What Are GU272 Family Groups?

In 1838, Georgetown College sold 272 enslaved people to plantations in Louisiana owned by landowners Henry Johnson and Jesse Batey to raise the money to pay off debts and pave the way to build Georgetown University. When first questioned about it in 2014, the University claimed that all 272 individuals perished on the voyage south. But they did not perish, they survived the voyage and the hardships of slavery in the deep south, leaving thousands of descendants.

 

Though now known widely as the "GU272," genealogists have determined that the number of enslaved people sold was at least 314, as some of the women gave birth before, during and immediately after the journey. 

Many of these people lived to see the emancipation of slavery. Since many sold were related to one another, and others married one another, the original 314 have been organized into 49 family groups with the head of the family as the “Root Person.” Some of these family groups did not leave descendants. In other cases, genealogists have not been able to trace them forward and have very little information on them. While there is information in the database and AmericanAncesTREES for all 49 families, the pdfs of family histories on this website's family pages cover the 32 families that we can substantially trace forward in time to modern descendants.

The 314 individuals were organized into 49 Groups, with each Group consisting of one GMP Ancestor (Root Person) and one or more GMP Ancestor or Descendant who can be identified as being related by blood or marriage to the Root Person. For married couples, the Root Person is the husband if he was a GMP Ancestor. If the husband was not a GMP Ancestor (i.e., died before the 1838 Jesuit Slave Census, a free person, not a Jesuit slave, or unknown), the Root Person is the woman.

A new Group is formed when a GMP Descendant marries a GMP Ancestor who is not already part of a Group. This is to account for descendants from any other marriage between the GMP Ancestor and a non-GMP Ancestor. Additionally, four Groups were formed (i.e., Groups 46, 47, 48, and 49) because of the division of work between the Louisiana and Maryland genealogists.

Group 1
Root Person - Isaac Hawkins (GMP-001)
GMP-002, GMP-003, GMP-004, GMP-005, GMP-006, GMP-007, GMP-008, GMP-009, GMP- 010, GMP-011, GMP-012, GMP-013, GMP-014, GMP-015, GMP-016, GMP-017, GMP-018, GMP-019, GMP-020, GMP-021, GMP-022, GMP-023, GMP-024, GMP-025, GMP-026, GMP- 106, GMP-179, GMP-204, GMP-205, GMP-208, GMP-310

Group 2
Root Person - Sally Harrison (GMP-027)
GMP-028, GMP-029, GMP-030, GMP-031, GMP-032, GMP-033, GMP-034, GMP-035, GMP- 036, GMP-037, GMP-038, GMP-039, GMP-225, GMP-302

Group 3
Root Person - Charles Queen (GMP-040)
GMP-041, GMP-042, GMP-043, GMP-044, GMP-045, GMP-046, GMP-047, GMP-048

Group 4
Root Person - Nelly Winderry (GMP-049)
GMP-008, GMP-009, GMP-010, GMP-011, GMP-012, GMP-013, GMP-014, GMP-015, GMP- 016, GMP-017, GMP-050, GMP-051, GMP-194, GMP-208

Group 5
Root Person - Kitty (GMP-052) GMP-053, GMP-054, GMP-055

Group 6
Root Person - Sally (GMP-057)
GMP-058, GMP-059, GMP-060, GMP-061, GMP-149

Group 7
Root Person - Harriet (GMP-062)
GMP-063, GMP-064, GMP-065, GMP-066, GMP-067, GMP-068, GMP-069

Group 8
Root Person - Betsy (GMP-070)
GMP-071, GMP-072, GMP-073, GMP-074, GMP-115, GMP-207, GMP-251

Group 9
Root Person - Margery (GMP-077) GMP-078

Group 10
Root Person - Minty (GMP-079) GMP-080, GMP-081

Group 11
Root Person - Eliza (GMP-086)
GMP-087, GMP-088, GMP-089, GMP-090

Group 12
Root Person - Maria (GMP-092) GMP-093, GMP-094

Group 13
Root Person - Charles (GMP-095) GMP-138, GMP-143, GMP-144

Group 14
Root Person - Len Queen (GMP-097)
GMP-071, GMP-112, GMP-113, GMP-114, GMP-115, GMP-116

Group 15
Root Person - Sam Harris (GMP-098)
GMP-117, GMP-118, GMP-119, GMP-120, GMP-121, GMP-204

Group 16
Root Person - George Harris (GMP-101) GMP-126, GMP-127, GMP-128, GMP-129

Group 17
Root Person - William Ware (GMP-106) GMP-004, GMP-005

Group 18
Root Person - James Blair (GMP-108)

