I started a personal journey inspired by a conversation with my late father and reignited by my sister. In 1985, my father revealed to me that our family name isn’t actually Kemp. It is Seawright and that his father, my paternal grandfather, took the name of his stepfather as a child. My father shared this information with me and my sister independently. My sister and I we never spoke of it. In 2012, she reached out to me and began telling me that she had identified our family members through her genealogy research and before she could finish her revelation, I shared with her the story that dad hold told me. Fascinated, we both dove into the process spending hours (really years) researching our family history, coaxing family to take DNA test, registering on a variety of ancestry sites, and sleuthing historical documents.
The outcome of this ongoing effort is what I call “Pursuit of Happiness, Spoils of War”. From my research, it is clear to me that my children represent a compilation of most of the major peoples and cultural history that represents the story of this country. Between me and my wife, our genealogy reflects some of the earliest settlers to Virginia from England, persecuted religious followers from the Ireland, Netherlands and France, enslaved African brought to the New World before 1700, enslaved Taino and Caribbean people brought to New Orleans from the islands, and native Mississippi delta Choctaw tribes. Our DNA touches the many of the elements of the making of the United States. People, economic, immigration, migration, technology, cultural and of course the spoils of war are reflected in the story of our combined DNA.
The upcoming project "Pursuit of Happiness, Spoils of War" is my attempt to tell the unvarnished story of America using tangible and personal examples of people, documents and stories to bring to life the amazing, complicated, troubled and triumphant story of the making of the United States.
The outcome of this ongoing effort is what I call “Pursuit of Happiness, Spoils of War”. From my research, it is clear to me that my children represent a compilation of most of the major peoples and cultural history that represents the story of this country. Between me and my wife, our genealogy reflects some of the earliest settlers to Virginia from England, persecuted religious followers from the Ireland, Netherlands and France, enslaved African brought to the New World before 1700, enslaved Taino and Caribbean people brought to New Orleans from the islands, and native Mississippi delta Choctaw tribes. Our DNA touches the many of the elements of the making of the United States. People, economic, immigration, migration, technology, cultural and of course the spoils of war are reflected in the story of our combined DNA.
The upcoming project "Pursuit of Happiness, Spoils of War" is my attempt to tell the unvarnished story of America using tangible and personal examples of people, documents and stories to bring to life the amazing, complicated, troubled and triumphant story of the making of the United States.
