Ancestry of W. E. B. DuBois
 
compiled by Christopher Challender Child
 
 

The following material on the immediate ancestry of W. E. B. DuBois should not be considered either exhaustive or authoritative, but rather as a first draft.  
 
Most of the research is contained in The papers of W.E.B. DuBois 1803 (1877-1963) 1979, original papers in the Library of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, microfilm edition at the Boston Public Library and several other repositories.  
 
 
 
 
 

William Addams Reitwiesner
 
wargs@wargs.com
 
 
Ancestry of W. E. B. DuBois
1 William Edward Burghardt DuBois, b. Great Barrington, Masschusetts, 23 Feb. 1868, d. Accra, Ghana, 27 Aug. 1963  
m. (1) Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 12 May 1896, Nina Gomer, daughter of C. S. Gomer and Jeannette Pease, b. Quincy, Illinois ca. 1871, d. 1950  
m. (2) 1951 Shirley Graham
PARENTS
2 Alfred DuBois, b. 1826 San Domingo, Haiti, barber. Left wife and son in 1868 and never heard from again. Possibly the Alfred DuBois, age 35, mulatto, barber, born in Connecticut, enumerated in the 1870 census in Rutland, Vermont.  
m. Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 5 Feb. 1867
3 Mary Sylvana Burghardt, b. Egremont, Mass. ca. 1831, d. Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 23 Mar. 1885, age 54 years, 2 months, 5 days
GRANDPARENTS
4 Alexander DuBois, b. Bahamas ca. 1803, d. New Bedford, Massachusetts, 9 Dec. 1887  
m. New Haven, Connecticut, 4 May 1823
5 Sarah Marsh Lewis, b. poss. New Haven, Connecticut, ca. 1804, d. New Haven, Connecticut, 9 July 1834, ae. 30.
6 Othello Burghardt, b. Great Barrington, Massachusetts, ca. 1789, d. Great Barrington, Massachusett, 19 Sep. 1872, age 83 years, 10 months  
m. 19 Sep. 1811.
7 Sarah Lampman, b. Hillsdale, New York, ca. 1793, d. Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 19 Jan. 1879 age 86 years
GREAT-GRANDPARENTS
8 Dr. James DuBois, of Poughkeepsie, New York, b. ca. 1750 or later, d. after 1810  
(non-marital liaison)
9 ... , b. Long Keyes, Bahamas, d. Bahamas.
12 Jacob or Jack Burghardt, b. ca. 1766  
m.
13 Violet ...
GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS
24 Tom Etson/Burghardt, b. West Africa ca. 1737, d. Great Barrington, Massachusetts ca. 1787  
m.
25 ...
GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS
GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS
GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EXTRACTS from the U.S. FEDERAL DECENNIAL CENSUS
 
 
 
 
 
 

1930 New York, New York, Manhattan, ED 1226, sheet 30B, line 54

Du Bois William   Head  M Neg  62  M 28   Mass  Mass  Mass    Editor   Magazine
        Nina G    Wife  F Neg  55  M 20   Ill   Mich  Alsace
        Nina Y    Dau   F Neg  29  D      Mass  Mass  Ill     Teacher  Public School

--------

1910 Georgia, Fulton Co., Atlanta, ED 48, sheet 24A, line 22

Du Bios William   Head   M Mu  42  M1 14       Mass  Conn  Mass      Teacher  University
        Nina G    Wife   F Mu  38  M1 14  2 1  Ill   Mich  Germany
        Nina Y    Dau    F Mu   9  S           Mass  Mass  Ill

--------

1880 Massachusetts, Berkshire Co., Great Barrington, ED 48, page 25, line 11

Burghardt James   B M  51         Barber          Mass  Mass  Mass
Dubois Mary       B F  47  Sis                    Mass  Mass  Mass
       Wm E       B M  11  Neph                   Mass  Mass  Mass

--------

1880 Massachusetts, Bristol Co., New Bedford, ED 116, page 12, line 10

Dubois Alexander   B M  76         Steward           Bahama  W Isles  W Isles
       Annie M     B F  60  Wife   Keeping House     Conn    Conn     Conn

