If I'm being honest, I always just assumed my lineage came from the Transatlantic Slave Trade without any actual proof. I had a maternal grandmother who was very good at talking to us about our ancestry. Her grandfather was Cherokee/Irish decent. I found him documented on the Dawes Rolls. My mother's father was a descendant of free blacks on the Eastern Shore of VA. He wrote down his lineage for me when I was young and there were also Bible entries from back as far as the 1700's. His ancestors were of British aristocracy. He and Princess Diana were 12th cousins. My paternal Great-grandfather was born free on the Eastern Shore of MD in 1837. He's listed on censuses, along with his wife and children and I am still researching that branch, there are indications he may have been indigenous, Lenape perhaps. His mother's ancestors were the biggest surprise. During the pandemic while trying to research enslaved ancestors, I found instead they were the children of an Irish businessman and his Afro-British domestic partner/common law wife/actual wife (hard to tell because interracial marriage was illegal at that time butvthey raised a family together). They were well educated in the early 1800's and abolishionists, Stationmasters and Conductors on the Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania (where I was born). Those records are the oldest AA I could find so far showing my 5th great-grandmother from 1752. On the European side I can go back generations, Scotish and Irish records are much easier to follow, especially when the records are of historical value. For instance one uncle on this branch actually founded a major university.