A white Utah woman’s life was forever changed after she made a remarkable discovery when she submitted her DNA to learn more about her family’s history.
Deena Hill, a genealogist from Mount Pleasant, Utah, submitted a DNA sample to Ancestry.com in 2016 only to discover that her family roots cross many waters, as the results revealed she once had roots in Igbo Land, Nigeria.
She originally took the test in hopes of dispelling a long-standing family rumor about Cherokee blood, only to discover she had several African-American cousins, one of them Desi Campbell from North Carolina.
Seeking more information about her family history, Hill contacted Campbell to further unravel the mystery of how an Italian-English woman from Utah and an African-American man from North Carolina could be related.
“I was very surprised to learn that I had African-American blood, but I was very excited by this new information,” Hill said. The pilot.
Deena Hill, a genealogist from Mount Pleasant, Utah, submitted a DNA sample to Ancestry.com in 2016 only to discover that her family roots cross many waters, as the results revealed she once had roots in Igbo Land, Nigeria.
She originally took the test in hopes of dispelling a long-standing family rumor about Cherokee blood, only to discover she had several African-American cousins, one of them Desi Campbell from North Carolina.
Hill already knew he had family roots in the region of Sicily, Italy, on his father’s side and English heritage on his mother’s side, but he still sought to find his and Campbell’s common ancestor.
Hill already knew he had family roots in the Sicily region of Italy on his father’s side and English heritage on his mother’s side, but he was still looking to find his and Campbell’s common ancestor.
After many phone calls and deep analysis of documents (wills, deeds and census data), the picture became clear to the newly discovered cousins.
Hill is the third great-granddaughter of a man named Nelson Holder Ritchie, whose mother was a slave who would eventually become pregnant with a nephew of the Holder family.
Jane was then purchased by a neighbor and brought to Missouri, where Hill’s great-great-grandfather, Holder Ritchie, was born and later settled in Utah.
Jane’s parents are Sarah and Sherod McNeill, who had 13 children, one named Jane and the other a son named Gabriel McNeill, who is Desi Campbell’s third great-grandfather.
This is where Campbell and Hill’s lives intersect: they are fifth-generation first cousins.
Since making a life-changing discovery, Hill and Campbell have begun contacting dozens of their Nigerian relatives. Some of the family members contacted were Uzoma Kalu (left), from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Oliver Udemba (right), from Raleigh, North Carolina.
“We started reaching out to them and finding out what our heritage was, and we were able to narrow it down to one city: It’s in Igbo land. Igbo land is just a small section of Nigeria,” Hill told KUTV.
Since their life-changing discovery, Hill and Campbell have begun contacting dozens of their Nigerian relatives.
“We started reaching out to them and finding out what our heritage was, and we were able to narrow it down to one city: It’s in Igbo land. Igbo land is just a small section of Nigeria,” Hill said. KuTV Television.
The research duo discovered that Igbo land consists of five states: Anambra, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi and Enugu.
One of the relatives Hill reached out to was Uzoma Kalu, who lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“Deena has since been in contact with me and also with Mr. Campbell in North Carolina for information. I have passed the information on to my family in Nigeria in Ohaifia,” he said.
Campbell contacted Oliver Udemba, another cousin in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“I am 100% Igbo, so I am as African as I can be. I have met many groups, DNA testing groups, that are connected to my family,” Udemba said.
Hill’s now extensive research has led her to understand that many African Americans have ancestors who were forced into the U.S. as slaves, thereby destroying their identities.
Even with this reality, DNA technology is giving hope to families searching for answers and providing some surprises.
Udemba said he regularly receives calls from new relatives of a different ethnicity, but who still have DNA matches, like Hill’s. as eager to learn more about their Nigerian heritage.
“Even though their colour and pigment may look different from mine, there is a lot of Igbo in their veins. There are a lot of my family in there,” Udemba said.
Since Hill shared her story of researching her family history with KUTV, she said she has received numerous questions from people interested in learning about their own family ancestry.
He mentioned having searched for documents in the Freedman Office and others. resources including DNA genealogy sites that have helped reconstruct missing parts of your ancestry.
