My “Kunta Kinte”: Part 2 of “The Search for Our African Ancestor’s Birthplace”

 

Map of Nigeria (Source: Africa World News)

On February 1, I posted “The Search for Our African Ancestor’s Birthplace.” That blog post contains a video of Samuel Siaw of Cape Coast, Ghana giving us some great insight concerning my mother’s great great grandfather Luke Edwards’ African name – OGBAR OGUMBA. He immediately linked the name to the Igbo people of Nigeria, instead of Ghana. Please check out that post to understand the context of this discovery.

Naja Chinyere Njoku, the founder and moderator of the DNA Tested African Descendants Facebook groups, read my blog post and immediately contacted a Nigerian chief (Igbo) for more information about my ancestor’s African name. Chief Okorie Mba (Eze Amufi) of Asaga Ohafia, Nigeria (Abia State) was very familiar with the name! He relayed the following information:

There are two meanings of the name, (1) As a place, it means town or village, (2) the name Mba means the braggart, big mouth, admonisher, showoff, backer or bouncer of the family.... or a fighter. Ogu Mba means righteousness of a town. Ogba as a name is rampant in my village. It is a short cut to the name Ogbanta, which used to be an honorary name given to a great hunter.

For example:

Ogba Anu means animal shooter.

Ogba Agu means lion shooter.

Ogbu Agu means lion killer.

Ogba (r) means shooter.

Ogbu (h) means killer.

The correct name should be Ogba as in Mba. The (r) and (h) were added by colonial masters for easier pronunciation. Please note that the O will have a dot under.

While recording the oral history from family elders in the 1970s in Panola County (Como), Mississippi, the late Cousin Rev. Sidney Edwards also wrote the following about Grandpa Luke (Ogbar Ogumba), “He had a high pitched voice and never let up during a conversation." Compare this piece of oral history to the meaning of the name from Chief Okorie Mba that is highlighted in red above. Yes, I am astounded. This appears to be more than coincidental to me!

To date, this is by far the most compelling piece of linguistic evidence we have gotten. To add, nearly all of the males with the surname OGUMBA on Facebook are from Nigeria. We are getting closer!

Combined snapshots from the 1855 slave inventory of William Edwards’ estate, Panola County, Mississippi, taken on December 15, 1855. At the end of the inventory, placed at the top of this image, Luke Sr. (Ogbar Ogumba) was inventoried with a value of $150. At the top of the inventory, there’s another Luke, who was Luke Edwards, Jr., born around 1815. Luke Edwards, Jr. died after 1900 in Panola County, Mississippi. Prince Edwards (born c. 1830) was my mother’s great grandfather.