--------

1870 Vermont, Rutland Co., Rutland, Rutland PO, page 9, line 17

Shoto Edward     55  M M  Hotel Cook      2500   150    Mo
      Margaret   44  F M  Keeping House                 Mass
      Ellen      22  F M                                Mass
Dubois Alfred    35  M M  Barber                        Conn

--------

1870 Massachusetts, Berkshire Co., Great Barrington, North Egremont PO, page 108, line 8

Burget Othelo      80  M B  No occupation     200   ---    Mass
       Sally       78  F B  Keeping House                  NY
       Inez R      16  F B  At Home                        Mass
       Adelbert J   8  M B  At Home                        Mass
       William E    2  M B  At Home                        Mass

--------

1860 Massachusetts, Hampden Co., Agawam, Agawam PO, page 38, line 9

Alexander Dubois   56  M M  Farmer    4000   455    West Indies
Mary E             46  F M                          Ct
Henrietta          26  F M                          Ct

--------

1860 Massachusetts, Berkshire Co., Great Barrington, Great Barrington PO, page 2, line 30

Othello Burghardt   70  M B  Laborer         ---   ---    Mass
Sally   do          68  F B  House Wife                   NY
Francis Jackson     15  M B                               Mass
Inies R Burghardt    6  F M                               Ct
James F   ..        21  M B  Barber                       Ct
Charles Jackson      7  M B                               Mass

--------

1850 Massachusetts, Hampden Co., Springfield, page 43, line 26

Alexander Dubois   40  M M  Steward                 Unknown
Mary E      "      36  F M                          Ct
Henriette   "      14  F M                          Ct
John        "       8  M M                          Ct

--------
 
 
 
 
 
 
NOTES
 
 
 
 
 
 
1 -- In the 1870 census, he is appears to be the two year old child named "William E Burget" (i.e., Burghardt), without the "DuBois" name.  
 
 
 
4 -- His diary is in the papers of W.E.B. DuBois.  
 
 
 
7 -- Said by W.E.B. DuBois to be of African, Dutch, and Indian descent.  
 
 
 
8 -- Dr. James DuBois of Poughkeepsie, New York, possibly a Loyalist refugee, was given a land grant in 1803 in the Bahamas by Lord Dunmore (copy of land grant in W.E.B. Dubois papers), had immigrated from Poughkeepsie with a cousin Cornelius DuBois. Dr. James had two sons by an Afro-Bahaman slave or free person, Alexander and John DuBois. Dr. James immigrated back to the United States around 1810, possibly after the death of the mother of his sons, and put his sons up in a gentleman's school in Cheshire, Connecticut. James DuBois died without a will and his property was taken by white relatives. Dr. James DuBois also had a brother in Santa Cruz. W.E.B. DuBois believed Dr. James DuBois was probably the fifth generation from Jacques DuBois of New York, son of Chretien DuBois, probably through Jacques's son Jacques DuBois who married Susanna Legg, although Dr. James' parentage has still been unestablished. He is not the James DuBois, born around 1750, son of Matthew DuBois and Mary Welling, a descendant of Chertien's other son Louis DuBois, mentioned in the DuBois genealogy.  
 
 
 
24 -- Tom Etson/Burghardt was a slave first of the Etson family and then of the family of Conrad Burghardt, who had removed from Kinderhook, New York to Great Barrington, Massachusetts. "Tom, a Negro" served as private under Capt. John Spoor's company of Col. John Ashley's Regiment of Berkshire County. Tom was manumitted for his service in the revolutionary war shortly before Massachusetts' abolition of slavery in 1783.  
 
 
 
25 -- She was probably born in the Senegal/Gambia region of Africa based on a song passed down that linguists today believe to be from the Senegambian language of Wolof.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SOURCES CONSULTED AND CITED
 
 
See above.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
William Addams Reitwiesner
 
wargs@wargs.com