I believe all amateur genealogists share a common fantasy. We dream of the day when, after years of meticulous research, filing, and archiving we discover a notable ancestor. A notable ancestor is different things to different people. For some it could be a royal or noble connection, others prefer a little adventure in the form of a well-known outlaw. If you think you have the end of this post figured out all I can say is don't get your hopes up. I've been searching for 25 years and all I have in my tree are a bunch of modest, law-abiding Europeans.
No, this post is not about my family research. Instead, it's about a young woman who hired a private investigator to locate her birth parents and quickly discovered that she was, herself, a princess. That's the very short version of the story, the one where I'm so exhausted from years of research I can barely summon the energy to be envious of what would be a fantastic GEDCOM entry.
The woman is Sarah Culberson and I met her yesterday when she came to speak at the school where I work. That's right, people, I met an actual princess. My blog can beat up your blog.
My original intent was to talk to Sarah about locating her birth parents and the discovery of her new found heritage, but she blew me away when she told me it took a private investigator all of three hours to find her parents. Seriously. My first big interview made a big thud as it hit the floor.
Sarah Culberson was born in Morgantown, West Virginia to an African father and a white mother. She was adopted from foster care by a white family when she was just a year old, and grew up with the desire to learn where she came from. When she was 28 and living in Los Angeles she hired a private investigator to help her track down her birth parents. That investigator really earned his paycheck that day because not only did he deliver the names of both parents he opened an amazing door for Sarah.
Sadly, Sarah's birth mother was no longer alive, but her father was living in a village in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She learned that she is from a royal family, a Mahaloi, the granddaughter of a Paramount Chief, with the status of a Princess. The discovery of her unique heritage changed her life forever. Now, as co-founder and president of The Kposowa Foundation in Los Angeles, she and many others work to rebuild and improve opportunity for the people of Sierra Leone, and to improve education for the country’s youth. In addition to raising awareness about Sierra Leone, Sarah speaks nationally and internationally about her journey of discvoery, and wrote A Princess Found, a book about her African roots. I'm reading it now and will write a review when I'm done. (I'm pretty sure it will be a rave.)
A Princess Found: An American Family, an African Chiefdom, and the Daughter Who Connected Them All
by Sarah Culberson and Tracey Trivas
