Stephen <mca### [at] aolcom> wrote:
> I suppose it depends on how your family got their surname.
> IIRC you are from the West Indies, I can't remember if it is Barbados or
> the Bahamas.

Virgin Islands.

> It might have been taken from the white slave master as a
> generic one or from an individual. The latter would give you blood ties,
> of course.

Definitely from a slave master, although I do not know to what extent the master
was doing the slave women.  Actually, the ethnic lines I can trace most directly
are Seminole and Taino, although they are just a small part of my ancestry.  It
would be nice to say I'm, say, Mandinka or Yoruba or something, but I just don't
know.  Maybe when DNA sequencing drops below $1000 per request in 30 years or
so...

> As for Welsh or Scottish, it might be obvious to a Brit.
> Jones, Welsh, Robertson probably Scots etc.

Well, my mom's mom's maiden name was Jones (in Florida), although with our
patrilineal system, that name is no longer in my side of the family.  My surname
is Callwood, which in turn is apparently derived from Collingwood or something
similar.  The names Brooks (Florida) and Abbot (Virgin Islands/Puerto Rico) are
also in the mix.

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