EXCERPTS FROM THE E-MAIL LIST DISCUSSIONS

(MAHOMET-L@rootsweb.com)

From one list member:

"My Grandmother (Dolores) told us that Lucy Ann's name was actually Lucy Andrian but when she resided with The Winston Family (of Hanover County, VA.), she used their surname, until she married John P. Clarke. After her death she was always referred to as Renibe, and that's the reason why certain people our family have the name Andrian and others Renibe; as these names were taken on for their uniqueness, as well as continuity of our heritage. Some of the women in our family today are taking on and, giving their children the husbands' surnames, but that was not very common during the past generations on my maternal side of the family."

From another list member:

"... there was an African-American singer active in the closing years of the 19th Century and early 20th Century named Madame Selika. Marie Selika Smith Williams (1850-1937) was one of the leading African-American professional singers during this period; she and her husband, S.W. Williams, travelled about the country giving concerts--solos and duets of operatic selections as well as popular tunes--for many years. For information on Madame Selika, see the Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, by Eileen Southern. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982)." from Darlene

MADDEN AND BUNDY FAMILIES

"I looked it up this evening -- Re: the little book by T. O. Madden about the Madden family: "Sarah Madden was born in 1758, the illegitimate daughter of an Irish immigrant [Mary Madden] and an unknown black father, and spent her first thirty-one years as an indentured servant ..." The Maddens are descended from Mary Madden. "The Bundys were tall, dark-skinned, and Indian-or Asian-looking, with slanted eyes and straight hair. They claimed to have come from the island of Madagascar, off Africa (they still looked the same and still claimed to be from Madagascar a century later, when as a child I knew the Bundy family)." They were living in Stevensburg, VA. " The Madden and Bundy families were apparently related. The book by T.O. Madden is called "We Were Always Free"

Other families with Madagascar connections in Virginia include the Randolph, Chu, Ragland, Meriweather, and Catlett families. Please don't hesitate to contact the list at MOHAMET-L@rootsweb.com if you have other information on families of Malagasy origin.

We encourage you not to be discouraged by people, whether American or Malagasy, who claim that these and other family stories could not possibly be true. More and more documentaion is being discovered and publicized every day that describe some part of the incredible journey and experience of slaves and free persons arriving to the U.S. from Madagascar in the 18th and 19th centuries. From time to time this site will be updated with more information to our elist members in order that others can benefit from our exchanges.

Many thanks to Emmanuel Tehindrazanarivelo who has served as a resource person for this list and co-sponsored the first meeting of Malagasy descendents and Malagasy nationals in Washington, D.C. at the Library of Congress. He and the web author, Wendy Wilson Fall organized this event in order to assist people researching their family roots, and to promote dialogue and learning between Americans of Malagasy descent and people from Madagascar currently residing in the U.S. We also thank the Africa Division of the Library of Congress for their generous support in implementing this project. More will come on the activities of this project and will be posted here on the web site.