Vanessa Williams Ancestry

If you saw the “Who do you think you are” (4 Feb 2011) story about Vanessa Williams, you might be interested in this unmentioned “coincidence”.

Here is an interesting development:  After viewing the show I got curious and went to Ancestry.com and did some research.  The 1870 Census which was identified as revealing her ancestor, David Carle (or Carll) identified him as millatto and his wife, Lousia, as white.

I got curious about her family – which was not disclosed – and looked for possible marriages and other connections.  I could not find David Carll (Carle) prior to the Civil War – but the family next door was named APPLEFORD  and the had a daughter with the same name, Louisa, as David’s wife.  Also next door was a Peter Carle – who was Black. 

Interesting fact: Peter was IRISH.  Yep, he was a Black Irish immigrant who appears to have arrived in the USA when he was 16. Here is a sample of the data:

We have the record Census and Civil War records as they were shown on “Who do you think you are”, and the interesting coincidence of names … Note too the property value is $200 – the amount paid from the enlistment bonus.  My guess, a reexamination of the sales documents and prior titles would show that David bought a section of the property which was owned by his father-in-law – or, more probably, from his widowed mother-in-law “Freelove Appleford”.  And, as a boatman, was working with his brother-in-law, George W Appleford.

As for there being an Irish-African:  Keep in mind that African troops first entered the British Isles with the Roman Legions.