Tracing My Cumbo Ancestry

How did I go about uncovering my Cumbo ancestry?

I relied on three main sources to piece together my Cumbo ancestry.  The first is family history that has been passed down to me.  The second is traditional genealogical research of documents such as census records, birth certificates, marriage licenses and death certificates.  The third is DNA testing.

Starting with Family History

Since childhood  I’ve known that my maternal great grandmother, my grandfather’s mother, was  Annie Biggs (1900-1930) of Suffolk, VA.  She married my great grandfather James Lee Richards and they had 6 children together, one of whom was my grandfather.  Here is a photo of her with her oldest child, my aunt Ernestine.

I learned from a Biggs family tree document that her parents were Edward Biggs of Bertie County, North Carolina and Florence Cumbo of Pulty Casey, North Carolina.   The document provided no information on Florence Cumbo’s parents however.  Google searches using the term “Pulty Casey, North Carolina” revealed nothing useful.

Extending with traditional research

I subscribe to Ancestry.com so I started there searching for documents on Florence Cumbo of North Carolina. I didn’t find anything that helpful on Ancestry, so I jumped over to FamilySearch.com which is a free version of Ancestry.  There I found a marriage record for Florence Cumbo to Edward Biggs.  From this document I learned a lot of valuable information about Florence Cumbo: Her birth year (1867), where the marriage took place (Roanoke Township, Northampton, North Carolina), and most importantly the names of her parents, (Matthias and Louisa Cumbo).  I’d just pushed our Cumbo family tree back a generation.

I then searched for documents on Matthias Cumbo of Northampton, North Carolina.  I found an 1850 census record for Matthias as a 5 year old boy living with his parents Britton and Mary Cumbo.  I’d just pushed our Cumbo ancestry back another generation.  The discovery of the 1850 census record was also profound for me because it revealed that my Cumbo ancestors were free people of color.  Only free persons appeared on census records.  The Cumbos were listed on the census 15 years before the end of the Civil War.

An 1870 census record I found for Britton Cumbo revealed more.  It listed his post office as Potecasi.  Now the Cumbo family location listed on my Biggs family tree made more sense to me.  Pulty Casey was really Potecasi.

Validating with DNA testing

So what is DNA Testing? How does it work?  DNA testing services such as AncestryDNA, FamilyTree DNA and 23andMe will analyze your DNA and provide you information on your ancestry.  Test results tell you about your ethnic makeup and present you with a list of DNA matches to help you to identify new relatives.  Here’s how the process works.  First you chose a testing service, order a kit which comes with a cup.  You spit in the cup (your spit contains your DNA), then you send it back to the servcie and wait for your results as they compare your DNA to all of the samples they’ve collected around the world.  I’ve taken tests with AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe.  I’ve also updated my test results to Gedmatch a free site which helps you to connect with even more matches.

My first Cumbo DNA validation came from my FamilyTreeDNA results.  As I reviewed my match results, I noticed that my top DNA match listed Cumbo as an ancestral surname.

I reached out to my match over email and asked her what she knew about her Cumbo ancestry.  She confirmed that she descended from Britton and Mary Cumbo of Northampton NC through their daughter Sarah Francis Cumbo Boone aka “Puss Boone”.  When I re-examined the 1850 census record I’d found on Matthias Cumbo, I noticed his sister Sarah listed right below his name.

It also turns out that Britton Cumbo was a Junior.  His father was also Britton Cumbo.  I found this 1820 Northampton County census record for him.  Living in his household of free colored persons were 3 males under the age of 14, one of these males could be Britton Jr., one male between the age of 26-44 which is presumably Britton Sr., and one female between the ages of 26-44 which is presuably his wife and mother of his children.  Now I’d just extended my Cumbo ancestry a third generation back.

What’s Next?

Numerous Ancestry family trees trace Britton Cumbo Sr.’s ancestry back to Emanuell Cambow born in Angola in 1614 and who was patented 50 acres in Jamestown in 1667.  But the links back  from Britton to Emanuell are not well documented, calling the accuracy of these Ancestry public trees into question.  So my current research is focused on extending my Cumbo family tree back another generation or two through validating documentation.  I’m hoping that identifying Britton’s parents will take me one step closer toward building a validated lineage connected back to the man we believe started the Cumbo family in America – a man named Emanuell Cambow.

What are your stories of tracing your Cumbo ancestry?  Please share them with us in the comments section of this blog.