Group 19
Root Person - Matilda (GMP-122) GMP-123, GMP-124, GMP-125

Group 20
Root Person - Margaret (GMP-130) GMP-131

Group 21
Root Person - Crissy (GMP-132) GMP-133, GMP-134, GMP-135, GMP-136

Group 22
Root Person - Harry Scott (GMP-145)
GMP-010, GMP-012, GMP-146, GMP-156, GMP-157, GMP-164, GMP-173, GMP-176, GMP- 179, GMP-190, GMP-192, GMP-193, GMP-194, GMP-203, GMP-204, GMP-206, GMP-210, GMP-211, GMP-212, GMP-238

Group 23
Root Person - Joseph Greenlief (GMP-147)
GMP-148, GMP-172, GMP-175, GMP-178, GMP-180, GMP-189, GMP-191, GMP-270

Group 24
Root Person - Elizabeth (GMP-155)
GMP-059, GMP-149, GMP-168, GMP-169, GMP-170, GMP-171, GMP-174, GMP-182, GMP- 183, GMP-184, GMP-185, GMP-186, GMP-187, GMP-188, GMP-294

Group 25
Root Person - Stephen (GMP-151) GMP-152

Group 26
Root Person - Bibiana Plowden or Hill (GMP-153)
GMP-160, GMP-161, GMP-163, GMP-164, GMP-165, GMP-166, GMP-177, GMP-309

Group 27
Root Person - Nace Butler (GMP-198)
GMP-010, GMP-011, GMP-012, GMP-014, GMP-118, GMP-173, GMP-176, GMP-190, GMP-

192, GMP-194, GMP-199, GMP-200, GMP-201, GMP-202, GMP-203,GMP-204, GMP-205, GMP-206, GMP-207, GMP-208, GMP-209, GMP-210, GMP-211, GMP-212, GMP-213, GMP- 214, GMP-215, GMP-216, GMP-217, GMP-218, GMP-219, GMP-220, GMP-311

Group 28
Root Person - Regis Gough (GMP-235) [likely duplicate of GMP-091]

Group 29
Root Person - Phil Merrick (GMP-236) GMP-237, GMP-238, GMP-239

Group 30
Root Person - Harry Mahoney (GMP-242)
GMP-010, GMP-011, GMP-012, GMP-014, GMP-015, GMP-032, GMP-066, GMP-072, GMP- 073, GMP-118, GMP-173, GMP-176, GMP-190, GMP-192, GMP-194, GMP-198, GMP-199, GMP-200, GMP-201, GMP-202, GMP-203, GMP-204, GMP-205, GMP-206, GMP-207, GMP- 208, GMP-209, GMP-210, GMP-211, GMP-212, GMP-213, GMP-214, GMP-215, GMP-216, GMP-217, GMP-218, GMP-219, GMP-220, GMP-222, GMP-223, GMP-224, GMP-225, GMP- 226, GMP-227, GMP-228, GMP-229, GMP-230, GMP-231, GMP-232, GMP-233, GMP-243, GMP-244, GMP-245, GMP-246, GMP-247, GMP-248, GMP-249, GMP-250, GMP-251, GMP- 252, GMP-261, GMP-311

Group 31
Root Person - Betsy (GMP-253)
GMP-254, GMP-255, GMP-256, GMP-257

Group 32
Root Person - Watt Campbell (GMP-259)
GMP-228, GMP-260, GMP-261, GMP-262, GMP-263, GMP-264, GMP-265, GMP-266, GMP- 267, GMP-268

Group 33
Root Person - Adeline Campbell (GMP-270) GMP-175, GMP-271, GMP-272, GMP-273, GMP-274

Group 34
Root Person - Nelly Barns (GMP-275) GMP-276, GMP-277

Group 35
Root Person - Sally Yorkshire (GMP-284)
GMP-032, GMP-066, GMP-222, GMP-223, GMP-224, GMP-225, GMP-226, GMP-227, GMP- 228, GMP-229, GMP-230, GMP-231, GMP-232, GMP-233, GMP-261, GMP-285, GMP-286

Group 36
Root Person - Clem Langley (GMP-312) GMP-288, GMP-289

Group 37
Root Person - Nathan (GMP-291) GMP-292

Group 38
Root Person - John Brown (GMP-294) GMP-168, GMP-169, GMP-170

Group 39
Root Person - Arnold Jones (GMP-249) GMP-250, GMP-251, GMP-252

Group 40
Root Person - Bridget (GMP-299) GMP-300, GMP-301

Group 41
Root Person - Henny (GMP-307) GMP-308

Group 42
Root Person - William Kelly (GMP-309) GMP-165, GMP-166

Group 43
Root Person - Peter Adams (GMP-310)
GMP-003, GMP-004, GMP-005, GMP-006, GMP-007

Group 44
Root Person - Hillary Ford (GMP-311) GMP-214, GMP-215

Group 45
Root Person - Clair (GMP-313) GMP-314

Group 46
Root Person - Ignatius Butler, Jr. (GMP-199)

Group 47
Root Person - Gabe Mahoney (GMP-246)

Group 48
Root Person - Louisa Mahoney (GMP-248)

Group 49
Root Person - Alexius Yorkshire (GMP-285)