If anyone had told me before 2025 that I would be attending the House of Ogburn Family Reunion in Richmond, Virginia, this weekend, I probably would’ve looked at them strangely. I had never even heard of the Ogburn family! But in 2025, more genealogy research and DNA research finally helped me break through a 30-year brick wall.

Back in 1993, I discovered my father’s great-great-grandmother, Caroline Morris of Warren County (Vicksburg), Mississippi. Census records indicated that she was born around 1820 somewhere in Virginia, but for more than three decades, I didn’t know exactly where she came from. Then came the breakthrough.

In 2025, I discovered that the Bridgforth family of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, who later settled near Vaughan in Yazoo County, Mississippi, had transported Caroline and her husband, Jacob Morris Sr., from Virginia to Mississippi around 1845. Jacob’s mother and siblings were also enslaved by Robert F. Bridgforth. But Caroline’s story was different.

After three decades of searching, I finally discovered that the Bridgforths had acquired Caroline from the estate of Rev. Charles Ogburn. That discovery led me to Caroline’s parents, Ned and Violet, and her siblings. When she was taken to Mississippi, she was forever separated from them. She never saw them again. And that is what made this weekend so meaningful.

The House of Ogburn Family Reunion, which began in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942, are the descendants of Caroline’s brother, John Ogburn, through his son Olden Ogburn. At the reunion, I met two of my 10 Ogburn DNA cousins! I think my hug with them was a little tight, but they didn’t suffocate. I am so grateful to the House of Ogburn’s National President, Shirley Baskerville Jeffers, for inviting me to this wonderful and very meaningful family reunion!

I made this short discovery video called “Caroline’s Roots” which was played at the reunion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVMJTrgE3pE