch marriage index and the 1940/1950 Sanders household provide new evidence for this candidate family. Their relationship to Barklee’s father, Clarence Jr. of Ocala and Cortland, remains unresolved. See the Research page for original sources.

Westfield Sanders candidate family — Chicago

The alumni association’s 2003 anniversary report places Clarence and Lucile Sanders in the Chicago area after their 1953 Bessemer marriage. Their move date and route are unknown. This is evidence for that couple’s Alabama-to-Illinois history, not yet a proven migration route in Barklee’s direct ancestry.

Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery — final resting place

Earlier candidate research places the Westfield/Chicago Clarence Sanders at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois. The identification of this man as Barklee’s grandfather remains unconfirmed; keep the cemetery lead separate from the established Clarence Jr. record.

Clarence Jr. settled here; Barklee born 1994

Clarence D. Sanders Jr. (1952-2025) followed the Great Migration pattern from Ocala, Florida, to the Northeast. He studied political science at SUNY Cortland and raised his family in the Cortland and Virgil area. Barklee Sanders was born in Cortland in 1994. The family's presence here represents the second wave of the Great Migration's northward movement.

Gloria A. King currently resides here

Gloria A. King, born in Florida in 1936, currently resides in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A separate African American King family has roots in Chambersburg dating to the 1860s, though Gloria's connection to that line is undocumented.

Barklee Sanders currently based here

Barklee Sanders, born in Cortland, New York, in 1994, is currently based in San Francisco, California. As the researcher and creator of this heritage project, Barklee represents the continuation of the family's westward movement across the American landscape.

Haplogroup H deep origin — mitochondrial ancestry

Haplogroup H, and its parent clade HV, trace their deep maternal origin to Southwest Asia / the Near East approximately 25,000-30,000 years ago. This lineage carries Catherine's biological maternal ancestry through an unbroken chain of mothers stretching back thousands of years.

Haplogroup H expands across Europe after the Ice Age

After the Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000 years ago), haplogroup H expanded across Europe from an Iberian / Franco-Cantabrian refugium, becoming the most common maternal lineage in Western Europe (~40% of Europeans today). Later Neolithic migrations reinforced its frequency.

Haplogroup H at its highest frequency in Western Europe

Haplogroup H reaches its highest frequencies across France and Western Europe. Catherine's autosomal ancestry — 24.8% French (plus 5.4% Irish) — together with mtDNA haplogroup H is consistent with a predominantly French maternal lineage, the source population of French Canada.

French-Canadian Laliberté ('Liberty') family in Québec

Catherine's biological maternal line descends from the French-Canadian LALIBERTÉ family (anglicized from 'Burque dit LaLiberté'), part of the French settlement of the St. Lawrence valley. The family is documented in Québec (Lawrenceville) and later Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Laliberté / 'Liberty' family in the Rouses Point / Champlain corridor

The Laliberté family crossed the Québec border into Clinton County, New York (Rouses Point / Champlain), where New York records index the name as 'Liberty.' This is Catherine's biological maternal homeland. Her exact biological parents are still being researched, pending New York's pre-adoption birth certificate.