UPF > Prince Amongs Slaves

David Dreyer’s Quest to Map Abdul Rahman’s Family Tree

David Dreyer is a Hoosier from Indiana, but three years ago he transplanted himself to just north of Natchez, Mississippi, about 10 miles from Foster Fields, where Abdul Rahman was enslaved. Dreyer has been researching local history and genealogy for 20 years and had become intrigued by Dr. Terry Alford’s book;
Prince Among Slaves.

The tip-off that one set of Abdul Rahman’s grandchildren was left enslaved in nearby Franklin County in the 1830s triggered the idea that if only their descendants today knew of their connection to his story, they would have instant “Roots” in Africa.

David Dreyer

Dreyer found it strange that the first known descendant of Abdul Rahman he met was not from Mississippi, but from Liberia, and living in Chicago. In exile from his country’s civil war, Artemus Gaye was unaware of the story of Abdul Rahman when he arrived in the States. He knew that his ancestor Simon had come to Liberia from Mississippi, but he only discovered the connection to Abdul Rahman after a fellow Liberian told him about the book Jallon, which chronicles the journey of Abdul Rahman. He soon learned about Prince Among Slaves as well.

Curiosity piqued, Gaye visited Natchez. A local paper, the Natchez Democrat ran a story on his visit, and Gaye was contacted by both David Dreyer and John Foster, who was kin to one set of likely descendants. These possible descendants were uncertain how they might be related to Abdul Rahman, but there was a family tradition that their ancestors included African royalty. With these clues in hand, Dreyer attempted to find the missing links.

Dreyer adds that there must be hundreds, if not thousands, of descendants of Abdul Rahman living today. However, the link between the likely grandchildren of Abdul Rahman who appeared in the estate papers and deeds of Thomas Foster and the possible great-grandchildren listed in the 1870 census, was always circumstantial.

Artemus Gaye

In 2002 Artemus Gaye and Dreyer organized an “Ibrahima Fest” across the street from the site of Andrew Marschalk’s Natchez home and printing shop, where Thomas Foster had conditionally granted Abdul Rahman his freedom. A number of families who Dreyer identified as potential descendents, as well as some descendants of Thomas Foster and Andrew Marschalk, were invited.

Several African scholars, including Dr. Boubacar Berry and Dr. Allen Austin, also attended, as did a theatre troupe called “Out-the-Box”. Artemus, impressed with this troupe, packed them in his van and took them to re-enact the story of Prince Abdul Rahman. The event was, as Artemus termed it, “Interfaith, interracial, international”. Inspired, Dreyer continued to explore other possible leads.

Dreyer not only tried to find ancestral lines that might lead back to Abdul Rahman, but also to determine whether some supposed lines were real. Some were not, and as a result, when the 2006 reunion was held at Foster’s Fields, only four sets of families, whose descent was thought likely, were present.

Still, Dreyer is not satisfied that he found even a representative sample of the descendants. Without hard evidence of descent for any of the Mississippi families, he doubts whether it’s possible to conclusively prove such descent from the available records.

Dreyer says that there are traces of other possible descendants in the post-Civil War census records and he has identified them in his genealogical research. While the present day descendants of these individuals have not yet been identified, Dreyer suggests that some might be able to identify those listed as their own ancestors.Dreyer concludes that “One should not give up trying to make your own connections because in that process, one learns more about one’s own family…

In the end knowing your own history is much more valuable then any claim to “royalty”.