52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 – Week 31: Earliest Ancestor

NOTE: I accepted the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge headed by fellow genealogy blogger Amy Johnson Crow. The idea behind this challenge is that you will receive email prompts, a word or phrase, every week, and you find something about your research or family history to write about.  Click HERE to read my first 52 Ancestors blog post in 2019.

I have written about my 3X great grandfather, Robert Hatchett, a lot on my blog. I talk about him even more than that. I often refer to him as my earliest relative. But that isn’t actually true. My earliest ancestor is his mother, Sally. That is how she is documented in our family history, Robert Hatchett’s mother with no other information. I only know her first name – no birth year, no death date, no plantation records, no photograph, no slave narrative. I don’t even know if Robert Hatchett was her only child.

So what do I know about Sally? I know that she lived in Fauquier county, Virginia. I know she is the mother of the man that started my family’s legacy in Arkansas. I know that she was most likely an enslaved woman, and with that she lived and endured the trauma of being treated as property and not as a human being.

I very rarely talk or write about my 4X great grandmother, Sally, because I know so little about her. But what little I do know about her has always made me wonder what was she like? What did her voice sound like? Was she enslaved by more than one family? Did she know her son became a Baptist preacher? Was she ever emancipated, or did she die as an enslaved person? So many questions that may never get answered.

Although I have very little information to go on, I will continue to search for your name in records, books, and databases. Even if I never find your name, I will always honor your strength, endurance, and love. I will continue to tell your story and say your name.