They all Lied

In a recent exchange with Paul Heinegg, author of Free African-Americans of Virginia and North Carolina, I painstakingly revealed the documents which proved the section of his book about William Goings, Sr. of Moore County, North Carolina, born c.a. 1749, was incorrect. I pointed to documents in court records, community witnesses and testimonies which relate that William Goings, Sr. was the illegitimate son of Elizabeth Goings, a white woman and John Harmon, a native of Portugal. Heinegg refused to correct the information in his book, claiming all the witnesses in 1882 and 1884 in Randolph County court lied.
He dismissed all documents and testimonies because it fit his purpose to retain the Black and White image of Americans. To him, the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Native American peoples do not exist in our heritage. If they claim such heritages, they lied.
As a researcher, I join the authors in Carolina Genesis, in celebrating the fact that America is and always has been more than Black and White. The documents, published in their entirety in my essay and the meticulous research into the backgrounds of the witnesses prove without a shadow of doubt that everyone who went to court to attain a genealogy affidavit did not lie about their heritage.
The Spanish, Portuguese and Native American heritages, as well as the Mediterranean, the Arabians, the Turkish, the Greeks, the Asians were all here as well. To dismiss all these colonial and pre-colonial people is a travesty to history.
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3 Responses to They all Lied

  1. Yvette Porter Moore says:
    I just contacted Paul Heinegg via facebook to see if I could help with locating my 3x G father’s records as I believe he was a free person of color born in 1800. I am curious as to what records are available. It is important in writing history that all information is included in a book that you are writing and it is considered authoritative book. I know for a fact but with no certificates, etc. that my family were Mulatto, which also means were Native Americans, Black, Irish, and possibly Scottish. It is undeniable. I need help, and need to speak to someone that can help me.
    • cghoelscher says:
      Yvette,
      I find Paul Heinegg’s books to be an interesting composite of research, but his manuscript is flawed. My best advice is not to take anyone else’s research, including mine, as gospel. Keep looking for the records that back up what is written and use publications as guidelines. I’ve found too many errors in published work and it is difficult to have changes made, even when I have courthouse records which refute some previous publications.

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