From the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette:
Aaron Burr fans find unlikely ally in black descendantOf course, Johnson and Morales can claim Burr as, at best, a collateral ancestor. No word on whether Mrs. Allen will vote them out of the Aaron Burr Association.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
By Greg Ip, The Wall Street Journal
PHILADELPHIA -- For years, Stuart Fisk Johnson, a white criminal-defense attorney, has doggedly researched the life of his distant ancestor Aaron Burr in hopes of restoring Burr's good name.
Recently, Mr. Johnson found an unlikely ally here: an 86-year-old retired black nurse who says she is Burr's great-great-great-granddaughter, the descendant of Burr's illegitimate, mixed-race son.
[snip]
The documents and oral history aren't conclusive; there is no birth, death or marriage certificate linking Aaron Burr to [purported illegitimate son] John Pierre Burr. And DNA testing hasn't been done. Still, Mr. Johnson and his association are embracing [Louella Burr Mitchell] Allen and her relatives as long lost kin.
[snip]
His sister, Phyllis Morales, says there's no question that Mrs. Allen "is my relative," adding that she "looks just like us -- her mannerisms, her voice." Mr. Johnson and Ms. Morales trace their family tree back to a cousin of Burr's.
[snip]
[Read the whole story]
One also wonders whether mannerisms and voice are good indicators of a common ancestry after six or seven generations. This method might work, though, for identifying identical twins.
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